I dare you to build something

As some of you know, I designed and built an app, which is now out in the wild with real people using it.

It’s called careerlobby, the career community where comments are the content. Keep reading to get your invite code so you can try out the experience if you’d like.

I pushed the app live on Monday. To say I was nervous to do it would be an understatement. I tested it a bajillion times and I knew that it worked, but it’s still scary to put something you built out there for people for use.

I shipped what’s often known as the MVP: Minimum Viable Product. Basically the stage where you’re validating hypotheses and testing assumptions with real user behavior with the app in its most simple (and useable) form.

The app has a long way to go.

Some of you who are more knowledgable than me in this space might cringe hearing this: but I don’t even have a staging environment! Yikes! For those unfamiliar, basically it’s a duplicate version of the app where you ship new features to test them before you put them out into the world for people to use (which would be the “Production” environment).

I have lots of ideas for this app. For one, I have to build out the desktop view, because right now it’s literally a mobile UI if you access it on a desktop lol. I want to build out the leaderboard too, which signals the people with the highest streak (basically means they came back day and after day and contributed a net-new answer to each daily prompt).

Building out the desktop UI and building out a notifications system is top priority for me, and are going to be some of the bigger builds as I look forward to the next step. I want to tread lightly though and give the app some time to cook too. I want it to be useable in this basic format for a little bit so I can see how folks react and respond. There’s also a built-in feedback form in the app, so if you decide to use, please submit feedback!

Want to use it? Want to contribute your POV to today’s prompts or any of the others from earlier this week? Use code FLOCK-NEWSLETTER on careerlobby.app as you go through the sign up flow.

And let me make 1 thing super clear: Spam is not my thing. I don’t even have a welcome email built in to the sign up flow, because if I’m not offering something valuable in that email, why send it? Plus, the in-app experience welcomes you, so that handles that.

Even when I build out the notifications as a true mobile app, I want you to have the control of what you see/hear/are reminded of. But that’s a long time from now, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, if you’re really passionate, bookmark the site on your browser and make it a “first thing when I log on” activity.

Thank you to those of you who have already jumped in to try it. It means a lot to me that you took time out of your day to do something you didn’t have to do. But you did. Thanks a lot for believing in this silly little idea I had.

And if you haven’t jumped in yet, you’re still appreciated! After all, you’ve gotten to the end of this newsletter and are reading this, so thank you! I appreciate your support of this newsletter.

So the question is, what you you going to build???????

Thanks for reading and for being here. I don’t take for granted that you care what I have to say. Or even if you don’t care, and you’re still here; thanks for being a fan anyway. ❣️

All my links are here. Let’s connect!