If their $20M product worked, I'd quit

I was one of Fabric's early users. Maybe user number 30, maybe earlier—I was active on their Discord from the beginning. The product didn't work for me. I knew about Raindrop too. Neither fit how I think.

I stopped looking for alternatives. Six months passed. I wasn't actively solving the problem—I just lived without a solution.

Then I started saving links to Apple Notes. That was even worse. Apple Notes is great for quick thoughts and simple text, but for saving content it falls apart. No preview cards. Search is terrible. I can't chat with what I've saved or organize it properly.

I tried optimizing it anyway. Built automations with Shortcuts. Added workflows. Tried to force Apple Notes to be something it's not designed to be.

At some point I slammed the table. Enough. I'm doing this myself.

So I started building Edicek.

At first, I thought I was onto something unique. That there wasn't much competition in this space. Then the competitors started surfacing.

Mymind. Too designer-focused. Too esoteric. I'm pragmatic—I need tools that work, not tools that feel like art projects.

Then another one. And another. Five direct competitors total. Some with twenty million dollars in VC funding. Real companies with real teams building essentially the same thing. And the worst part? Some of them have a five-year head start.

Each one had something different that didn't work for me. Some had UI I wouldn't want to spend time in every day. Some were missing an AI assistant. Some focused on feature count instead of making things actually work. Some weren't reliable. Some had branding or a target audience that didn't match what I needed.

I don't want more features. I want to save something and find it later when I need it. That's it.

So I keep building Edicek. Not because I love building products or think I can compete with VC-funded companies. I keep building because I use it every day. When something's missing, I add it. When something's broken, I fix it.

The honest test: if I found a product that worked the way I need, I'd probably stop. I'd just use theirs.

But their twenty-million-dollar products still don't solve the problem I have.

If I'm this frustrated with all these options, I'm probably not the only one. There are others who tried the same tools, had the same issues, need the same solution. They just haven't built it themselves yet.

That's why I'm building Edicek. And that's probably why you're building whatever you're building. Even when it already exists. Even when others have more funding and a head start.

Just keep going.