Swipes

Stefan Vladimirov, a creative director and designer from Bulgaria, met co-founders Kasper Tornoe (developer) and Yana Vlatchkova (marketing) in the startup scene of Aarhus, Denmark in 2013. The three complementary talents decided to build something together. They initially started working on a dating app, but during a casual conversation about the app's task list development, Kasper and Stefan pivoted to what would become their real passion: building the best task list app in the market.

The team moved remarkably fast. Kasper built the prototype in a week while Stefan refined the visual design and Yana researched the market. In less than 6 weeks, they had Swipes on the App Store and saw the first couple of hundred people downloading. The product resonated immediately—media outlets began praising its simple and delightful design. The Next Web's review was their breakthrough, pushing them to 10,000 users. In 2014, they secured their first angel investment of $35k from Kristian Ottosen. That same year, an integration with Evernote became a major win, and they won first place for Best New Startup at the Evernote Conference.

Swipes didn't have a business model initially—the app was free and the founders were actively seeking funding. Growth came organically through the App Store, keyword optimization, and content marketing. People genuinely loved the product. The team expanded and continued shipping features. When they released the Android version, they crossed half a million users. Apple featured Swipes multiple times on App Store banners and lists. Success seemed assured—but it was only product success, not business success.

The founders' obsessive focus on design quality and user experience became their strength and weakness. People loved Swipes Personal because it gave them a superpower to "charge through their tasks like a champ"—it focused on achieving results rather than just organizing. However, the biggest mistake came after early success. Instead of building a sustainable business around their winning personal task app, they chased a bigger vision: a team collaboration product called The Workspace. This pivot into constant R&D and rework consumed them for 4 years. They took poor business decisions: ambitions outran their resources, vision became blurred, and they cycled through month-long pivots hoping something would stick. A potential $1M investment from a prominent Valley investor inflated their ambitions but never materialized. They eventually moved to Silicon Valley via the Alchemist accelerator but found the Valley's culture misaligned with their values. The exhausting grind continued through 2018 and 2019 with constant reworks and releases. One by one, all three founders burned out.

In June 2019, after 6 years, they made the difficult decision to shut down Swipes. The company was consuming their physical and mental health. Stefan reflects without regret—the experience taught him invaluable lessons about business, product, and himself. He and Yana subsequently started a brand strategy and design services agency to support clients. Stefan is recovered from his burnout, stronger in his partnership and friendship with his co-founders, and now applies what he learned to new ventures.