Simplicity was key in our product development. We focused on providing easy access to construction information on mobile devices.

In the mobile space, we were too focused on extending Windows instead of recognizing the need for a completely new approach.

If you have to educate your customer on how to buy something in a radically new way, it’s a heavy lift; it must be super simple, obvious, and significantly better than the current method, which we failed to achieve initially.

We quickly realized that building it and expecting users to come didn't work; we had to actively engage potential users to grow our platform.

We faced a significant challenge with distribution, as it's tough to get parents and teachers to adopt new technology, often requiring a one-on-one approach without any scale or leverage.

In the beginning, our software was basic, so we compensated for its limitations by providing customers with valuable advice on optimizing their websites.

We brought in customers early to test our product, which helped change the minds of skeptical team members when they saw real-time reactions from users.

I believed in staying hardcore and learning from our mistakes, but Microsoft struggled to pivot from its established model to embrace new opportunities in mobile.

Personas help navigate the trade-off between catering to tech-savvy users and those who are less familiar with technology.