Tolga Kizilkaya

1. You are the co-founder of forms.app, but before we go to the other questions, can you share the story of forms.app and the idea and the Why behind it?

The back story is quite a rollercoaster. forms.app is a great app, but it was not the first for us. Five years ago, our team embarked upon a mission to create an app that could optimize business processes. Back then, we were three people, and it was a really ambitious project. Our goal was to solve all business problems with a single app. 

The project was outstanding in terms of capabilities, and even today, that’s true. But the team was pint-sized and green, and we had no experience. You need to lose some time and money to get that. For example, we learned that whatever we do, it needs to be simple and easy to understand.

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After several analyses, we decided to adjust our scope. That's when we shifted our focus to developing a form builder. The form builder market was competitive even back then, but we knew the data would hold great power in the long term. And we already had a simpler version of it during our initial project.

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Unlike the pricey, intricate, and computer-exclusive priority form tools that were available in the market, we chose a simpler, reasonably priced, and more accessible approach, focusing on a mobile-first forms.app.

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2. In a competitive market like the one you are in, what is the biggest advantage that makes the difference between forms.app and the other forms builder out there?

Well, the biggest difference maker lies within the product itself. In the form builder market, we have established players, but now their technology and design are somehow outdated. 

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From my personal experience, waiting for a page to load or playing hide-and-seek with features, that’s the worst. I remember how I got frustrated when waiting for a page to load or searching for something that I could not be sure if it were really there. That’s why we planned to build forms.app with speed and simplicity in mind. 

You could say we managed that. As we invested in modern technologies earlier, we can now offer the best features for the best prices. We also adopted the mobile-first mindset early on. forms.app is one of the few form builders that has a mobile application to create and track your forms.  

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So you can say the biggest advantage is forms.app’s design, both in technical terms and in the aesthetics of the interface. 

3. Your builder is pretty straightforward to use. How long did it take to build it that way? Took a lot of interactions and listening to your users or how was the process?

We have built forms.app with simplicity in mind, so, most of the time, our audience knew what to do and how to do it within a quarter of a second. But we also made some changes since the beginning.

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forms.app’s users are vocal, and they're never shy about letting us know what they want. So, we have a really good flow of feedback, and we encourage our users to give more when possible. This feedback is also something that motivates us, and that helps us make data-driven decisions.

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But of course, this was, and still is, an evolving process, and our user’s feedback drives our evolution. 

4. You have HQ in UK, marketing Center in Estonia and in Turkey the R&D. What is the idea behind it?

Our team has grown into a talented group located across the globe. We enjoy the competitive advantages of different locations for different purposes. 

5. How do you communicate, and how do you make your team feel one?

This may be the most pivotal element in forms.app’s growth. We have diversity in our team. Some members live in other cities and even countries. But communication is somehow one of the easiest things. 

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The team spends time together in their work times and leisure time. But this never intervenes in professional decisions. And in terms of work, the team is very dedicated, and everyone goes the extra mile when someone asks them a question or asks for help.

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This was something that developed naturally. But we also try to be careful and considerate when making decisions and hiring new talents. We let them know that they play an important part, and we always give credit when it’s due. The friendly environment here makes people more than colleagues at some point. You often see a remark at the end of websites; that goes like, “made with love”. That’s something we have in our core.

6. Who are your customers? Does forms.app have a customer niche or do you become more generalist?

forms.app is an all-around form builder and has a really diverse user base. You can use forms.app to create online forms, surveys, or quizzes, sell products, collect payments, donations, and e-signatures, and do more. 

So, from tattoo studios to global enterprises, we have users from completely different markets and industries that currently use and love forms.app.

7. Mobile or desktop, any winner where users use forms.app?

It is no longer a secret that the future is mobile.

We base our strategies and plans on the increasing use of mobile devices. 

Although desktop devices are still preferred for form creation, mobile devices are used for form submission over 90% of the time.

The funny thing is, we had a bet with Vedat, my business partner. I am more on the technical side of things, and he’s on the financial and management side. Though I’ve spent all my life on computers and tech, I always envisioned forms.app working on a desktop. And though he has spent most of his life on finance, Vedat was always pushing for mobile and mobile-first design. 

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To my mind, mobile was great for tracking answers, but I believed no one would use it to create a form. You can guess my surprise when we first published forms.app’s mobile app. Our users used forms.app to track their forms and get notified, but they also used it to create them. Since then, we’ve taken the mobile-first design to the core. 

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8. What about marketing? What are your strategies?

Many world-renowned brands like Samsung, McLaren, and Tesla have chosen forms.app. However, we understand that many small and medium businesses can also benefit from forms.app's ease of use and affordability. Therefore, we will continue to be a cost-effective solution for many businesses and even individuals. 

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When you combine affordability with being user-friendly and offering smart features, you can safely assume that the product markets itself. We believe in the power that word of mouth holds. 

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We also have other strategies when it comes to marketing. For example, we create many resources to inform and nurture our existing users and reach new people. These resources include YouTube videos and blog articles. You can see an example of our YouTube video and blog articles.

9. In your case in particular? What is your main task at forms.app

If you asked me this question one year ago, I’d say mostly management. These days, I am focusing more on creating a culture for the company and finding ways to speed up its growth. I am looking for ways to expand the team and nurture it somehow.

10. Being such a multicultural company, do you also have different marketing strategies for different markets?

It is possible to say that. While we do not have completely different strategies for each market, we're trying to tailor our strategies to meet local needs. For example, we publish form templates for specific days or occasions in some countries. But this is a topic that we have room to improve. This is because you need to understand the culture you are targeting, and that is something that takes time.

11. Did you jump in the AI, or was it already planned?

AI was something that I was personally interested in, and I followed the developments closely. I remember using generative AI for poems and, later on, images. It was mind-blowing. And not only me, but the team was and is enthusiastic about AI, too. We already envisioned offering AI solutions in forms.app, and OpenAI’s GPT made it simpler for us to realize this. When you look at the overall market, forms.app may be the first to offer AI features among form builders.  

12. I liked how easy it was to create a form using AI, saving us time and giving us more ideas. How was it created? Has GPT behind it?

Sure, I like to go a little deep into how forms.app AI was created in the first place. 

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You know that AI brings a whole new world of possibilities. We have been aware since the beginning, and it was easy for us to adapt and integrate with these big GPT models. In fact, forms.app is the trailblazer for offering an AI solution this effective in the form-building market.

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‍Initially, many ideas flew over and around, and we had to choose which ones should be our priority. 

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We decided that creating a form with a single prompt was a must. Creating answer options for multiple-choice questions also shined among others. So, we went with these two features and planned to add more features along the road. These features are really innovative and will help our users create better forms while spending less time. 

13. Do you have any new features planned for the near future or now you just want to get customers, get customers' feedback and iterate from there?

forms.app has users from many industries and countries and is quite vocal about what they want.

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We do have a road map for the features we develop. This is based on customer feedback and other market requirements. We always continue to listen to our users and make adjustments in the order in which we will develop the features. In the near future, you can see some unique features that other form builders do not have. To give a hint, I can say

• New AI features, especially on data analysis
• New integrations with popular apps
• And new and unique form fields

14. Can we talk about numbers? How many paid users do you have, and on average, how many users become paid users?

Well, forms.app has over 3 million users now. And the downloads on mobile have reached 1.5 million recently. 

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Our priority is to increase the number of users rather than the number of the paying ones. However, the number of paying users is also increasing so fast that the information will be obsolete by next week. These are all great signs for us.  

15. How did you decide on your pricing?

In a market as competitive as form builders, pricing always plays a huge role in your positioning and overall sales. We have been aware of this since the beginning, and we decided to keep forms.app’s pricing is competitive and affordable. 

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forms.app follows a freemium model, where users can sign up and try forms.app for free and get good value from it. And if they like the tool, they can get even greater value by upgrading to one of the paid plans. 

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We wanted to provide a well-structured pricing plan that makes sense. Because when you look at SaaS tools, you will see many approaches for pricing. We want our users to get a good value for the plan they select. And we did want to make this as open and transparent as possible and not seem completely free under the shadow of fair use. Our aim here is to offer the best product for the best price.

16. What is your take on AI? Where is it going to be in 5 years?

I think AI is here to stay. It helps people create, brainstorm, and do more and spend less time and effort at the same time. And with larger data, AI models will continue to get smarter. We are gradually moving into the sci-fi space that humanity imagined decades ago. 

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This also raises some ethical questions and doubts. For example, you can clearly see this conflict in education. But I am one of those who are optimistic about AI. I believe AI will and should get more integrated into the tools that people use.

17. If you could only use one AI tool for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

The rise of AI is mesmerizing. I quite enjoy being in the AI world and playing with new tools. At first, I was super into Midjourney. Now, I’m dabbling with other AI tools like Runaway. But in the end, I would say ChatGPT, thanks to its practicality. It has many uses and comes with a good library of templates. For example, I can use it to create forms on ChatGPT by using the forms.app AI plugin. 

18. Favorite tool and why?

I am using so many nowadays. Everyone does. So I think it would be unfair to others if I choose one. But I can say 

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• Slack for communication. I can’t imagine working remotely without Slack. And we also use it with forms.app and make automation.  
• Jira for managing a project. It’s almost impossible to escape from it.
• Trello for when Jira requires too much effort
• Xmind for mind mapping and especially explaining to others what I have in mind.
• Looker Studio. It’s a must-have. 
• Google Travel for planning and saving memories.
• Google Keep, my log time companion for note taking. It started lacking. I am currently looking for a note-taking app. I want to try Notion and Mem sometimes.
• Toggl and brain.fm for time tracking. It can be hard to manage your time sometimes. 

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I can actually go on and on, but I believe these are the most essential ones for me.

19. Word of advice

A simple yet powerful one. I believe you have to develop and improve yourself to make a solid change in your environment and, ultimately, in the world. So whatever you’re doing and however you’re doing it, make sure it adds something to you. And you will succeed no matter what you do if you do it with passion.

20. One book, one person to follow, and one music?

Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore is a good read; especially for product owners and marketers. It gives you a powerful framework and helps you understand what you need to do for an audience to adopt your product. 

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As for a person to follow, I’d say keep an eye on Elon Musk. He's getting more and more interesting. 

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And for tunes, any song from Metallica. Any of them is just a masterpiece! 

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