Shortwave – Firebase founder's new email startup

(Shortwave founder / previously Firebase founder here)

Thanks for the love Hacker News!

Our blog post covers the mission of the company: https://www.shortwave.com/blog/future-of-messaging/

We’re not just trying to make a better email client — we’re trying to make email so good that it reverses the trend towards centralization of internet communications. We want a future is that is open & decentralized, where developers are able to innovate without permissions. And we want the governance of messaging to give users control, so their free expression is protected. The products to beat here are Messenger, iMessage, WeChat, Slack, and so on.

Happy to answer any questions — ask away!

I've been a user of shortwave for a couple months now, and I emphatically recommend giving it a try. I'm a very persnickety software snob and tried almost every email client without it sticking. I'm sure this won't be for everyone, but if you've struggled to get to inbox zero, I recommend giving it a try.

The channels are a cool addition, but most of the value for me is just the ease with which I can process volumes of email.

Think Google Inbox (RIP :tombstone:) meets Basecamp (:campfire:).

A little like Superhuman in that it's a an email client that uses Gmail as its backend and it has a plethora of keyboard shortcuts.

Pretty blown away by how quickly the setup completed.

Having related emails batched and then providing easy ways to pin, snooze or mark done is so useful. Clicking the "sweep" button (Mark All As Read) after prioritizing the email you care about is such a satisfying feeling. I'm not quite at inbox zero yet, but definitely feel like it is now actually possible with a bit more work on my end.

Alpha user here, AMA!