Peers is a subscription-based, discussion platform where creators go to engage with their fans and vice versa.
We are targeting large YouTube creators (>1M subs) in the United States (& their fanbases). To build the platform correctly, we must understand the psychology of our users.
What Do Creators Want?
Creators do not want another social media platform.
- “Ughhhhh, now I have to post on this one?? 😮💨”
Creators want a place to interact with their fans.
- Currently, they go on Twitter or Reddit to see what their fans are saying about them. Unfortunately, these platforms suck.
Creators want to get paid.
- Seriously, who doesn’t want to get paid?
What Do Fans Want?
Fans want to interact with the creator.
Fans want to be entertained.
- Seriously, who doesn’t want to be entertained?
Based on the above, the product must satisfy 4 criteria:
- Be THE place creators go to interact with fans
- Creators get loaded 💰💵🤑
- Fans can interact with the creator
- Fans get entertained 🍿🎬😎
Therefore the product will have 3 core features.
Feature 1: Creator Communities — Think Reddit forums, but instead of /r/topic it’s p/creator
- Satisfies (1) Be THE place creators go to interact with fans, (3) Fans can interact with the creator, (4) Fans get entertained 🍿🎬😎
Feature 2: Direct Messaging With Tips
- Satisfies (2) Creators get loaded 💰💵🤑 (3) Fans can interact with the creator
Feature 3: Peers Score + Fan Ranking System
- Satisfies (1) Be THE place creators go to interact with fans (3) Fans can interact with the creator (4) Fans get entertained 🍿🎬😎
In Conclusion…
We also have some cool features lined up beyond the Minimum-Viable-Product (MVP), such as roles & badges, a live community chat, and even a storefront!
We Have The Vision … Now It’s Time To Execute! 🪚💥
Aadhar says let’s start with User Onboarding. So I dived deep into account registration & how it works. Basically, there’s a spectrum in the amount of info you collect, ranging from “totally anonymous” to “we know everything about you”.
Reddit only requires an email & password, whereas Airbnb needs to verify your passport.
The tradeoff is this. The more verification required, the more burdensome it is for users to create an account. For Peers, we’ve elected to make it as easy as possible for fans to sign up. We allow anonymous accounts, which can boost the quality of discussion, as fans are more free to express what they think.
For creators, we’re going to be selective about who can make an account. We’re only targeting large YouTube creators (& there are only so many of them). For now, we’ll require manual approval & minimum base (eg. 1M subscribers).
I thought my designs were quite good 😇, until Aadhar said:
“This is probably not an efficient use of your time. I recommend hiring a UI/UX designer. I’ve worked with one before who designed the whole thing in 2 weeks at ~$1,100.
My first reaction was: “O.K. Challenge accepted. How hard can this design thing actually be? (turns out quite hard)”
So I spent the next hour watching Figma tutorials on “design systems” and managed to scrape this together:
It was BRUTAL. I’d work for 15 minutes, get exhausted, go outside for a walk, work for another 15 minutes, get exhausted again…
Completely unsustainable. Point taken, Aadhar.
So I did the next-best-thing and made a job post on Upwork:
Within 30 minutes, I received 35 proposals and 11 more in DMs. I selected one, hired her the next day (at $10/hr, on my own 🪙), & off we go!
It’s been 2 days working since working with the designer and she sent us some basic wireframes:
I’ll update you when more things come…
