Product Update: Zapier Integration, Embeddable Charts, Focus Shift
As of today, it’s been just over three months since my last update! That’s a long time, and a lot has happened behind the scenes on Canopy Charts. I’ve been head down building some important features, and I’m excited to be able to tell you about them today!
Product Updates
Zapier Integration
The biggest new feature available today is a Zapier integration. What this means is that the charts you build with Canopy Charts can now be powered in real time with data from any app that Zapier supports.
This includes Google Sheets, Airtable, Stripe, Trello, and 4,000 others.
Building this integration has been the heaviest lift of the Canopy Charts product journey so far. I knew when I started building it that I needed to come up with a generalized data model that would let me easily extend the app to support any future integration, because Zapier may be the first but it is for sure not the last.
Reworking the data model and surrounding architecture was complex and time consuming, but I’m confident that the effort will pay off in the future when I end up adding integrations with more platforms.
Check out the documentation for information on how to connect your data to Canopy Charts via Zapier.
Embeddable Chart URLs
A smaller feature in terms of complexity, but equally powerful is the new ability to embed any chart you build in Canopy Charts into a webpage as a URL.
One of my top level goals is for Canopy Charts to be the easiest way to build data visualizations for data on the web, and a major part of fulfilling that goal is for you to be able to use these charts where you need them.
Up until this point the only option for deploying a chart was with the open source React.js library. But I know that many people will not be using React where they want to use Canopy Charts, and I also want Canopy Charts to be a powerful tool for anyone, regardless of coding ability.
But now, with embeddable URLs and API Keys to keep your data secure, you can bring Canopy Charts with you wherever you go! Whether it’s in a different web framework or your team’s Notion workspace, Canopy Charts can power all your data visualization needs.
Check out the documentation for more information on how to use embeddable chart URLs.
Focus Shift
Ever since I had the idea for Canopy Charts and wrote the first line of prototype code back in June 2021, the time and energy that I’ve been able to spend on the project has largely been focused on building the product. I’ve done a minimal amount of marketing — this newsletter is one piece of that, and I’ve been lucky enough to have a few conversations with potential customers.
But that balance is never going to get me off the ground in terms of revenue. As much as I would love to just code my way to business success, that’s not how it works.
So as of this week I will be making a major pivot to spending almost all of my time on marketing efforts. I have several blog posts lined up, as well as a plan for a cold outreach campaign. Maybe I’ll find a way to start posting more on twitter (@canopycharts).
The product in its current form is really useful. You can use it to build beautiful charts, and you can take them with you anywhere on the web. I know the right next step is not adding features, it’s putting the thing in front of more people to a) build an initial paying customer base, and b) use feedback from those early adopters to refine the product experience and get to the next level.
In case you can’t tell, I’m super excited about this! I’ve been building products for years, but I’ve never had the conviction I do about Canopy Charts.
Thanks so much for reading ❤️
Stay safe out there,
Matt Roll
