Introducing the product updates newsletter

First glance into the changes introduced to FindWise since alpha launch. You gave me your opinions, I heard you!

This is Yuri :) Welcome to the inaugural product update newsletter. You are receiving this because you’ve had the chance to sign up and hopefully try out FindWise. In this post, I will talk about some changes introduced since I started user testing, and also some future upcoming changes.

What's the reason behind this newsletter?

As an advocate of the "open" startup philosophy, I've always appreciated gaining insights from other entrepreneurial journeys. But I've found traditional platforms, like Twitter threads, often allow valuable content to vanish into the digital ether. Instead, a changelog on the website - a permanent, accessible record - has always struck me as a superior log. Coupled with a mailing list, it becomes a powerful tool that gives me control over the content I create.

This newsletter is essentially a window into the life of my startup experiment. It's where I share the progress we're making, demonstrate that your feedback is indeed shaping our direction, and highlight how it weaves into the fabric of our product roadmap.

Moreover, I see this as an opportunity for growth. I aim to use this platform to sharpen my product writing skills, while simultaneously establishing a sense of accountability by connecting with all of you.

When did you launch?

Officially? We haven't launched yet. I’ve been experimenting with this tool of mine for quite a while, going back and forth to define the scope of the MVP (minimum viable product). I sent out the link to the Chrome extension before implementing any kind of user signup form. The reaction was mild but positive. Most of you have said the idea is good, but implementation needs some work. This is why I believe that I’d need to broaden the scope of an MVP based on the feedback received.

Notable Changes

Throughout an iterative process, I’ve introduced many changes, here are a few notable ones:

1. Main Landing Page

Many of you got confused as to what the extension does, and it took some in-person effort to explain. I’ve created a proper landing page that explains what the extension does and how it will simplify your daily workflow. Big thanks to Melissa for helping me with wireframing and designing the outline for this page. This addition opens me up to a broader spectrum of people who will be able to test the extension.

A Note on Privacy

One omission is regarding privacy. Some users have raised questions about how and what data I collect for the search. I have not provided the answer on the website because I believe this is more of a UX problem than a wordy explanation. Just to be clear, I don’t collect any information other than what is required for the chat to work.

My hypothesis is that a product experience will solve this privacy concern and perhaps this is why some of the competitors opt into doing a popup instead of rendering the widget in-page. Another idea is to add a button to trigger an explicit index of the page. Let me know what you think is best here.

2. Extension Overlay

Previously the extension put an overlay over the entire page, which made the page itself unreadable. Learning from that, I’ve updated the interface to look a little more sleek and opted for covering a portion of the screen. This will allow me to reference portions of the website in the future without having to jump between the screen and the extension. Here is what it looks like now:

However, the new interface has introduced some confusion. While previously it was a one-shot interface, you could ask a single question and get a single response. The new design gives you the impression that you’d be able to ask follow-up questions, but the backend for this has not been implemented. Contextual chat feature is in the works and you should be able to ask follow-up questions in the next few weeks.

3. Keyboard Shortcut

Control+K was the default search shortcut for FindWise, but some of you have told me that the extension does not work on Windows. It turns out that this particular combination is ingrained in the Windows ecosystem, making it a challenge to assign it directly via an extension without manual user setup.

I still believe that this is the best shortcut to have, but I’ve explored some variables and have settled on Control+I (Uppercase “I” for Information). If you’re on a Mac, this becomes Command+I. My worry, though is that uppercase I may be confused with number 1 or a pipe character (“|”). Let me know what you think about this.

This change fixes the extension on Windows devices.

Another request was to trigger the chat interface when clicking on the button of the extension. (In the works now for next week)

4. Google Login and other Ecosystems

To simplify registration and login, I’ve added a Login with a Google button. I’m currently focusing on the Google ecosystem since Google Chrome holds 77.03% of the market share, and if you add up all the Chromium browsers, it adds up to 86.25% (rough math). So hang in there, Apple Login will come soon. Safari and Firefox extensions are probably a Q2, Q3 type of thing.

Upcoming Changes

The immediate goal is to make the extension publicly listed so others can find it on the Google Chrome Store. I believe the following 2 things need to be completed:

1. Conversational Chat

I would like to finish a proper chat interface so users are able to carry out back-and-forth conversations with the website. Users should be able to ask follow-up questions without having to type out entire questions.

2. A revised listing

The Google Chrome Store listing needs to be updated to make it look more professional than a temporary placeholder. Deliverables for this are screenshots and a new description. Here is what it looks like now:

Indexing Multiple Pages

Apart from getting a marketing-friendly listing, I’m exploring ways to index a collection of websites. Based on your feedback, information may exist on the website, but it’s not necessarily on that page — so being able to get an answer from adjacent pages would be useful. This is quite handy when dealing with documentation or some interlinked pages, but the challenge is how and where to cut off the indexing. This may be a paid feature since indexing is not cheap at the moment.

Feedback

Thank you all who played around with the extension and gave me valuable feedback.

Feel free to share FindWise.ai with your friends, and have them use it to see what they think of it. Early alpha testers get the benefit of having their features worked on :)

If you have anything to say about this letter or FindWise itself, just reply here, DM me, or use the feedback form. I’m looking forward to your feedback!