The Idea
AI-powered file organization. Seemed brilliant.
The Build
Six weeks of dev time. Sophisticated ML model. Beautiful UI.
The Launch
Users ignored it completely. 2% adoption rate.
What Went Wrong
- We didn't validate demand first
- Solved a problem that didn't exist
- Added complexity users didn't want
The Lesson
Talk to users BEFORE building. Not after.
The Outcome
Deprecated the feature. Refocused on core compression.
Failure is the best teacher.