Today felt… pretty good. Exhausting, but in that “things are starting to click” way.
Morning: Talking to Users, Again (and Again)
Knocked out two user interviews before noon. One was a total dud—just lots of polite nodding. The second one though… gold. She lit up when I described a specific workflow we’re exploring and dropped a killer line I ended up putting straight into the onboarding copy. There’s something here.
I’m noticing a pattern: users with this one specific job role (keeping it vague for now) speak with urgency. They're trying duct-tape solutions together. Something definitely hurts.
Afternoon: Figma, Flow Frustrations & Small Wins
Prototyping took a turn when I realized my “clever” onboarding sequence confused users. I stripped it back. Now it’s three taps and boom—you’re in. Copy is clearer, navigation feels less like a scavenger hunt. Planning to test it with 3 users tomorrow.
Also, figured out that the language users naturally use in interviews is better UI copy than anything I can write at 1am. Obvious in hindsight, I guess.
Evening: Firebase, Supabase, and a Near Crisis
I was halfway through a Firebase auth test when an auth token bug froze everything. I legit thought I erased a day of work. Took a walk, came back, found a misconfigured rule (facepalm). Fixing it actually helped me understand the security model better though.
Still torn between Firebase and Supabase. Firebase feels cozy, Supabase feels right for scaling. Might set up two isolated branches just to play-test workflows.
Thought of the Day
A founder I met in a virtual meetup said:
“You don’t need to be first. You need to be remembered.”
That’s going to rattle around in my brain for a while.
Mini How-To: Writing Copy That Doesn’t Suck
Here’s what worked today:
- Transcribe a user interview (yes, manually).
- Highlight phrases where the user explains a problem emotionally or vividly.
- Directly reuse those phrases in your UI or landing page.
- Read it out loud. If it sounds like marketing, you're doing it wrong.
Turns out your ideal copywriter… is your user.
Wrapping up with 12 open tabs and a brain that smells like burnt toast. But I’ll take tiny momentum over big guesses any day.
See you tomorrow.
