My first public demo was a disaster. So I went back to code. 📉
Feb 8th was supposed to be my big break.
I set up a booth at a local school exhibition to show off Criene. I had the standee, the build was ready, and I was ready to pitch.
The Result?
Users Acquired: 0.
Confidence: Shaken.
Pitch: I choked.
When the Dean and the MBM team came to my stall, I fumbled. I couldn't explain the "Discipline OS" concept clearly. My app felt out of place among the other projects. My professor actually had to step in and explain my own product for me.
It was embarrassing. I left feeling pretty demotivated, wondering if the app would even work.
But I woke up on Feb 9th and started coding.
I realized: If I can't explain the app in 30 seconds, the app needs to explain itself better.
The Pivot (Today's Work):
Manual Roadmaps: I realized users want control, not just AI magic. I built a feature today to let users create their own discipline roadmaps manually.
Interactive Tutorial: I’m building a hand-holding onboarding flow. If I choke in person, the code will do the talking for me.
I’m down on confidence, but I’m up one massive lesson in resilience.
#buildinpublic #failure #startup #studentfounder #learning
