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Re:Show HN: I built a task system to handle the drudgery so ... by jedberg on Monday October 19, 2026 @05:18PM (#50158212)
I tried to build a todo app a few years ago with a similar thesis -- that the problem with todo apps was triaging the list.

So we built an app that did it for you, just like yours, using machine learning and AI (and some simple rules based on due date and expected time to do the task).

Turns out people don't want to pay for that, even at $2/mo. We even had group features, so that a parent could put tasks on their kid's list, or a group of students could use it for a group project, or a team at work could use it to coordinate team tasks.

We also had templates -- tell us you're a single person who lives alone, and we would auto-add tasks like washing the sheets and cleaning the toilets. Or we could add a daily exercise routine or even a daily bible study if you told us you were a religious Christian.

Feel free to take these features. I hope you have better luck than I did.

Re:Show HN: I built a task system to handle the drudgery so ... by dmayle on Monday October 19, 2026 @08:01PM (#50159620)
Thanks. That's both encouraging, and sobering, at the same time.

I'd love to know more about how that played out, two questions actually: 1) did people not sign up, or did they sign up and leave? 2) for the ones who left, did they dislike the triage, or did they think it was great and just not want to pay for it?

Getting the answers to those would help me choose where to focus first.

I've used it every morning since June, with incredible delight in what it does for my days, so I'm still going to try to find users who find the same value that I do.

Thank you for the offer.

Re:Show HN: I built a task system to handle the drudgery so ... by jedberg on Monday October 19, 2026 @08:05PM (#50159656)
Thought it was great, didn't want to pay. We made it free for the basic todo, paid for groups and templates.

We also didn't have the advantage of good whisper models so voice input wasn't a thing. I feel like that hurt adoption as well.

Re:Show HN: I built a task system to handle the drudgery so ... by dmayle on Monday October 19, 2026 @08:33PM (#50159852)
Thank you for the answer.

It's not exactly what I was hoping to hear, but it's also why I don't have a free tier, and I'm not relying on promo codes. If people won't pay for it at all, I want to learn that quickly, rather than building up a large number of users on a free tier that I can't sustain. Even a small paying audience can make this maintainable.

Voice input is prominent in the app, but the gesture setup is manual for a web app. I'll try to make it clearer on the site, help users get it set up.