When Your First Product Flops (and What You Should Do Next)

Joseph spent six months building a premium meal-planning app for Accra professionals. Beautiful interface. Smart algorithm. Even integrated mobile money. Launch day came. Downloads: 47. Active users after week two: 3 (including his younger brother, who later admitted he only opened it twice).

The truth was like a bomb.

Turns out, his target users weren't asking "how do I plan meals better?" They were asking "where can I get good food delivered fast to my office?" He'd built a solution for a problem that sought to help customers decide what to eat, when he should have been looking at how to get them their food faster.

So he stopped building and started asking questions. Not "would you use this?" questions. Real ones. "What did you eat for lunch today? Why that place? When did your food arrive?"

A couple of months later, he pivoted to a simple SMS-based group ordering system for offices. A team places one bulk order, splits delivery fees, and food arrives hot. After a few months, several companies in Accra were using it.

That fancy app? He shelved it. The simple solution people actually needed? That's what scaled.

The 48-Hour Honesty Check

When your product isn't working, run this before you do anything else:

• List 10 people who should be obsessed with your product. Call them. Not a survey; an actual conversation.
• Ask one question: "What's the most annoying part of your day this week?" Listen for patterns, not validation.
• Write down what they actually complain about vs. what you thought they needed. The gap is your answer.

Get the template: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kUIxlh98uqaF7heOoE6kT7zuhktDkz_H/view?usp=drive_link

If the gap is wide, you're building for the wrong problem.

If it's narrow, you're building the wrong solution for the right problem.

Either can be fixed. You only have to be honest about it.

What's Working

Customer.io – When you need to figure out why users aren't coming back, their behavior tracking shows exactly where people drop off. Free tier works for early-stage products.

HubSpot Marketing Hub – When you need help attracting the right audience and converting them into customers more efficiently.

Deloris from Lashibi rebuilt her cosmetic brand three times before it worked. Her advice? "Your first product failing isn't the problem. Staying married to it is." She now runs 8+ branches across Accra.

This week:

• Pick three people who should love your product but don't use it.
• Have a 15-minute call with each. Don't pitch, don't defend; just listen.
• Write down what you hear. That's your roadmap.

See you next Friday with: " The AI Shortcut Myth: Why Building Still Takes Time."

Build smart,

The Bloop Global Team

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