A Thanksgiving Note: Tough love for the product we rely on 🦃

[Christiaan_Huizer]

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating!

Today is all about gratitude, and I want to start by stating the obvious: I am incredibly thankful for Coda. It didn’t just change how I handle data; it reshaped my entire career.

But as we all know, when you truly love something, you don’t just offer praise—you offer protection. And sometimes, protecting a product means having an honest conversation about where it is heading. My concern isn’t born out of frustration, but out of a desire to see Coda win.

I wrote this piece because I believe Coda is endangering itself by chasing the wrong metrics. We need to stop worrying about the “low floor” and remember that this tool was built to shatter the ceiling.

Here is my take on how the “Excel Killer” lost its way, and why we need to steer it back.

https://medium.com/p/bdcab7c6c899

[Doug_Loud]

I’m intrigued this is considered “Off-Topic”. It is totally On-Topic. Christiaan raises serious issues that we Coda lovers must contend with. Grammarly and SuperHuman are great but not vital. Coda is a vital core platform. Its power and usefulness must be preserved and amplified. More importantly, its power and value must be presented to the world of users. Where are the ads? Where are the User Guides? Where is Coda for Dummies? I do not want Coda to wither away and be subsumed. I do not want to go back to writing macros. Even in my workflow world, Coda is still at the heart of everything I do. Read Christiaan’s note and think about it. Is management listening?

[Christiaan_Huizer]

I couldn’t have said it better, @Doug_Loud. “Great but not vital” is the perfect distinction.

Superhuman and Grammarly are passengers; Coda is the engine.

I saw @Bill_French weighed in with his “funeral” for the workshop, but I think that misses the mark. We don’t need to bury the tool; we need to accept what it is.

My main argument in this new post is that a well-designed high ceiling actually works to the benefit of the average user. When we accept that Coda is an Engine—built by Architects to be used by Teams—everything gets clearer.

That said, it is easier to criticise than to offer concrete solutions. My goal is to actually contribute to Coda’s success (and this new Superhuman chapter). So, while this post diagnoses the problem, the final blog (Part 3) will focus entirely on a viable roadmap for the future.

Here is the deep dive on why the “Low Floor” was a trap, and why we need to embrace the Engine:

https://huizer.medium.com/chasing-the-ghost-of-notion-codas-trap-95c0842cb390?

[Christiaan_Huizer]

In my previous post, Chasing the Ghost of Notion, I discussed the strategic traps of the last few years. Building on that analysis, I wanted to shift gears and propose a constructive path forward for 2026.

I wrote up a “roadmap” proposal based on my experience, and I wanted to share it here for feedback.

My central argument is that the era of the casual “Maker” is shifting. In an AI world, we need to become Architects. We don’t necessarily need more features; we need the infrastructure to build a “Global Context” (the source of truth) that protects our Editors and actually makes AI agents useful, rather than just hallucinating on messy data.

I discuss:

• Why the pivot to “low floor” was necessary for survival.

• The difference between Local Context (Superhuman) and Global Context (Coda).

• Why we need to kill the “Ingest Everything” fallacy.

• A proposal for strictly separating the “Architect” and “Editor” roles.

I’d love to hear if this resonates with the friction points you are seeing with your own teams or clients.

https://huizer.medium.com/coda-s-future-in-a-superhuman-world-93bbf1664cbd?postPublishedType=initial

[Max_OBrien]

Bravo @Christiaan_Huizer, well said indeed.

These blogs form the most coherent and well articulated summary of the current state of Coda and a clear vision for it’s possible future.

A ‘masters thesis’ very well researched with a strongly opinionated strategic direction from a highly vested ‘soldier in the trenches’.

I hope with all my heart that Coda is wise enough to listen with humility and gratitude to this very clear set of messages.

May I add my own vote of support to this manifesto.

Please listen and respond @Shishir_Mehrotra and company.
Your most ardent supporters are awaiting your response, and we are impatient with the lack of business opportunities we are seeing at present.

We can see the strengths of Coda very clearly, but we do not see those being improved or exploited at present.

Our patience is being tested, and is not unlimited.

Well done @Christiaan_Huizer for articulating our concerns so well.

Respect
Max

[Nina_Ledid]

@Christiaan_Huizer

That said, it is easier to criticise than to offer concrete solutions.

I’ve greatly enjoyed following your blog post series, @Christiaan_Huizer , your points are incredibly concise and well articulated. Thank you for sharing!

I second @Doug_Loud’s response - most definitely ON-Topic!

[Jean_Pierre_Traets]

Dear @Christiaan_Huizer

Your solid reflection is very well underwritten and hopefully will encourage the investors in this project to question the executive about the agenda.

What have been the deliverables?

What are the constraints and opportunities?

I understand that these are not public, but on the other hand, we stakeholders in a role as: Makers, “Architects”, Advocates deserve clear signals of engagement.

We signed NDA’s, you do not request this when the stakeholder is considered in relevant, isn’t it?

Be brave and show respect towards the ones that invest in Coda, nevertheless your decision, it is not possible to meet everyone’s expectations.

Reflect, Decide and be Proud, no other SaaS managed to deliver what you accomplished so far.

[Emma_Wyatt]

Hi, all!

I want to acknowledge that the team has seen the post and all of your replies. I’m working internally to get as many answers as I can to the points you raised in your latest article, Christiaan. I aim to be back by the end of the week.

Thank you!

[Emma_Wyatt]

Hi, @Christiaan_Huizer. I’m following up on some thoughts and feedback from our team:

On roadmap and communication
While we don’t plan to share a detailed public roadmap, we do understand the need for more context about our priorities. We’ll address this through other ways, like webinars and community discussions, where we can give more background and answer questions directly.

On roles, UX, and pricing
We appreciate you raising thoughtful points around roles, usability, and pricing. The team acknowledges the perspective you’ve shared and notes that it’s been discussed internally. Next year, we plan to convene small groups for feedback on specific topics, especially pricing structure, and will follow up with you about joining these sessions when invitations are sent.

On data architecture, permissions, and scale
We know this is important and are working on it. Making large docs faster and more reliable is a top priority, including better performance, memory use, and support for bigger tables and databases. We’re also moving toward separating databases from docs, which will help us scale and make sharing data safer. This work is foundational to improving slow loading and memory crashes on mobile, since we won’t need to load every row of every table when opening a doc. Overall, we’re putting more resources into mobile and database improvements in 2026.

On integrations and packs
Recently, we released several new first-party Packs, such as Outlook Calendar and Outlook Mail, which the community used to maintain. More SaaS providers are now taking ownership, too. For example, Common Room has published its own Pack. As we add more integrations, we’re starting deeper partnerships and are talking with more companies about building and maintaining reliable, native integrations.

On global support, compliance, and international needs
We appreciate you calling out the importance of better supporting customers outside the US. Today, our support coverage spans roughly 3 pm–2 am CET, and we recognize that this doesn’t fully align with core business hours in Europe. As part of becoming a more unified Superhuman team, we’re actively prioritizing expanding non-US support coverage in 2026. From a compliance and reliability standpoint, we are GDPR-compliant, participate in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, and maintain 24×7 engineering coverage to ensure global system stability. At the same time, we want to be clear that we’re not currently working toward an EU-based data residency solution.

On power-user features and visibility
We’ve also heard your feedback about making power-user and maker features more visible. For example, features like OnActionError logic and the ExportCSV action were released quietly. We know we can do better. We’re working on clearer communication and announcements, and plan to be more active in forums, so builders can easily find and use these tools.

Thanks again for sharing this and engaging so openly with us. We’re grateful for the care you bring to both the product and the community, and we’re looking forward to the opportunities ahead in 2026. Wishing you a happy holiday season, and we’re excited to keep the conversation going in the new year.

[Christiaan_Huizer]

Hi @Emma_Wyatt ,

Thank you for this thoughtful and transparent follow-up. It means a lot to see the team engaging so openly with the “Architect” perspective.

The highlight here is undoubtedly the confirmation that you are moving toward separating databases from docs. As I wrote in the piece, this is the foundational shift—the “infrastructure pillar”—that changes everything regarding scale, mobile performance, and permissions. Hearing that this is a priority for 2026 gives us a solid reason to stay excited.

I also appreciate the honesty regarding EU data residency. While it’s not the answer many European businesses hoped for, clarity is always better than ambiguity.

I would be happy to join the focus groups on pricing and roles next year. As noted, getting the model right for “distributing” docs is just as important as building them.

Wishing the whole team a relaxing holiday season. Let’s make 2026 the year Coda truly scales.

Best, Christiaan

[Bill_French]

@Christiaan_Huizer

happy to join the focus groups

Ditto! (empty spaces to make this post)

[joost_mineur]

@Christiaan_Huizer

I would be happy to join the focus groups on pricing and roles next year. As noted, getting the model right for “distributing” docs is just as important as building them.

Me too, please!!!
Coda is extremely powerful, but many documents are hard to share or distribute properly. I can give constructive feedback about what’s needed for better commercial use.