Episode description

In this episode of Founders Story, we sit down with Aytekin Tank, the entrepreneur behind the popular online form builder Jotform. Aytekin shares his journey from discovering a key market gap nearly two decades ago—when online forms were a major hassle—to building a thriving, bootstrapped SaaS company serving over twenty-five million users worldwide. He offers invaluable lessons on patience, customer-centric development, and how continuous innovation around customer needs led to Jotform’s robust ecosystem of workflow tools. Finally, Aytekin gives us an exciting preview of Jotform’s newest leap into the future: AI agents that will transform how businesses interact with customers, gather data, and handle tasks autonomously around the clock.

Key Topics Discussed:

The Entrepreneurial Spark:

• Aytekin’s early inspiration from building open-source tools in college.
• Realizing the thrill of seeing people use his creations.
• How the dot-com era and working full-time at a media company exposed him to the critical need for easy-to-build online forms.

Founding Jotform:

• The core problem: Web editors needed custom forms—no easy tool existed.
• The decision to bootstrap the business rather than seek investment.
• Transitioning from a free product to a paid offering and the validation that came from the first paying customers.

Slow, Steady Growth and Scaling:

• Understanding that success in SaaS often doesn’t happen overnight.
• How Jotform grew very slowly for the first five years (one new hire per year).
• Maintaining patience, listening to user feedback, and evolving the product based on actual customer needs.

Expanding Beyond Forms:

• Recognizing that forms are just the first step in countless business processes.
• Developing additional features and products: e-signatures, document generation, workflow approvals, and integration with other tools.
• Constant user research and interviews lead to a comprehensive suite of productivity solutions.

AI Agents – The Next Frontier:

• Jotform’s ambitious move into AI, starting from a small in-house team to a dedicated staff of over a hundred working on AI Agents.
• How AI Agents differ from chatbots—agents take action on behalf of users, handle tasks autonomously, and learn from feedback.
• Envisioning a future where businesses (large and small) and individuals deploy AI Agents to handle customer inquiries, sales, support, and more—even while the owners sleep.
• The February 2025 release of Jotform AI Agents and the potential it holds for revolutionizing business operations.

Empowering Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses:

• How AI Agents can level the playing field for small businesses and solo founders.
• The possibility of building highly efficient, large-scale ventures with minimal human staff by leveraging AI-driven processes.

How to Get Involved:

• Learn more and join the waitlist for Jotform AI Agents at jotform.com/ai.
• Visit AytekinTank.com to connect, read the first chapter of his book, or try out his personal AI agent.

Resources & Links:

• Jotform Website: https://www.jotform.com/
• Jotform AI Waitlist: https://www.jotform.com/ai
• Aytekin Tank’s Website & Book: https://aytekintank.com/

Takeaways:

• Bootstrapping requires patience, a keen ear for customer feedback, and the willingness to evolve.
• True growth often comes from understanding the “why” behind user actions and expanding your product suite accordingly.
• AI and agentic technology stand poised to dramatically streamline how businesses operate, fostering round-the-clock customer engagement and support.