Conducted a 6-month experiment on an accountability service with 100 users, achieving a transformative shift that captured A16z's attention.
Starting point
Ben Nevile (CTO) and Julien Smith (CEO) approached me with this vision: Could we develop a service that connects students and teachers asynchronously, offering accountability partnerships and personal goal pursuit?
The three of us, all former Breather leaders, secured $2M in initial funding. Nicolas Bichon joined as our iOS leader, and for six months, we experimented with closed beta users to understand coaching patterns and a potential product-market fit.
Strategy for a signal
Our initial goal was to onboard 100 users in 3 months. We reached out to subject-matter experts, pitched our asynchronous coaching subscription, and matched them with individuals from our waitlist looking to establish new habits.
To ensure user goals and pairing expectation, all onboarding was done through manual video calls. For several weekly cycles,
our product process prioritized the development of highly requested features that matched our weekly themes.
Meeting our first users
Emphasis on accountability: Coaches acknowledged that a significant part of their role involves providing accountability and check-ins. Learners recognized the importance of timely assistance in building habits, as weekly or monthly sessions weren't always effective.
Diversifying revenue: Coaches were attracted by the idea of alternative monetization beyond hourly sessions.
Overcoming early hurdles: Many learners faced challenges in finding and connecting with subject-experts, with this initial process being intimidating for some.
Product and design vision
Our initial users have reinforced our product vision: to build a comprehensive product that combines messaging and habit-building tools. The early MVP allowed both parties to effortlessly set and complete a daily objective.
Learnings: Retention was robust with domain experts coaching their established clients but less so with newly facilitated student-coach pairings: Inadequate introductions, a lack of goal setting, or failure to establish trust within the first 48 hours often led to the relationship ending abruptly.
User feedbacks and requests
As domain experts integrated our service as an add-on to their existing offerings, we became less involved in student-coach pairing. This influx of users led to numerous feature requests, particularly related to habit tracking and program building.
Our habit-tracker MVP was too lightweight and failed to deliver substantial value. Users desired the capability to create coaching programs, set milestones, log past activities, and introduce simple functionalities like "snoozing" or sending audio messages.
The turning point
While COVID-19 wasn't the primary driver of this shift, it did accelerate our learning. The pandemic compelled individuals to adjust their work habits.
Our original concept of "coaching in your pocket" lost some of its appeal as remote work became prevalent. Business experts' demands evolved toward more pressing needs, primary around online booking and payments.
We have built something that a core group of users love, but we have concluded that the market opportunity isn’t big enough.
A strong demand for a CRM solution for solopreneurs has set the stage for our next move and this service was the one that catch a16z.
Learning and Take-Away
1. The matchmaking concept, evolving into a marketplace, raised trust issues. Being an unknown company and connecting two strangers through messaging lacked the personal touch necessary for success.
2. Coaches desired a mobile companion for their clients, even though they lacked their own effective management system. This unexpected but crucial need should have been identified earlier.
3. Imposing a framework suited beginners, but meeting the customization demands of senior professionals was challenging for delivering a simple and intuitive mobile experience in our validation phase.
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