Over $100 million was spent by Microsoft on the acquisition of this man's start-up, but he still became unhappy.

• Although it was a substantial sum and a pivotal moment in Christian Reber's life, it didn't elicit the expected emotional response.
• In 2021, he founded a new to-do list app called Superlist, which he describes as the “unofficial successor to Wunderlist.” Despite not being ready to give up, he persevered and created a new app.
• He founded another company called Pitch, which competes with Microsoft's PowerPoint.

In 2015, acquired Wunderlist, a to-do list app created by Christian Reber, for a reported sum between $100 million and $200 million.

Although it was a substantial sum and a pivotal moment in Reber's life, he didn't experience the expected emotions.

The Berlin-based entrepreneur said that selling Wunderlist was a bizarre experience for him, as he shared with CNBC.

As a father of two, I can say that I felt like I lost a child and got depressed, resulting in extreme unhappiness.

Wunderlist, a straightforward app, gained approximately 16 million users during its existence. Notably, users could utilize it on both their phone and computer.

Selling it was difficult for Reber, as it was a significant aspect of his life.

He stated that he felt completely detached from his team and the company he founded.

When asked to elaborate on his emotions at that moment, Reber responded, "You should consult my therapist."

Now, Reber admits that he was not adequately mentally prepared to sell Wunderlist, a project he had been working on for five years and trying to expand as much as possible.

He found selling everything all at once to be completely unintuitive, he stated.

Charlette Prevot, Reber's partner and co-founder of Wunderlist, was pregnant when Microsoft made an offer.

As a founder, I had to decide whether to raise a growth round and attempt to make this business profitable or to sell it for a substantial profit, ensuring my family's financial independence.

Eventually, Reber and Prevot decided to leave the start-up rollercoaster, which had almost caused their business to fail on multiple occasions.

"I was completely burnt out and tired, and it felt like the best decision for everyone involved to sell the company," Reber said, adding that he had to put on a "poker face" as he did it.

I didn't celebrate or party when I sold it, instead I felt sad and muted all my emails. I was so upset that I even asked my wife to take our child because I didn't want him to see me being sad. This isn't a joke, I was holding my child and felt so overwhelmed with emotions that I couldn't bear the thought of my child seeing me in such a state.

It took Reber around a year or two to accept the sale.

I am financially independent, which is great," he said. "I created something that had a significant positive impact. Wunderlist will always be remembered as a fantastic product, and many people got amazing jobs at Microsoft because of it. So there's no reason to be frustrated about it.

Plea to Satya

Despite selling Wunderlist a few years ago, Reber still found it difficult to accept the changes that had occurred.

In 2019, Microsoft revealed its intention to close down Wunderlist and launch Microsoft To Do as its replacement.

In September of that year, Reber attempted to purchase the app he had devoted a significant amount of time to from Microsoft.

Even though Wunderlist is still popular and loved by users, Microsoft plans to shut it down, as stated by Reber on Twitter in Sept. 2019.

He requested to purchase it back, addressing his request directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Marcus Ash, vice president of product and engineering at Microsoft.

His bid was unsuccessful and Microsoft pulled the plug on Wunderlist in 2020.

Reber wasn’t ready to give up, however.

Superlist is Wunderlist’s ‘unofficial successor’

In 2021, he established a new to-do list application called Superlist, which he characterizes as the "unofficial successor to Wunderlist."

Microsoft shutting down Wunderlist left Reber feeling frustrated because he felt the app never became the product he had envisioned building.

He stated that our goal was to establish the de facto standard application for collaborating on personal projects and in business.

There are either enterprise-level tools like Asana and Trello or personal to-do list apps like Things and To Do available.

Reber stated that he felt that the bridge between both options was not fully achieved. He explained that on one hand, there are software programs that are highly organized for project managers, but on the other hand, there are personal to-do apps that make collaboration difficult.

Superlist aims to serve as the ideal link between personal task management applications and corporate collaboration tools. Its purpose is to facilitate the growth of a project from a single individual to a team of 100 or 200 members.

The company currently has around 20 employees and has secured $3 million in funding, with a future funding round on the horizon.

"What's driving me is the dream of creating my own Microsoft," Reber said.

Although he doesn't put all his eggs in one basket, Reber has also founded another company called Pitch, which competes with Microsoft's PowerPoint.

According to Reber, the motivation behind starting the company was the belief that presentations have a significant impact on shaping the world and making major decisions in business and politics.

He stated: "Imagine a tool that integrates the features of PowerPoint, SlideShare, and Docs."

The business, founded four years ago, has approximately 160 employees and has recently raised $130 million, valuing it at $600 million.

According to Reber, raising funding for technology companies is currently easy because there is an abundance of money available. As a frequent founder, he believes that this is the best time to raise funds.