Team AMA: March 2025

Last month our team met in Freiburg for the second Capacities offsite. It was the first time all six of us had come together in person to get to know each other, ideate and do some work!

We spent time streamlining our processes—identifying friction points and developing practical solutions to improve how we work at every level. We also got to know each other and our roles within in the team better.

There were also countless interesting discussions: we talked about infrastructure changes, we further developed concepts for some highly requested features and we talked about how we can make the onboarding and education even better for all users. We remain committed to our core goal: building a tool that just works. It was great to regroup and discuss learnings from the last few months about this.

All in all, it was an excellent week spent together. We worked and laughed a lot, which was an excellent combination.

We actually got so deep into discussions about the future of Capacities that we decided to create a write-up of the answers to your questions instead of a video. So here are the main questions from the AMA and some answers!

When is this feature coming…

• Further API functions
• Custom themes
• Mobile/tablet overhauls
• Extra AI models
• More powerful queries
• Whiteboards

We receive a lot of feedback about missing features in Capacities and we really appreciate your enthusiasm and support as we grow. Balancing all the different requests is tricky though: everyone prioritizes differently, and it’s a challenge to align everything whilst also managing our resources and our own plans.

In short, almost everything matters*. Over time, we intend to add many more features, but right now, our focus is on refining what’s already there. We are determined to build an app that just works for you, and by getting rid of little frictions in your day-to-day usage of Capacities, we get closer to that goal. We must avoid creating a Frankenstein app with lots of features but without the cohesion that makes you want to actually use Capacities every day. We want to avoid a disjointed app and instead create a strong, reliable foundation before introducing big new features.

We appreciate that you still want to know when features are coming. We won’t be sharing precise timelines, simply because we don’t set them internally. Things shift frequently, and we must be able to adapt. We did this with offline mode last year, and it paid off.

For a general idea of our thinking, check out our latest ‘What’s Next’ article. If you don’t see your request there, it’s not currently in focus. We have also decided to add a line at the bottom of the release notes to tell you what we intend to work on next.

* We have published “What’s Not Next” though for further clarity.

Where does Capacities position itself within the spectrum of PKM and note-taking tools versus general productivity and project/task management tools?

Capacities is a note-taking tool and that will remain our core focus. We know there is crossover with project and task management, so we will add light features around that where it makes sense to.

How do we prioritize?

As a note-taking app, we prioritise additions/improvements that we feel are closest to the core of Capacities (e.g. task management does not feel that close to our core, whereas media and annotations do).

We also strongly believe in the “using multiple apps” approach. Capacities connects to other apps (e.g. task managers) so you can pick your setup of apps that all really work for their intended purpose. This way we can provide a superb note-taking experience that integrates with other great tools. You have a system without any compromises then, rather than a version of Capacities that tries to do too much but fails to deliver real value to you for anything specific. We will certainly add more integrations over time too.

What is smart media?

Smart media is an extension of the idea that ‘Capacities just works’. You should just be able to search your pdfs, or text in your images. You should be able to get transcripts from your audio notes, and annotate your pdfs. We will be adding all of these features over time. Media is a part of your note-taking system, and we want to treat it well. It needs to be integrated into every level of the app.

How have the team’s experiences and thoughts about the future of AI changed since the last off-site and iteration of the AI roadmap?

It’s not enough to have a simple AI chat in the app. AI has to be deeply integrated to generate added value compared to conventional AI chats available. This deep integration requires a strong foundation that takes time to build.

Nevertheless, we think there’s a lot of potential to make knowledge work more streamlined, efficient, and fun. We will integrate AI into Capacities where it creates value and we’ll leave it out where we think it doesn’t.

What do you think the future of PKM is? How does this influence Capacities beyond feature requests?

The future of PKM is this idea of something ‘just working’ for users. There shouldn’t be the need to learn complex terms, ideas or set ups. The tool should just work. It should create value without you needing to worry about it.

Over all the years of developing Capacities, what achievement are you most proud of?

Creating a sustainable company that is here for the long-term and building a team that has the skills we need to create an amazing future for Capacities!

What can the community do to better help grow Capacities besides subscribing?

Thank you for this question! It means so much that you want Capacities to grow too. The best thing to do is to tell your friends and family about Capacities, but more specifically tell them why they’d benefit from it.

How is Capacities mitigating against the risk of potentially having to close one day?

Sustainable business practices are at the centre of all we do, and have been from the beginning. Steffen and Michael own 100% of Capacities, we’re venture funded but solely by the support of our Believers and Pro users.

From a user perspective, you are free to export all your data at any point into a useful format and this will never change.

We wrote more about this in our “What if Capacities was gone tomorrow” blog post if you’d like to know more.

What features are the team most excited to implement?

We asked around, here are the answers!

What were the team’s own conceptual takeaways from the first AMA?

We’re excited for the future, and we just have to keep building. It’s amazing to see all the feedback but if we change our path up too much, we’ll lose focus. The way we pull off our mission as a small company is to be focused and efficient. 🚀

That’s everything for this AMA, thank you to everyone who submitted questions!