Mitchell Tan

Your most requested feature? Might be the worst thing you could build.

That's one of the lessons from my conversation with Mitchell Tan, co-founder of Kondo.

Kondo is the Superhuman for LinkedIn DMs — a tool that turns the messy LinkedIn inbox into something you actually want to use. Keyboard shortcuts, labels, split inboxes, reminders. Built by a 3-person team. No public roadmap. And they say no to almost everything users ask for.

I've been using Kondo for months and it's genuinely changed how I handle LinkedIn. If you use LinkedIn professionally, you have to try it.

So I had to get Mitchell on the podcast to understand how they think about product.

🧠 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲:

0:00 - What is Kondo and how it started
1:40 - From recruiting firm to building a Superhuman-inspired SaaS
7:45 - Why "copying" great products is harder than it sounds
9:11 - The invisible UX details that make Superhuman feel faster (even when it's not)
13:52 - How LinkedIn DMs are fundamentally different from email
19:43 - Why Kondo has no public roadmap and ignores most feature requests
23:52 - The 3-question framework to decide what to build next
38:52 - How to define your aha moment (and why it's different for everyone)
49:33 - Why one-on-one onboarding calls still matter (and when to stop doing them)
55:51 - Forcing users through onboarding vs letting them explore freely
1:01:14 - Linear's hidden UX gems that inspire Kondo

💡 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹:

→ 𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲, 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝟯 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

Does it let you charge more? Does it convert non-payers? Does it reduce churn? If all three are no — don't build it.

→ 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝘆 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁

Superhuman tracks your mouse direction to adjust UI response times. You can't just copy pixels — you need to understand why things work before deciding what to borrow.

→ 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆

Superhuman's split inbox works for email. But LinkedIn DMs are different — all conversations with one person live in one thread. So Kondo built labels that create split tabs instead. Same goal, different execution.

→ 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 — 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲

Superhuman blocks clicking during their tutorial — keyboard only. Kondo allows clicking because not everyone buys for shortcuts. Be opinionated, but match it to why people actually pay you.

→ 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱 > 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱

Kondo had the same response times as Superhuman but felt slower. The difference? Micro-animations. A subtle slide when you archive. Small details that make software feel alive.

___

Introduction

Jim Zarkadas (00:00)
Hey, I’m Jim, and this is the Love at First Try podcast — a podcast for SaaS CEOs and developers who truly want to learn more about design and care about it, without design feeling overly complex.

In every episode, we discuss how to design products that become sticky and unforgettable. We dive into topics like taste, UX, growth, and conversions, and we share practical tips and frameworks you can apply in your development process.

Enough with the intro — let’s dive into today’s episode.

Discovering Kondo & Guest Intro

Jim Zarkadas (00:27)
Welcome, and thank you for joining me and making the time to talk today. I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but I discovered you through LinkedIn — which makes sense, given that you’re building a LinkedIn tool.

I think I found you through Garav, the Superhuman guy. I’ve been following his content for a while, really like his mindset, and he was sharing what you were building.

I use LinkedIn a lot, and honestly, I hate the inbox. When I found Kondo, I was like, “Yeah — this is it.” Once I started taking LinkedIn more seriously as a marketing channel, I decided to pay for it.

Thanks again for joining. I always start with a brief intro — who you are and what you’re working on — so listeners have some context before we dive into design.

Mitchell Tan (01:40)
Sure. I’m Mitchell, co-founder at Kondo.

Kondo is basically the Superhuman of LinkedIn messages. We turn the LinkedIn inbox into a productivity-optimized interface where you can sort conversations into folders, add labels, use keyboard shortcuts, set reminders, and move really fast — just like email in Superhuman.

The product started because we wanted it ourselves. I’ve been in startups for a while, mostly doing marketing and sales, and I also ran a recruiting firm. I was a heavy LinkedIn user and constantly struggled to keep track of conversations.

Why Kondo Exists

Mitchell Tan (02:36)
I tried everything — spreadsheets, Notion tables, even hacked together a small extension for myself. We were long-time Superhuman users and kept asking: why can’t LinkedIn messages work like this?

We tried CRMs and automation tools with inbox features, but they didn’t vibe with us. We just wanted something that felt like Superhuman.

So when we decided to build a SaaS, this idea was always top of mind. We built it for ourselves first and then asked: how many people like us would actually pay for this?

Mitchell Tan (04:01)
Today it’s me, my co-founder Leo, and one engineer, Anna. We’ve been working on Kondo for about a year and a half.

Background: From SaaS & Recruiting to Building Kondo

Jim Zarkadas (04:10)
I always thought you had a development background, but you mentioned marketing and sales. You also ran a recruiting firm, right?

Mitchell Tan (04:25)
Yeah. I met my co-founder at a B2B SaaS startup during the zero-interest-rate era when VC money was everywhere — kind of like AI now.

It was large enterprise software. I did customer onboarding and solutions engineering, and my co-founder was the frontend lead. Anna joined that team later as well.

Mitchell Tan (05:25)
Later, we started a recruiting firm focused on early-stage startups because we were good at hiring. That firm still exists — beluga.team — run by our business partner Michael.

But Leo and I wanted to go back to building SaaS, where we felt our skills had more leverage. And Kondo was always in the back of our minds because we were doing so much LinkedIn messaging ourselves.

Taste, UX & Product Philosophy

Jim Zarkadas (06:18)
I checked out Beluga’s site — the branding is clean, bold, and tasteful. That’s actually one of the reasons I wanted to invite you on. Kondo has great taste too — the UX, the overall feel.

This podcast is about designing sticky products — products people actually love using. So let’s talk about your high-level product strategy.

“Copying Superhuman” — What That Really Means

Jim Zarkadas (07:40)
You often say you’re building the Superhuman of LinkedIn. What does “copying Superhuman” actually mean?

Mitchell Tan (07:45)
If something isn’t broken, why fix it? Superhuman’s UX is extremely thoughtful. Inbox patterns aren’t unique — a list is a list, an inbox is an inbox. Someone else already did the hard thinking.

So if parts of your product flow are similar, why not copy those patterns?

But copying perfectly is hard. Under the surface, Superhuman has a lot of non-obvious details — micro-animations, interaction design, performance tricks — that make it feel faster even when it isn’t.

Mitchell Tan (09:11)
For example, Superhuman detects mouse direction and speed to decide how quickly rows highlight. You don’t notice it consciously, but it affects perceived speed.

When users told us Kondo felt slower, we measured it — response times were the same. The difference was those subtle details.

Choosing What Not to Copy

Mitchell Tan (12:04)
The bigger challenge isn’t copying — it’s deciding what not to copy.

LinkedIn messages aren’t email. Conversations don’t split into threads by topic; everything with one person is in a single chat. That changes how things like split inboxes should work.

Instead of splitting by message type, we split by people using labels. Labels automatically create tabs. It’s opinionated — and maybe controversial — but it fits our use case.

Mitchell Tan (16:38)
You also have to consider engineering effort. Some UX patterns look simple but are expensive to build. As a tiny team, we constantly decide which corners to cut and which details matter most.

No Public Roadmap — On Purpose

Jim Zarkadas (18:23)
You don’t have a public roadmap and don’t build based purely on feature requests. Why?

Mitchell Tan (19:43)
We’re a horizontal tool. Recruiters, salespeople, founders — all use Kondo. A feature that’s critical for one group may be useless for another.

If we let people vote on features, the votes would be meaningless. We’d still have to choose who to disappoint.

Mitchell Tan (22:11)
Public roadmaps also create overhead and false expectations. Things change. Plans shift. And we’re a three-person team.

Instead, we look for features that are high impact and relatively low effort.

A Simple Feature Decision Framework

Mitchell Tan (23:52)
A founder friend shared a framework I like. Ask three questions:

1. Does this let us charge more?

2. Does it make new people pay?

3. Does it reduce churn?

If the answer to all three is no, don’t build it.

At the end of the day, this is a business. Revenue matters. Passion alone isn’t enough.

Onboarding & Activation

Jim Zarkadas (38:23)
Let’s talk onboarding. You recently shipped a very opinionated tutorial. How do you define an “aha moment” for Kondo?

Mitchell Tan (39:27)
We loosely define activation as: within the first hour, you send a message or perform triage actions like archiving, labeling, or setting reminders.

But the aha moment differs per user. For Superhuman users, it’s instant — the UI looks familiar, shortcuts work, and they’re sold.

For others, it’s something simple, like finally being able to scroll back months in their inbox without LinkedIn breaking.

Forced Tutorials vs Exploration

Mitchell Tan (56:25)
We force people through a short tutorial. We used to show a video; now we make them actually do things.

It’s shorter than Superhuman’s tutorial, and we allow clicking — not just keyboard shortcuts — because not everyone buys Kondo for shortcuts.

Some users still don’t get it. And that’s okay. We’re still learning.

One-on-One Onboarding Calls

Jim Zarkadas (49:33)
You did thousands of one-on-one onboarding calls early on. How valuable were they?

Mitchell Tan (50:15)
Early on, they were critical. We caught bugs, learned workflows, and forced activation.

Now, returns are diminishing. Some calls are probably not worth my time anymore. But occasionally, you get high-value conversations — team leads, decision-makers — and those matter.

The challenge is figuring out when human time makes sense in a product-led business.

Favorite SaaS Products

Jim Zarkadas (1:01:14)
Last question: what are your favorite SaaS products?

Mitchell Tan (1:01:20)
We use Superhuman, Linear, Metabase.

Linear is especially inspiring. They’re replacing Jira — which means their UX has to be exceptional. Engineers are a tough audience.

Linear nails performance, reliability, and tiny delightful details — like keyboard shortcuts that just make sense, or turning label naming patterns into UI automatically.

Closing

Jim Zarkadas (1:04:48)
This was an amazing conversation. Thanks so much for joining.

Mitchell Tan
Thanks for having me.