Devon Fanfair is managing partner at Devland, a startup studio and fund that invests in underrepresented entrepreneurs. Since using Superhuman, Devon has dramatically increased his responsiveness and creativity. Here's Devon's playbook…

Being a husband, father, founder, and entrepreneur, all at the same time, is beyond challenging — but I understand my purpose and I can't stop.

I want to build products that solve people's problems. But days go by so quickly, and if you can't execute effectively in your day to day, then you're going to lose months.

There are many productivity tools and platforms out there. But maybe 1% of them can make a direct impact within the first 24 hours of using it — and that's what Superhuman does.

From 53,000 emails to Inbox Zero

My co-founder, Miles Dotson, and I run Devland, a startup studio. For the last 5 years and counting, we have been building our own startups and co-building with wildly underestimated founders — to support and scale both.

You can imagine how important constant communication is when you're working with up to 15 startups at a time, while having 5+ email addresses. I have my personal email, my Devland email, and when we co-build with a company, they may give us an email as well.

Before Superhuman, I had 53,000 messages in my personal email — I was so busy building companies that I didn't have time to care about things like the email from the mortgage company.

I also had a couple hundred messages in each of my main business emails. The chances of me following up on an email were next to nothing. The care I took when communicating was a buffer for the many times I missed things with other co-founders or partners… but I knew that at some point, my grace had to run out!

But my co-founder Miles never missed anything...

Increased responsiveness within 24 hours

I had seen Miles navigating a really cool interface, using keyboard shortcuts for every action. At first, I thought he was just blowing through emails to say that they were done, but then I realized how effective and responsive he truly was. I thought to myself: "This man is a machine!"

Miles was using Superhuman — and the third time he sent me an invite, I finally signed up and got on my onboarding call.

How Superhuman transformed my email habits for good

Superhuman has given me time! It's one of the first tools that immediately changed my habits: increasing my communication and responsiveness, while decreasing the time I spend on email.

I sat down to learn Superhuman, like learning to play a video game, and I realized it only took 2 or 3 days to transform my workflow.

I started using keyboard shortcuts, like "H" for Remind Me. Things roll so fast that my priorities are always changing — but with Remind Me, I can bring an email back the next day, or whenever I'm ready to act on it.

For my Devland business, everything changed. By using keyboard shortcuts, I reduced the amount of time I was spending navigating my email. As well as using Remind Me, I was able to schedule meetings, including a Zoom link, very quickly.

Within the second day of using Superhuman, Miles had gone from joking that I was great if you could catch me in person, to noticing that I had become wildly connected and responsive.

Joining Superhuman felt like the greatest cheat code ever. The mobile app almost feels like texting. And I love Superhuman's dark mode as well — it calms my nerves (unlike Gmail dark mode).

My wife used to be the one reminding me to respond to my personal email. But now, I'm the one responding and reminding her! I cleared out 53,000 messages, and when I got to Inbox Zero and saw the beautiful image, I sat there thinking: "I don't feel bad anymore."

Regaining control of my day with Superhuman

We create best when we're in our best energy state.

But when email gets pushed — because you've run out of time and energy in your day — you go to bed with negative feelings. Then, when you wake up the next day, you already feel that you're behind.

Superhuman has brought me a complete shift in perspective and energy. It has allowed me to be on top of the day, rather than the day being on top of me.