Swap a complex editor for a chat assistant that writes the prompt for users

Pat WallsNice. Tell me about the build process. How long did it take you to build this, to get this to launch? Tell me about that build timeline.

Piotr ObidowskiThe first version took approximately 5 months after hours, obviously, and V1, like we- you probably know, it was node-based system similar to ComfyUI. I had a direct feedback from people, "Okay, it's too hard to understand for us." So I decided to pivot and to simplify the product to chat-based solution with the a- prompt assistant because I know that people have troubles with prompt engineering, so I decided to create a layer of the AI that will help people first understand what they want, ask follow-up questions, and then build the perfect prompt for them. That helped me go from $150 per month to nearly $10,000 per month.

Pat WallsWhat I think is so cool about Piotr's story is that actually simplifying his product down to essentially a ChatGPT wrapper is what actually created the growth. A lot of developers watching this are wondering, okay, how can I add more features to my product? How can I make it more technical and more complicated? When this story right here is an example of when keeping it simple actually creates growth. So if this idea is interesting to you, well, …

Pat WallsThat's amazing. What did things start to look like once he made this change and how you knew things were actually working?

Piotr ObidowskiI looked at the data, right? The data always say the truth. Before, I had like only couple of sign ups, but after this change, people started rendering. So, it made very easy for them. With that pivot, I also decided to test one thing. One-time payments are not bringing repeated revenue. So, we need to change to monthly recurring payments and that worked.

Pat WallsThat's awesome. Looking back on this multi-year experience and finally figuring out the unlock, what would be your like big lessons and takeaways next time you go and build a product, or if you're going to give advice to another founder, what are your big lessons here?

Piotr ObidowskiYeah, sure. So, friction in your product is killing your conversion. For 2 years, I blamed slow growth on marketing when the real problem was that my product was too hard to use. The fix was removing the thing standing between a visitor and there's first success. And the second lesson is charge subscriptions from day one. Subscriptions are the thing that drive the growth. You need to start charging from day one and don't be afraid that someone will not pay. If the product is valuable, then they will pay.

Pat WallsAbsolutely. What kept you going with this idea specifically? How did you know that it might work out 2 years later?