Strategic Pivot Based on User Research and AI Analysis
A Lean Startup Case Study
Project Overview
Introduction
The creator economy is booming, but many digital artists are still trapped between inconsistent commissions and the high costs of physical merchandise.
The rise and fall of NFTs showed us one thing: there's a massive appetite for digital ownership. I believed a new medium was waiting to be unlocked, and my search started in the most unlikely of places: the local bookstore.
The Hypothesis
I scoured every bookstore in a 25-mile radius and noticed a strange trend. Self-help books on "managing depression" were collecting dust on sale racks, but right next to them, entire walls were dedicated to beautifully illustrated card decks designed to tackle the very same problems.
From wellness and comedy to education and gaming, the card deck was thriving as a physical medium. Online research confirmed it: artists, influencers, and even small businesses were building entire brands around their own custom decks.
The hypothesis: I could bring this proven, beloved format to a wider audience through digitization.
Initial Blueprint
My first approach was to build a two-sided marketplace on a mobile app. On one side, creators would have the tools and templates to design their digital card decks. On the other, consumers would find a wellness-focused app, using these decks as a ritualistic tool to improve their mental health.
The vision was ambitious and, I thought, exactly what the market needed.
Measure & Learn
With the initial design taking shape, I started sharing the concept with target consumers. Their feedback, while polite, was worrying. They thought it was "interesting," but almost no one could see it fitting into their own lives. This told me I had a serious problem.
Riskiest Assumption Test: "Is This Actually Wanted?"
My biggest assumption was that people felt a strong enough need for a platform of digital card decks to solve their wellness problems. The conversations revealed a clear answer: they didn't. The success of physical decks was tied to the artist's brand and the deck's specific promise, not the medium itself.
The Jobs-to-be-Done Misfit
The lukewarm feedback was a classic symptom of a Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) misfit. The "job" I thought users would hire my app for was "improve my overall mental health." This is painfully vague and competes with everything from therapy to a walk in the park. The app wasn't being hired because the job it offered was poorly defined.
Without a validated user need, this user flow for a simple feature became bloated.
The "Problem-Unaware" Users
Perhaps the most important insight from the feedbacks was that my target users were largely ‘Problem-Unaware.’ Much like an office worker who might not realize their daily tasks can be automated, my potential users were not familiar with the frameworks that informed my approach to wellness. I was offering a sophisticated solution to people who hadn't yet identified the underlying issue.
This created a massive strategic gap. For a solo founder, the effort required to educate an entire market from scratch was an un-winnable battle, a complete misfit for my goal of finding a loyal user base quickly.
The Pivot
The culmination of vague user feedback, a bloated design, and the dawning realization of the business model complexity forced a reckoning. The project was struggling, and to save it, I had to perform a pivot.
From Wellness to Empowerment
The first thing to go was the abstract "wellness" angle. Instead, I focused on the clearest problem I had found: artists and creators want to monetize their work and connect with their audience. The new hypothesis was simple and direct: "Help creators sell digital card decks."
An AI-Assisted Strategic Validation
The pivot is still a hypothesis, and I wanted to validate it with more than just a gut feeling. I decided to utilize an AI deep research tool to perform a Viability and Feasibility Analysis. I created my founder profile, then pitted the new creator-focused concept against several other startup concepts. The AI was prompted to research and rate each idea based on Y Combinator's startup metrics.
The initial report was insightful. It scored the idea 6.9/10, praising the market fit and demand but flagging the extreme difficulty of building a two-sided marketplace.
This quick, data-driven check validated my strategy and quantified the core challenge I had to solve.
The Game Changer: Progressive Web Apps (PWA)
With the problem now clearly defined by the AI analysis, the search for a solution became incredibly focused. The question was no longer "How do I build a marketplace?" but "How do I avoid the 'extreme difficulty' of a traditional two-sided marketplace launch?"
Then came the breakthrough: Progressive Web Apps (PWA). Instead of a single, monolithic app, I could provide creators with their own white-label, brand-able PWAs. It completely sidestepped the "chicken-or-egg" problem and allowed me to leverage my strongest skills in web development.
To close the loop, I updated the prompt with the new PWA architecture. The impact was apparent: the score jumped from 6.9 to 7.9/10, with the AI calling the PWA approach a "superior solution to the business model's core challenge."
The PWA architecture was the optimal strategic choice, aligning my skills, the product goals, and the business needs.
The New MVP
The AI analysis also helped illuminate the most logical path forward. The final roadmap is a classic Concierge MVP strategy, designed to build both sides of a marketplace sequentially, ensuring product-market fit every step of the way.
Concierge MVP Roadmap
01 Create My Own Deck
First, I will build a single, high-quality digital card deck myself, acting as the platform's first creator.
02 Build a Following
I will market this deck to find my first users, testing features and gathering direct feedback on what makes a digital deck valuable.
03 Launch Creator Tools
Once I have a small but engaged user base and have proven the model, I will connect with other creators who want to achieve the same success and launch the PWA creator tools.
04 Launch the Marketplace
Finally, with a stable of creators and an established user base, I can launch the central marketplace to connect them.
I mapped out new user flows and wireframes.
Validation
Armed with the refined PWA concept and the "Concierge MVP" roadmap, I returned to the creator community. This time, the reaction was genuine excitement. The focus on empowerment and providing a direct-to-fan monetization tool resonated deeply, validating the pivot.
"Being able to offer a digital version of my deck in my own branded app, without having to hire a developer? That would be a complete game changer for me."
— Music Ed Deck Creator
Conclusion & Reflection
As my first solo end-to-end venture, this project taught me a crucial lesson in humility. I started out with a brilliant idea—or so I thought—pouring my energy into a wellness app that perfectly matched my personal beliefs. But when I spoke with actual users, the polite disinterest was deafening, but it was also the most important data I gathered.
In that feedback, I learned to connect the dots between their lack of interest and the product's true potential. My initial vision was something I wanted to exist, but the new direction is something they confirmed they would use. The process of separating my ego from the solution and following the evidence was where the real breakthrough happened.
This project has drove home the reality that success isn't about perfectly executing a personal vision. It's about listening deeply and building something that genuinely works for people, and that they would actually use.
