Solving the project management problem for right brained creatives.
The discovery that all creatives have similar pain points.
In a growing, competitive market, we felt creatives and agencies needed better tools to grow their businesses
It's easy to assume a need after many decades working in the industry you're building a product to serve. To avoid the 'assumption trap,' I hired a third party to conduct detailed and unbiased market research into creatives' pain points.
Market research uncovered issues that aligned with my initial expectations.
Other creatives had the same issues. That was heartening. It gave me the drive to move forward.
The global creative industries were booming in the US freelance. So I spent a lot of time defining the worldwide market opportunity.
The core market we targeted consisted of designers like me. The app needed to be striking, and the brand needed to be punchy and brave.
Crafting a brand that appeals to creatives.
The long-term goal for Thrive was ambitious. Developing apps for the two main stakeholders, freelancers and agencies. Then, aiming to build a creative marketplace that connected the two groups. It would enable seamless, global collaboration on projects.
We had to feel different and look different. We had to create a vibrant visual brand for creatives. It was vital to stand out and show we were "by designers for designers." Clean typography, white space, and hierarchy ruled the day.
Listening to users to find product-market fit.
Market research revealed that creatives wanted a tool that felt like it was ‘for them.' All-in-one functionality and clean aesthetics were a top priority. They wanted a design that, despite its complexity, could simplify their tasks. This would let them focus on their true passion: creating.
Building an MVP isn't easy. A small budget and a market craving a product that looks great but does everything make it harder. I faced a multitude of challenging development choices. It took time and a talented dev, but in the end, we managed to get a good product-market fit.
Iterating on features and processes to improve metrics.
The software had some minor issues and hidden edge cases at first. As a result, conversion rates were low. We repaired errors, heeded user feedback, and honed features, yielding significant improvements.
There was no magic wand. Instead, the higher conversion rates came from a better product-market fit. Higher rates came from localising currency and language, refining sales messaging, and improving user education and retention.
Strategic online marketing and email outreach.
Building a product is only half the battle. As a small team, transitioning to focus on selling rather than building is complex. It's critical to hire the right sales and marketing people. They must create engaging content to attract and close new leads.
Our strategic design-led email campaigns grew our user base. Our blog with engaging content and illustrations onboarded creatives from around the globe. We refined our core message through repeated split testing to further boost conversions.
Raising finance to boost growth.
Raising finance is time-consuming and can cause founders to unwittingly take their eyes off the ball. Nevertheless, I managed to secure a small amount of Proof of Concept funding and later co-investment from a local VC and an international seed fund.
After a lot of research into the anatomy of winning pitch decks, I delivered a cleanly designed deck with a solid narrative to raise my first seed round. We used the injection of cash to grow our user base and translate the app into multiple languages.
Feedback from users
Solo is an amazing tool I use every day. It feels like it’s coming from the future and is really what a business management app for creatives should feel like!
The creative brain works differently, Solo seems to be the only business management app that realises this. Seeing your business data beautifully represented just makes sense.
I spend a lot of time managing my projects. This is my second year using Solo, and it has helped me gain a much better sense of my productivity and best of all profitability.