Doit.im, Get Things Done (GTD) Application Made in China for the World

For all of you wondering what it is like to be a startup founder in China, I recently had the chance to chat with Adam Xu of Doit.im, the founder, team leader, and a very spirited entrepreneur who has a very clear mindset on what his product will become.

Doit.im is a GTD (Get Things Done) startup in China. It’s a task manager that’s aimed to cover your project management on multiple platforms and through cloud. Initially established on September 30th 2009, the team meet an unforeseen ”accident” that forced the product to put the project aside. Months later in early 2010, the Doit.im team was revived and so was the product.

Doit.im main interface

Interview with Adam Xu

Q. What’s the biggest challenge to building a startup in China?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions for people interested in establishing a startup in China. Challenges come from all directions: user demographic and behaviours, culture, regulations and marketability, but Adam’s answer came short and precise: Always talent.

[Currently Doit.im's team is diversified with Chief Designer from China Academy of Arts, Kitty, and her motto:"The final interface should be no 'interface'.]

Q. How would you describe Doit.im’s key features?

Doit.im is very much focused on time management for its users (GTD), with cross-platform support via iPhone, iPad and Android mobile apps, and a browser version for Windows OS and a newly launched AIR based Mac OS version, which allows users to share contents across platforms via the cloud. The interface itself is designed for easy access and comes complete with shortcuts for desktop versions.

Users are always the center of startups, and how to gain users is what each team spends hours arguing about. GTD apps are not yet widely popular in China, so naturally I asked Adam:

Q. Doit.im is a GTD app–how is the adoption rate in China? Are users getting used to such apps?

First, the app is intended to be global, with Chinese users as one group of potential users. China’s mobile market is growing at an accelerated rate due to the increasing popularity of smart phones, and society is fast so that users demand an app that manage and organize tasks. GTD is a growing industry in this country, and it has already been adopted by a large amount of elite users, so it’s a proven case with a bright future [in China].

Q. Cloud is key to the future of Doit.im. Can you describe the current landscape of cloud computing in China?

Cloud is becoming a big trend in China, with more and more industries and startups are getting involved in it. Right now the newer generation of mobile users [between age of 25 - 39] are absorbing the concept of cloud and experiencing the cloud through apps like ours. It has proven to be a success with more of them demanding cloud coverage that can link contents from their mobile phone to desktop and laptops.

Q. Now the tricky part, for a GTD startup what is your potential revenue model?

We are hoping for ads, but essentially we believe in delivering a top-quality user experience via value-added features that will not only differentiate Doit.im from its competitors, but also become a drive of revenue. I hope to receive more feedback so we can increase the quality of Doit.im’s user experience.

To experience Doit.im and see how much time it can save you, download the app here. If you are more interested in Adam’s team, the founder himself has uploaded a couple of video walkthroughs of the Doit.im headquarters on Weiguan.com, Shanda’s new live-streaming video site.