Me in a Nutshell Startup
Disappointed by the quality of resumes and portfolios I was seeing while hiring for a UX designer, I identified an opportunity to leverage social media content to populate a configurable template. I imagined social media as a content management system where social media activity dynamically updates site content. The concept was simple yet powerful: transform your social media presence into a living, breathing portfolio that updates automatically as you share your work and thoughts online.
STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL WEBSITES, EFFORTLESSLY CRAFTED, AND ALWAYS CURRENT.
The idea was pretty simple. Connect your social media accounts to your website and let the magic happen. Instead of spending hours manually updating portfolios and websites, users could just link their social accounts and watch as their content automatically flows into beautifully designed templates. It would turn boring static websites into living, breathing pages that actually reflect what you're up to online.
Our Users
Creatives
Photographers and designers who have little time for updating portfolios, but lots of time to create amazing content.
Low Volume Seller
Sellers on eBay and Etsy who are very active, but do not have a user facing storefront.
Young Professional
Fresh out of school and looking for a competitive edge during the interview process.
We identified creatives as the target persona because the features required would give us a head start on the other user groups, and the team could best empathize with this persona.
What Creatives Said
"Updating my portfolio is the last thing I want to do"— Graphic Designer
"I can't remember the last time I touched my portfolio – I'm scared to look"— UX Designer
"I'm not sure I even remember how to update my portfolio, it's been ages since I looked"— Graphic Designer
"I hate the look of my portfolio but I don't have time to update it"— Graphic Designer
Validating Observations
In order to validate what I had heard from interviews, a survey was created and sent to 43 creative professionals.
Unhappy with portfolio
Active on social
Willing to pay $1/mo
Interested/very interested in MiaN offering
Selling the Concept
Armed with validated user data and a clear vision, the next challenge was building a team with almost no budget. I created concept mockups to demonstrate the potential and focused on selling the vision rather than just the current state.
The mockups showed how the same social media content could be displayed in dramatically different ways, and combined with the user research data, I was able to attract an incredible developer who joined as my CTO. The combination of visual proof and validated market need made all the difference.
Team Communication
Everyone on the team had a full time job and multiple kids, so speed and effectiveness of communication was key. Sketching was used to quickly illustrate and share ideas.
Account Creation
Due to the social nature of the product, we strongly encouraged users to connect social media.
Freemium Model
Well aware of monetary challenges, a freemium model was adopted. Typical social sites were free, but premium sites and those that enabled e-commerce required a monthly subscription fee.
Value Add
Commerce platforms like eBay & Etsy, as well as premium portfolio sites like Behance, all required subscription fees. For additional value, users could also choose to add a custom domain, favicon image, and analytics to their sites.
Adding & Editing Modules
After adding a module to your Nutshell, the owner had the ability to add, edit, move up/down, or delete the module. The edit bubble appeared on hover of module - always visible on mobile.
Post Launch Survey
Once the platform was launched and relatively stable, another round of interviews was conducted, coupled with another survey to the previous group.
Setup easy/very easy
Satisfied/very satisfied with site layout
Willing to pay $1/mo
Willing to pay $10/mo
Key Learnings
Analytics
While basic analytics was in place, there was a desire to have a more robust understanding of what visitors are doing.
More Layouts
While every module had several options, users felt that this wasn't enough to be able to effectively express themselves.
Remove Branding
Having the Me in a Nutshell branding persistent on the page was not something that most users were willing to adopt.
DESPITE HAVING OVER 1,000 PLATFORM REGISTRATIONS, ADOPTION RATES WERE SLOWING AND TEAM ENERGY WAS DECREASING
The team couldn't afford to continue...