How we pivoted from the worst industry to the best during the pandemic
Two of us, friends and teammates from Fidelity, embarked on a journey of entrepreneurship last year. With an idea in mind, determination in our hearts and some savings in the bank, we decided to take the plunge. We knew exactly what we wanted to do, but the only question was, how?
“Which mobile framework to use? Flutter is the best choice, but wait you have not even worked in Flutter right? And I have to do the UI designs? I’ve worked with designers as a Product Manager but, I have to create actual designs?? What about testing? And who’s going to do marketing?”
So many doubts, questions, and uncertainties…but once you jump into the ocean, I guess your instincts will tell you how to swim…
We started learning on the go, talking to people, fleshing out the idea, upskilling more and more, designing, developing — the whole nine yards. It took us a few months to get a grip on everything and have the MVP ready.
Finally, we were ready to launch.
March 15th was the date, everything was planned out.
BUT! little did we know, what was coming for us!! We had chosen the worst industry to launch an app in at this time, yes — travel! In fact, even worse — group travel planning :D
At first there was denial, then shock, and finally when reality hit, acceptance. “This is here to stay!!”
“Is there any point continuing this now? But what other options do we even have? We’ve just created our product, and now we’re supposed to throw that away? Start working on some other idea?? That’s insane!!”
I know that startups are full of uncertainties, pivoting is common etc. we have read it at length, but hearing about it is one thing, and doing it is another!!
So we started thinking about our users. With the whole social distancing situation, what would they do, how would they still have fun? We researched about what they need right now, and what will still be applicable later. And we landed on games.
Even with a variety of game apps out there, we found a critical gap in this market. Casual gamers want better options than their old childhood games like Ludo and Snakes & Ladders. Board gamers need fun and convenient ways to play board games online because their board games are just sitting in the cupboard taking dust! And they both want to chat with their friends while they play.
Based on more research, talking to people, studying the competitors, we found the idea had potential. With the growing board game culture across the world and the access to mobile and internet, we can tap this budding opportunity.
And, there was our pivot, blend — play group games with your friends inside a chat.
The time spent on the travel app paid off really well by giving us a good head start for executing this new idea. In our trip planning app, we had already created a protocol for sending any type of message inside a chat. Users could create checklists, share expenses, build itineraries etc. all within a conversation. And conversations are the most fun and essential part of board games; chat shouldn’t be an accessory for a game app, it should be front and center.
In a week, our first game was ready to test out with our friends. The week after, we launched the app to internal testers.
Within two more weeks, we acquired 1.5k users in our beta program. And here we are now, making our best effort to bring some fun and excitement in people’s lives during these tough times.
This is our story so far. There’s a long way to go and we will keep moving forward…facing challenges, overcoming them and executing solutions as we go.
