Teen Developer Builds Privacy-First Notes App After Skiff's Acquisition by Notion

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Skiff, a collaborative workspace startup founded in May 2020 as a Notion alternative, was acquired by Notion itself on February 9, 2024, and shut down entirely by March 9, 2024. Inspired by Skiff's rise and abrupt closure, an 18-year-old developer decided to address the gap left in the market for a simple, cross-platform note-taking tool. He identified a core problem with existing services: most store user data in plain text on their servers, compromising user privacy. In response, he is building TxtNote, a privacy-first note-taking app designed to give users full ownership of their data without requiring technical expertise or paid subscriptions. The developer shared his journey on DEV Community, framing the project as a lesson learned from Skiff's story.

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