Wunderlist was created in 2011 by Berlin-based startup 6Wunderkinder, fronted by founder and CEO, Christian Reber. “We grew faster than we ever dreamed of and from then on, it became a serious product.” (source: ) “We launched it and literally had overnight success with it,” said 6Wunderkinder CEO Christian Reber on Wunderlist’s initial release.

So, t o honour one of the most successful apps to come out of Germany, let’s take a look at how it all began and how it came to be. While the acquisition was a happy day for the Wunderlist team, it was a sad day for many to-do list enthusiasts, as those who were familiar with Microsoft’s habit of buying small successful products and then discontinuing them feared that Wunderlist would suffer the same fate. After all, for some, the point of creating a startup is to eventually have the product or service sold for squillions, is it not? And if I were a startup who created a product so successful that someone was willing to give me literal millions for it, I’d also have done what the Wunderlist founders did. I get it, if I were a tech heavyweight with lots of cash and wanted to eliminate the competition, I’d have done just the same. The popular list and task management app was acquired by Microsoft in 2015 and while many were hoping that the tech giant would somehow incorporate Wunderlist into their Office repertoire, it seems that after years of a “will they? Won’t they” scenario, they’ve decided to shut it down. It had 13 million users and more than 1 billion to-dos at the time of the acquisition. What’s significant about this shutdown-compared to other app shutdowns-is that Wunderlist’s discontinuation isn’t because of a decline in sales or poor user count. As you may have already heard, Wunderlist is due to shut down on the 6th of May, 2020.

The wunderlist