Formbricks

How Formbricks Grew to 500+ Survey Responses in Hours [Open-Source]

February 14th, 2025

Founded By

Matti Nant

Days To Build

300

Founders

Monthly Traffic

82K

Profitable

Yes

Days To Build

300

Year Started

2022

Customer

B2B

Founded By
Matti Nant: Days To Build
300: Founders
2

Monthly Traffic
82K: Profitable
Yes: Days To Build
300

Year Started
2022: Customer
B2B

Who is Matti Nant?

Formbricks was co-founded by Johannes Dancker and Matti Nant. Johannes previously developed a consumer app and responded to open-source opportunities, while Matti experienced a market shift with his startup during COVID-19; their shared interests in surveys and data management led them to start Formbricks together.

What problem does Formbricks solve?

Formbricks solves the problem of collecting and managing survey data with an emphasis on privacy and self-hosting, making it a go-to option for businesses worried about data security.

Formbricks Homepage

How did Matti come up with the idea for Formbricks?

The idea for Formbricks began when its co-founders, Johannes and Matti, saw a tweet asking about open-source alternatives to Typeform. This sparked a conversation between them, as they both had a background in surveys and a desire to work on a new project. They realized a gap in the market for a privacy-focused, self-hosted survey tool that could cater to the growing need for data privacy, which wasn't being fully addressed by existing solutions.

Initially, they created snoopForms, an open-source alternative to Typeform, but quickly learned that the high competition and price sensitivity in the survey tool market weren't ideal for a sustainable business. They pivoted after researching and communicating with users who expressed a need for better experience management tools, which led them to focus on helping teams gather and act on qualitative data. This process involved multiple iterations and feedback loops that emphasized the importance of focusing on a problem that resonated with them and their potential users.

Throughout this ideation phase, they faced challenges in finding the right product-market fit and the difficulty of moving from a hobby project to a full-time business. Key lessons learned included the importance of validating ideas with real-world feedback and the need to pivot quickly when a particular approach or business model isn't working. Their exploration into data processing versus experience management guided them towards a niche that aligned with their skills and interests, ultimately inspiring the development of Formbricks.

How did Matti Nant build the initial version of Formbricks?

Matti Nant and Johannes Dancker built Formbricks by transitioning from their initial product, snoopForms, an open-source Typeform alternative. They started the development process by using a stack primarily centered on Next.js and Node.js, and facilitated easy deployment with Docker images and a one-click hosting script for Ubuntu servers. The first prototype was developed over a span of several months, with the initial line of code penned in July, reflecting their continued focus and iteration through October. The development journey was challenging due to the complexity of integrating features like form creation, analytics, data handling, and visualization to cater to multiple use cases, yet rewarding as they managed to overcome significant technical and strategic challenges to harness the full potential of open-source and community-driven product development.

What were the initial startup costs for Formbricks?

Funding: Formbricks received $20,000 from the GitHub Open-Source Accelerator program, which was split among all the maintainers.

What was the growth strategy for Formbricks and how did they scale?

Product Launch Platforms

Formbricks leveraged popular platforms such as Product Hunt and Hacker News to increase visibility and attract users. They initially launched snoopForms, the predecessor to Formbricks, as an open-source alternative to Typeform. This strategic positioning sparked interest, resulting in 1.5k sign-ups shortly after the launch.

Formbricks on PH

Why it worked: Product Hunt and Hacker News are platforms frequented by tech enthusiasts and early adopters, making them ideal for launching new tech products. Formbricks' position as an open-source alternative to an established product like Typeform captured the interest of a price-sensitive audience looking for cost-effective tools.

Community and Open Source Contributions

Formbricks has significantly benefited from community contributions, leveraging GitHub as both a distribution and collaboration platform. Involvement in programs like the GitHub Open-Source Accelerator provided them with both a network and financial support.

Why it worked: Engaging a community on platforms like GitHub allows for continuous feedback and contributions, which are particularly valuable for open-source projects. Community contributions helped improve Formbricks' product stability and added features without the company bearing the entire development burden.

Experience Management Focus

As they grew, Formbricks pivoted from being just a form-building tool to an experience management platform, targeting more specific user needs like product-market fit surveys. They collaborated with companies like Cal.com to refine product capabilities and address real-world use cases.

Why it worked: The shift to focusing on experience management allowed Formbricks to differentiate from other form tools. By addressing specific customer pain points and offering solutions like advanced targeting and multi-language surveys, they provided value that generic form solutions did not.

Direct Engagement with Enterprise Clients

They tailored features like single sign-on (SSO) and other enterprise-focused capabilities, aligning their product more closely with enterprise needs. By identifying enterprise-specific pain points, they could offer their service to a niche that values security and self-hostability.

Why it worked: Prioritizing enterprise features allowed Formbricks to tap into a customer base with a willingness to pay a premium for tailored solutions. This focus enabled sustainable growth by meeting the high-value requirements of enterprise clients.

What's the pricing strategy for Formbricks?

Formbricks is a free, open-source survey and experience management tool focused on self-hostability, offering enterprise features like advanced targeting and multi-language surveys with a unique open-core model.

Formbricks Pricing

What were the biggest lessons learned from building Formbricks?

Know When to Pivot: Formbricks learned the importance of strategic pivots. Initially focusing on an open-source Typeform alternative, they shifted their focus to experience management tools when the original niche proved unprofitable. Recognize when to change direction to align with market needs.
Community Engagement is Key: Actively engaging with their community and encouraging contributions allowed Formbricks to enhance their product and discover skilled developers who later joined their team. Building a strong community can provide valuable feedback and talent.
Choose the Right Business Model: The experience with the PMF survey tool demonstrated that understanding the market needs and identifying the correct target audience is crucial. Building tools for companies with established user bases rather than early-stage startups helped align their product offering.
Learning from Failures: Encountering low points, such as the disappointing PMF survey launch, taught them to extract valuable lessons and focus on what not to pursue. Embrace setbacks as learning opportunities and use them to refine your strategy.
Balance Open Source with Revenue Goals: Formbricks' journey illustrates the challenge of balancing an open-source model with the need to generate revenue. They learned the importance of defining which features are premium and which remain open-source to ensure sustainability and growth.

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