Q&A With Robert Kock From Wunderlist

We caught up with Robert Kock, the head of marketing and co-founder of 6wunderkinder, and asked him a few questions about their popular and minimal task list app, Wunderlist.

Robert talks about the background of their app, why you should use it, how they’re going to celebrate hitting 1 million users, their revenue model, and Wunderkit (their super secret new service – so secret he didn’t talk about it much!).

Can you describe Wunderlist for our readers in a sentence or two?

Wunderlist is an easy-to-use task manager for Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android and web with cloud-sync sharing for free. Hmm, that way it sounds a bit rehearsed.

Why should I use Wunderlist instead of some of the more established to-do apps such as Things & Evernote?

Because it is free and you can share your lists with as many people as you want. Your tasks will follow you, no matter where you are and which device you are using. I addition, it is beautiful and dead simple But to clear things up: there is really no reason not to use Evernote.

What is the revenue model for Wunderlist?

Wunderlist is not designed to make money, it is designed to build a sustainable fan base for 6Wunderkinder and our work. Nevertheless, we are thinking about monetizing Wunderlist later on, but all the cool features like cloud-sync and sharing will definitely stay free for everyone. Maybe we’ll come up with ads, maybe we’ll provide premium features. We don’t know yet, but before we do anything we would ask our fan base what kind of model they would prefer.

What cool new features will be released in the next few months?

We will make Wunderlist even better. We want to enhance the whole user experience. We will provide a better usability, wipe out the bugs and implement some improvements and new features. Another big issue for us is localization. There are already some translations for desktop and the web app, but some parts are outdated and we need translations for the mobile platforms as well. We may also think about new platforms, but I cannot guarantee anything yet.

Wunderlist hooks into Cloud App to publish tasks. Will there be any further integrations with other 3rd party applications in future releases?

We don’t know yet. We want to keep the app as simple as possible and will only integrate new things, if they don’t destroy the simplicity.

What’s the biggest challenge for Wunderlist to be a successful app?

The biggest challenge for us is to keep up the tremendous growth rate we currently have with about $300 of marketing budget. To do so, we have to improve the user experience constantly, making the apps better and better. Regarding the maintenance of Wunderlist, it doesn’t get easier with every new platform. But our dev team is great and they work hard to keep the users happy.

You tweeted today that Wunderlist has 400,000 registered users (congrats!). What are you doing to get to 1 million? And how will you guys celebrate?

Thank you! We will just passing half a million users during the next days. For one million users we try to focus on the localizations I mentioned earlier. With the help of crowd-sourcing translations we hope to reach a more general audience in different countries. The iPhone reaches millions of people worldwide, but a lot of them want to have an app in their own language. How we’ll celebrate? Well, we are a young startup full of crazy people in their twenties. Yeah, I think we’ll definitely be writing some emails and then check off “reach one million users” on our Wunderlist. No, just kidding… boozing the whole night and finally get arrested while trying to climb on the Fernsehturm.

Where will Wunderlist be in the next 2 years?

In two years from now I hope we will have millions of people organizing their daily tasks with Wunderlist. There will be even more platforms and every cool website will have an “add this task to Wunderlist” button.

What is Wunderkit? Can you spill some beans on what’s coming…?

Wunderkit is our concept of a perfect productivity platform and the reason why we are here. It is the reason why we got funded and the reason why we get up every morning at 8 and work the late hours. It is the reason for us to stay motivated and it will hopefully be the reason why people’s mindsets will change when they think of collaborative work. I am sorry, but that’s all I can say for now. We’ll reveal some secrets during the next couple of weeks.

Finally, your bio on the 6wunderkinder.com website says that you are an aspiring poet. Can you write a short poem about unicorns for us?

I must admit I am lovelorn
I see this lovely unicorn
It hops rejoicing in the meadow
When suddenly there looms a shadow
Oh Lord, just look, this is a banshee
She waited just under this ash tree
This is enough, I wield the sword
She’s dead, my unicorn is floored
We lived in perfect harmony
Just my unicorn and me

Beautiful! Thanks for the poem, Robert.

Be sure to check out Wunderlist if you’re looking for an awesome and free to-do / task manager for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Cormac Moylan

Based in Cork, Ireland, his first foray into the Apple world was way back in 2006 when he purchased an iMac followed by a Macbook around 4 weeks later. He currently owns a Macbook Pro, iMac, Mac Mini, iPhone 4, iPod Touch, and Apple TV. But he prefers to buy watches. Go figure!