Watching how customers use our product always is gonna be the answer for every critical improvement in our innovation. No matter how revolutionary our thinking is, nothing matters if it is not simple, intuitive and deligtfully valuable for our target consumers.
I love your take on the “cringe test.” But for me, my perfectionism means everything can feel a bit cringe. I and I sometimes second guess it.
But in your case—as a mum who clearly resonates with your group—your taste and intuition are spot on.
When I think about my own product launches, I realise that what feels cringe to me might not land that way for others. I know this sounds like the “launch fast, launch early” bandwagon, but rather, being open that my sense of cringe may not apply to other people.
Power to you, I love your creativity and reflection!
Having intuition for what to do is important, but it sounds much easier than encouraging builders to pay attention to these problems especially in a company setting. Would love to hear if you have thought about this!
I couldn’t help but laugh when you mentioned the cringe moment of requiring sign-in before use. I wrestled with the same decision this week for my side project. Part of me wanted users to jump straight in, but I also worried about spiralling infra costs. One of the AI models I’m using for image analysis and character-consistent storybook generation kept exceeding limits, and I’d already stacked up multiple provider subscriptions.
After more testing, I have a clearer view of usage patterns and costs, but it left me with two tensions I think every PM building 0→1 AI products runs into:
System design trade-offs: how to protect resources and scale efficiently without breaking the magic of the first user experience.
Pricing clarity as product experience: how to make variable, usage-based AI costs feel simple and trustworthy to users.
I’ve decided to remove OAuth altogether in my next release. The fact that I was agonizing over the choice was a clear signal that letting people try it right away delivers a better experience.
Watching how customers use our product always is gonna be the answer for every critical improvement in our innovation. No matter how revolutionary our thinking is, nothing matters if it is not simple, intuitive and deligtfully valuable for our target consumers.
I love your take on the “cringe test.” But for me, my perfectionism means everything can feel a bit cringe. I and I sometimes second guess it.
But in your case—as a mum who clearly resonates with your group—your taste and intuition are spot on.
When I think about my own product launches, I realise that what feels cringe to me might not land that way for others. I know this sounds like the “launch fast, launch early” bandwagon, but rather, being open that my sense of cringe may not apply to other people.
Power to you, I love your creativity and reflection!
Having intuition for what to do is important, but it sounds much easier than encouraging builders to pay attention to these problems especially in a company setting. Would love to hear if you have thought about this!
I couldn’t help but laugh when you mentioned the cringe moment of requiring sign-in before use. I wrestled with the same decision this week for my side project. Part of me wanted users to jump straight in, but I also worried about spiralling infra costs. One of the AI models I’m using for image analysis and character-consistent storybook generation kept exceeding limits, and I’d already stacked up multiple provider subscriptions.
After more testing, I have a clearer view of usage patterns and costs, but it left me with two tensions I think every PM building 0→1 AI products runs into:
System design trade-offs: how to protect resources and scale efficiently without breaking the magic of the first user experience.
Pricing clarity as product experience: how to make variable, usage-based AI costs feel simple and trustworthy to users.
I’ve decided to remove OAuth altogether in my next release. The fact that I was agonizing over the choice was a clear signal that letting people try it right away delivers a better experience.
Can’t wait for Opal to be launched in Australia!