Aytekin Tank is the founder of Jotform, an automation enthusiast and author. Founded in 2006, Jotform is the groundbreaking Wysiwyg Online Form Builder, the company has grown to serve more than 25 million users worldwide and employs a team of more than 650 companies. In 2016, Jotform.”
As CEO, he is proud to lead the company’s continued growth and development, with an annual growth rate of over 50% and committed to introducing cutting-edge features and integration.
Along with his position as CEO, Aytekin is also a productivity and automation advocate, who recently wrote the WSJ bestseller “”Automate your busy schedule. ”
Aytekin shares his philosophy as a columnist and CEO of Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fast Company and Unite.ai.
Jotform is one of the earliest Wysiwyg online form builders. What prompted you to create Jotform in 2006, and how did you validate its demand in the market?
When I worked as a developer at the New York Media Company, the idea of Jotform came up. One of my responsibilities is to create online forms from scratch. It was boring and redundant and never felt particularly inspired by me. This is also time-consuming. At some point, I thought to myself: There must be a faster and more effective way. So I started to shine as an entrepreneur – building my online form startups at night and weekends and counting at 9 to 5 per weekday.
To validate this idea, Jotform was inspired by the frustration I experienced. I think my role (as a developer for any organization) will benefit a lot. I started testing the waters with freemium products. Then, when I realized that people were willing to pay for it, I also developed a paid version. I decided to quit my daily job until my entrepreneurial income was equal to my salary. In the summer of 2005, I handed over my resignation and went all out.
You guided Jotform and grew it into a company that serves 25 million users. What was the biggest challenge you faced in your early years? How did you overcome them?
In the early days, remember that this was before AI rose, and my biggest challenge was spending time taking my company to the next level. Busy jobs like email, schedules and daily administrative tasks are monopolizing my schedule and frankly, I feel exhausted at the end of the day. I felt like I had never done enough, and at the same time, I was running in the air. This is a real puzzle. Worst of all, I know we lack the opportunity to provide users with adjacent products and services, thus making their lives easier.
It was a real watershed when I started looking for automation solutions in my own daily processes – for myself and for the business. This hasn’t changed the essence of my work, it has changed my approach. Instead of trying to accomplish as many tasks as possible on my to-do list, my approach starts with determining the redundant, time-consuming tasks that I can automate. Then, I found myself having more hours of working meaning, such as how strategies can launch new products and break into new markets. Not only that, I have more time to rest, which is crucial for long-term, sustainable growth.
How has the evolution of codeless and automation tools impacted Jotform’s product development and vision over the years?
The number of codeless and automation tools on the market soared. Arrive, if you don’t participate in the automation revolution, you can cause damage to your company and/or your career. However, our internal automation prioritization is one thing. On a corporate and personal level, we are always looking for new ways to automate manual tasks – in other words, we are looking to make our job easier. This illustrates our core mission – automating online forms and collaboration tools to make our users’ lives easier and constantly finding new ways. In a sense, we have practiced our preaching since the onset of automation.
Jotform will launch its AI agent on February 25, 2025. Can you give us an overview of the new product and its issues addressed in its purpose?
We are really happy to offer this new product to our users. I think that will change the way people work. Essentially, Jotform AI Agent Will help jotform users create online forms and achieve goals that require multiple steps. For example, instead of sending someone an event registration form, you send them a phone number. They call and provide the necessary information by talking to AI agents who understand natural language, so the person doesn’t have to stick to rigid scripts. For part of it, AI agents not only fill out forms, but are also updating company internal records, answering customer questions, and more. Importantly, AI agents can take the next step based on their own reasoning and decision making, thus reducing the need for human investment. The best part is: it doesn’t require a break or vacation time – it’s 24/7.
How is the Jotform AI agent different from other AI-powered chatbots and automation tools on the market?
For beginners, Jotform AI agents are more dynamic and autonomous like most agents. Their behavior and actions were not accepted. They are reasoning, making decisions, performing tasks and learning processes, all of which are their own. To further decompose, the chatbot responds to a simple decision tree with script responses. It must remain within its scope. On the other hand, AI agents can automatically reason and act, make complex decisions about novel problems, access information from the entire enterprise, and complete tasks accordingly. Google AI agents have been compared with chefs – planning recipes, collecting ingredients, developing dishes and tweaking. In this case, the chatbot is more like a chef following the scheduled recipe.
Businesses often struggle with customer service automation. How does a Jotform AI agent ensure more “friendly” and human-like interaction?
In our tests, we actually found that users prefer AI proxy interaction for a variety of reasons, most notably responsiveness and 24/7 availability. But it’s interesting that people also seem to be restricted when talking to AI customer service agents. They are not conscious of asking seemingly stupid questions. They don’t have to worry about asking the same questions repeatedly until they really understand something. In a sense, they are more likely to get the help and clarity they need. We found that customers are more concerned with getting the help they need effectively than exchanging pleasure, especially if this is a relatively quick problem to be solved.
Can users customize and train their AI agents to meet specific business needs, or follow preset workflows?
Yes. We are launching thousands of AI agents for a wide range of businesses and roles, from customer support and sales AI agents to tattoo studios and school administrators AI agents. For part of it, businesses can interact with their AI agents in real time to refine their responses and improve their knowledge base. For example, by adding relevant URLs, documents, and frequently asked questions, all designed to ensure that the agent provides accurate and useful information. One way that proxying is different from generating AI is their ability to retain information from past interactions. This allows them to train themselves as well, providing a more personalized customer experience with each engagement. Finally, training AI agents is intuitive and flexible – no coding experience required.
You’ve been lately Written on how AI agents change early entrepreneurship. If you started Jotform today, how will AI proxy change your approach?
When I started my business, I was very convinced that I would not accept external funds. I have confidence in my ideas, but I also feel that in order to build a business in a sustained way, I have to grow it organically. The route through VC funding may distort people’s perception of the effectiveness of Jotform. If I started Jotform today, I would have more reasons to follow the bootstrapping route. As I wrote, AI agents provide early entrepreneurs with many ways to automate routines, manage tasks and focus on improving their products and scaling their business.
So to answer your question, I don’t think AI agents will change my approach, but I can imagine I will scale faster and still won’t get great funding.
You have written extensive articles about automation, including in the book Automate your busy schedule. How do you use AI agents or automation tools to manage your daily tasks as CEO?
When it comes to my daily workload, I start with an automation-first approach – if there is an AI-driven tool to do tasks that don’t require my personal attention, then I might use some version. I use AI agents and automation tools to arrange, brainstorm, tighten my daily workflows, meetings, and more. The impact of automation is more complex between the time saved and the increase in impact. Consider a meeting: Instead of spending half an hour preparing the agenda, one hour in the meeting (your attention jumps between conversation and notes), and then preparing to review and draft follow-up emails, you can solve all the tasks related to the meeting, Enables you to focus entirely on the actual conversation. This is effortless.
What advice would you give to small businesses that want to integrate AI into their workflow but are unsure where to start?
If I’m going to offer one piece of advice from startups and small businesses, it’s to monitor the latest AI tools and spend time experimenting and putting it into your daily workflow to automate as many manual processes as possible. It may require some slack building in your schedule, but you will recapture this time after you start automating and delegating an AI agent. But perhaps the most important change is your energy: Instead of confusing your growing to-do list, you have the space and time to handle more meaningful tasks that energize you, which brings you to life Reminds of why why, first, you threw your hat into the entrepreneur ring.
Thank you for your excellent interview, readers encourage visits to Jotform and read his book Automate your busy scheduleor read some of his books on our website.
