How I built a thriving business on Coda Packs

Have you built something great, but nobody used it? That’s why I shifted my career to solve problems for people who need and use my solutions every day.

Leandro Zubrezki

Founder at Packs4Coda

How I built a thriving business on Coda Packs

By Leandro Zubrezki

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Engineering · 5 min read
My career in software development began with an event that looked like a failure: dropping out of college. You hear stories all the time of people taking unconventional routes to get where they are today and now, looking back, leaving college was that path for me. Grades never mattered to me. Solving real problems faced by real people did. Besides that, I knew I could keep up with the speed of technological developments on my own better than an institution could. And I could do that while working on actual problems, instead of completing assignments—a much more rewarding feedback loop for me. So I taught myself JavaScript, HTML, and CSS and began freelancing. That freedom was great. But a few years ago, I turned to building my own products and found a thriving community of independent software developers. Building solutions directly for customers, instead of freelancing for larger software companies, connected me directly to people who needed help. This career pivot has been my favorite move yet. I can solve problems for everyday people right away, and I know my work is connecting with the people who actually need my solutions. One of the first tools that helped me build problem-solving tools was Coda, and it’s remained a key part of my toolset. I’d love to share a little bit more about that process.

Why Coda?

 I’ve built a career around solving problems, much like the engineers behind Coda, so it was the perfect foundation for my own coding. Coda collects all the tools and programs I need to get my work done in one intuitive doc space. I use it daily to communicate, brainstorm, create, iterate, and test the things I build. And the main reason Coda is able to do everything I need? Packs.

What are Packs?

 Packs are plug-and-play integrations that allow users to connect hundreds of different programs to their Coda docs. Want to see/track/communicate about your designs in Figma without switching tabs? There’s a Pack for that. Want to double-check the events on your Google Calendar or add something to it? There’s a Pack for that. There are over 500 Packs, so I could keep going with this for a while. But you get the idea. Some Packs are simple views of other programs or platforms that you can integrate into your Coda doc, and some let you edit or create information in other SaaS platforms or programs.
With so many Packs ready-made, chances are good there’s one already made for whatever you need. But if you happen to need something really specific that isn’t already a Pack, you can always add your own to Coda’s ever-growing library. (On that note, if there are any Packs you need but don’t see in the library, give me a shout out on Twitter and I’ll see what I can do.) I build Packs that I need, that I think other people might need, and, occasionally, for fun. In fact, I just won the 2024 Canva Hackathon by building a Pack that lets Coda users see, edit, or create new designs in Canva from inside a Coda doc. It’s great for teams and enterprises who are using Canva for designs and Coda for project management. This integration impressed the judges, and I hope it’ll impress the Canva users in your life too.

My favorite Packs.

 Here are a few of the Packs I use on a near daily basis:

Gmail Pack.

 I can’t promise you’ll never open Gmail in its own tab again after you install the Gmail Pack, but it will absolutely save you from switching tabs more often than not. With this Pack installed, you can read and send emails from inside Coda, which is big enough on its own. But creative developers are adding new templates all the time that power it up even further. These templates make it easy to track your rideshare app spending, send invites and collect RSVPs to an event, or build out a to-do list for your emails. I use this Pack in several different Coda automations, mostly to send myself summaries of information and important changes in data from other Packs.
Try this Pack yourself

RSS Pack.

 I built this Pack a few years ago to keep track of my favorite new articles on blogs and news sites. It pulls the latest headlines into a table that lets me see what’s being reported on where without the fluff and frills of a news site. Now, instead of switching between half a dozen different tabs, I can quickly scan headlines and jump right into articles I want to read.
Try this Pack yourself

Google Search Console Pack.

 If you publish any kind of content anywhere on the internet, you can probably guess how important this integration is. The Google Search Console Pack lets me track the performance of blog posts and keywords in the same Coda doc I use to write those blogs, plan content calendars, and iterate social media posts. That means my earliest drafts of any blogs are informed by immediately accessible data. It’s a game changer to be able to see the granular and big picture in one space.
Try this Pack yourself

Keep a Changelog Pack.

 I use my RSS pack most days for news and entertainment, so I wanted to build a similar view for another site I use every day, GitHub. The Keep a Changelog Pack is specifically for tracking the changes of public GitHub repositories, like an RSS feed. I get immediate updates when a collaborator finds a bug or updates code, so I never miss a change to any piece of code.
Try this Pack yourself

Paddle Classic Pack.

 I sell subscriptions to one of my software solutions through Paddle, a general subscription platform. It’s a solid system, but I built this Pack to pull all of my data into a single Coda doc. It shows subscriber info, which subscription plans are available, and when payments are due. Having all of that in the same space is a life saver.
Try this Pack yourself

Why I built a career on Packs.

 One of the worst feelings for any creator is when you build something great—and then no one uses it. It stings, even though it’s inevitable at some point in any builder’s career. But when you can see something that you built is providing value, that’s when everything changes. It really motivates you to keep going. Connecting directly with an audience that is excited about your products is the only way to keep from burning out. And that’s what happens when you create with Coda. The Coda community is so engaged, and makers from all over the world are excited to create more interesting and powerful docs and Packs. I love how easy it is to plug into this community, how quick the feedback loop can be for new designs, and how directly you, as a maker, can build a connection with your customers. Coda is also the most comprehensive of the SaaS platforms I use. So, while I build solutions and integrations for several platforms, I keep my actual work in Coda.

Which Packs could speed up your work?

 If you haven’t experimented with Coda’s Packs, I strongly encourage you to do so. I don’t know of many other platforms with an integration library this vast, so I’m not surprised Packs have been gaining more recognition—I’m pretty sure Canva loved my entry to their Hackathon because of the powerful potential of this enterprise pairing. I think that’s the promise of this era in coding—building agile but powerful tools that work together seamlessly. If you haven’t connected Coda to the tools you use, find a Pack and try it for yourself.
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