2026 · Founder + Product Engineer
Open Read
Gmail add-on that shows real-time notifications when your emails are opened — lightweight, private, no tab switching.
- Chrome Extension
- Express.js
- Prisma
- PostgreSQL
- Socket.io
- Stripe
What it was
Email tracking tools either live outside Gmail or feel bloated. Open Read is a Gmail add-on that stays native: install it, insert a tracker before sending, and get a notification the moment the recipient opens it — without leaving your inbox. It works across devices (iPhone and Android Gmail clients) and leaves no visible trace for the recipient. Aimed at solo founders and early-stage teams who depend on email for sales and follow-ups, with a free tier for casual use and a $8.99/month plan for unlimited tracking.
My role
Built the full product: Chrome extension that injects the tracker into Gmail, Node.js backend with WebSocket for real-time open events, Postgres for history, and a React dashboard for analytics. Also handled the landing page, pricing, and deploy on Railway.
What I learned
The real competition isn’t Mailtrack — it’s the tracking that’s already baked into HubSpot, Streak, and every CRM people use for sales. The user who wants tracking without a full CRM is a real segment, but smaller than it looks. Most people either don’t care enough to install anything, or they care enough to already be inside a CRM.
The free tier is a double-edged constraint. Ten trackers a month is enough for casual users to never feel the need to upgrade — they stay on free forever. The Growth plan only converts when someone is sending enough tracked emails that the limit actually hurts, which means the real target is much narrower than “solo founders and early-stage teams.”