kylebolt

Great point!

This sounds interesting. Although this use case is very infrequent. If this had a wider use case, like something used daily, that just might be be a viable product!

Yes, no point in more distribution when users were not retaining. Although, it was hard to even get those first few thousand users to try the product.

Yes exactly, having the same app and features on android would still have leave to all users churning like they did on iOS.

Think Clubhouse only moving to android when it was working on iOS.

Well I built it, they came but they did not stay! Would love to know your thoughts on how to validate something for retention.

Stack rank is very underrated as a prioritization tool

This is true, "habits" is too general of a topic. This is why Strava chose cycling as their first sport and expanded from there. Smart of you to focus on fasting, hot topic! Wishing you all the best.

The worst part about a lesson like this is that it can take years to really get to this conclusion. I'm trying to ask myself "who is the buyer of this product". This is happening a lot in digital health where the payor isn't the end user.

We also launched via paid ads (spent around 2k on Apple Ads and FB ads)

I thought habits might be an interesting market to work in + using a chatbot as a novel approach but alas my approach did not pan out.

Good spot, thank you!

Thanks for reading! I'm focusing more on distribution and monetization (or ability to pay) on my next product.

Yes people find it hard to stick to new habits let alone tracking them in an app. Good experience building these things nevertheless.

This sounds interesting, I think the advantage here is that you've focused on 1 use case where I was focused on many habits. Keeping it focused on one niche like journaling makes more sense.

So true, it's an inferior user experience is most all cases where a UI could suffice. (A game product could be the exception)

I thought failing on 1 platform would be more economical than failing on 2 :)

My next product is going to be totally focused on this single point -> Sell to people who can write the check, and have a budget to spend

Yes great re-cap, thank you!

Even though I've read and heard about these common mistakes, sometimes we have to learn by doing to truly find out if they apply to our use case.

Very true, they are more product focused vs. habit / self development focused.

Thanks for reading!

“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

Glad you enjoyed it! I've meditated on that point now for a few months... it's an important distinction in the maker community. Building a product vs. building a business.

I've still got lots to learn! Thanks for watching / reading

haha let me check my numbers again

Yes this is the confusing thing about creative endeavours. Lean start up says to learn quickly and pivot yet so many artists work on the movies, games, and books for years and years. I guess we need to realize that most of us are not James Cameron :)

Yes I've now learned that lessons, luckily I've not quit my day job.

Yes totally, I thought "hey using a chatbot would be like texting an accountability friend or coach" but in reality that gimmick just doesn't work. Since tracking habits requires displaying data, a user interface with visual elements is more effective than a chat UI.

Good point! I'm working on localizing for Spanish, German and Portuguese in next version.

Well we will see have version 2 goes!

I tired Apple Ads, Facebook and Youtube. But no matter how many folks I got in the top of funnel, most chured out... so adding more marketing spend would just have me spending $2 to make $1.

This is exactly the moment I figured out this version is dead. At first I was thinking "ok I have a good product and now all I need are more folks in the top of funnel" but when all users chured out within 60-90 days... adding more marketing wasn't going to save it.