The Problem (Opportunity)
Recently I took 2 new part-time jobs as Product Lead. I also run a small agency and am also added to my client's work calendars. So in total, I ended up having 5 google accounts with 4 work & 1 personal calendar
The Quest began
I immediately knew that I need to find software that will help me to keep my schedule clean and I won't end up having double-booked on my different work calendars. I started searching, couldn't find one. I resorted to Zapeir, it was tedious, messy, expensive. In short, it was an unsuccessful experiment
I can see the first milestone
I absolutely needed this product and wasn't able to find it. So I decided to build one to solve my problem, that's how the best products are born. I was excited to have this moment, which I never had before, it ticked all the perfect product boxes. The plan was to build an MVP, validate the tech stack, test it on me, and then invite early beta users
I am struck by a
1 week in, the tech & flow of the MVP is validated. I opened up Notion, created a task - Design research, started searching again for the keywords, and this time I found the exact product I wanted to create.
It exists!! I went ahead and thought, but it surely would be lacking something right? But it comes out great, great UX & design, features which I have in my 1-year roadmap, users already using for 1.5 years, experienced founders, backed by investors & almost 5 million dollars in funding
Now BOOM , I am stuck in a dilemma
Should I still go ahead and create the product? - I want to because this idea felt so right. I might be sounding stupid, but I really wanted to do this
Will I be labeled as a copycat? - Of course!! I will be
Can I compete with A startup, who is giving away their product for free this whole year? - Maybe
Do I want to do it? - YES!
So the ultimate is
Is this a facepalm moment or a climb-on champ moment?