It’s not every day that I can say an app has completely changed the way I work. However, when it comes to managing my email inbox, Boxer has done just that. It’s up there with Evernote, Pocket, and Fantastical as one of my favorite productivity apps of all time.
If you haven’t heard of Boxer yet, you will soon. It is one of the fastest growing email apps on iOS, and just this week they released an Android version. And why all the buzz? Well, as described by Andrew below, Boxer is a faster, smarter mobile inbox that adapts to the way you work.
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Andrew Eye, the founder and CEO of Boxer. He took some time to answer my questions about the app, kiteboarding, inbox zero, and a whole lot more.
And I should mention, this is the first interview I’ve done on Earnworthy, but there will be plenty more to follow if you like this one. Let me know your thoughts on the interview questions and format too. Enjoy!
Nicholas Scalice: How would you describe Boxer in just a couple sentences?
Andrew Eye: Boxer a better inbox. Better than what? Better than whatever you’re using right now. =) Perhaps a more descriptive way to describe this… Boxer is a faster, smarter mobile inbox that adapts to the way you work. Boxer let’s you tailor every aspect of your inbox and get more done in less time.
Nicholas: What made you decide to start developing Boxer?
Andrew: We wanted to build software that had the potential to touch every person on the planet. Mobile is growing at an incredible pace, but much of the development focus seems to be on trying to be the next Angry Birds. We saw a big opportunity to provide a better inbox experience focused exclusively on how people use email on their phones and tablets. That seemed like a big problem that could help a lot of people.
Nicholas: What was the most challenging part of the early stages of the development process for Boxer?
Andrew: Building awareness. Starting from scratch with a new app and competing against brands with much larger name recognition was tough. Building awareness and a loyal following took time.
Nicholas: If you weren’t building Boxer, what else would you be doing in life?
Andrew: Hum… kiteboarding?
Nicholas: So many of us are drowning in email on a daily basis. What can the average person do to regain control over an overflowing inbox?
Andrew: We think mobile changes everything in the old “email overload” story. Being able to actually make progress on your inbox while on the go (rather than just reading messages only to re-read them back at your desk) is a game changer. When people can quickly Like (acknowledge) an email, or send off a templated response, or simply delete messages faster on their mobile phones… they start to feel like email is way less of a burden.
Nicholas: Now that Boxer for Android is here, what are your next big development milestones?
Andrew: We’ve got lots of big things planned including our biggest iOS release ever. Stay tuned!
Nicholas: The integrations with Evernote, Dropbox, LinkedIn, etc. are a huge selling point for Boxer. Can you give us a hint at any more exciting app integrations you have in the pipeline?
Andrew: Other cloud storage options like Google Drive and One Drive are top of mind. Task management products like OmniFocus are also common requests. Ultimately we want to open this up so that other developers and companies can integrate to Boxer on their own. If you’re a developer and interested in building a plugin to your favorite service or tool, we want to hear from you! 8.
Nicholas: Can you share one of your favorite productivity tips?
Andrew: Well… our CTO Adam Cianfichi is a big InboxZero guy. He currently has the record for consecutive days at InboxZero – he’s over 200. I can’t wait to see which of our users will beat him. =)
Well, that’s all for now. But let’s keep this conversation going. Share your favorite email productivity tip in the comments section below, or on Twitter. Also, check out Boxer if you haven’t done so already and let me know what you think.
A huge thanks is due to the Boxer team, especially Jeremy Luby for setting up this interview and of course, Andrew Eye for answering my questions.
