Say what is
not working.
You bring the thing you are stuck on. Other people tell you what they tried. That is the whole format.
The kind of thing people ask in there
- Is this feature worth building or am I just bored?
- Nobody used it in week two. Now what?
- How do you say no to a founder without losing the client?
- Figma file or working prototype for the investor demo?
- We shipped and the graph is flat
- When do you start charging?
- Is my onboarding the problem, or is it the product?
- How many users is enough to decide?
- Design system now, or in six months?
- They said they loved it. They have not opened it since.
- What do you charge for a two-week product review?
- Solo founder, no designer — where do I start?
- How do you run an interview without leading them?
- Our roadmap is a wishlist. How do we cut it?
- Is research worth it at ten users?
- The CEO redesigned it over the weekend
- Do I need a co-founder who can build?
- How do you tell a real signal from a polite one?
- We have product-market fit. Do we?
- Pricing page or waiting list first?
It runs on Substack chat — one login you probably already have, and one click to leave if it stops being useful. It’s deliberately quiet: a handful of real conversations a week, not a channel you mute by Thursday.
A smaller, private room.
Paid and capped. The conversations that do not belong in a public room: what you charged, what you got wrong, the contract that went badly.
It does not exist yet. No date, nothing to log into. I am finding out whether enough people want it — and if the answer is no, I will say so rather than leave the form up.
One email if it happens. Nothing else, ever. What I do with it.
Before you join.
Who is the community for?
Product designers, founders and people building software alone or in small teams, working through the decisions that do not have a right answer. You bring the thing you are stuck on, and other people tell you what they tried and what it cost them.
Is it free?
Yes. It runs on Substack chat, so joining takes one click if you already have an account and about thirty seconds if you do not. There is no paid tier, no cohort, and nothing to upgrade to.
What gets discussed?
Product design, UX and UI, early-stage startups, discovery and user research, scoping, pricing, freelancing, and the awkward parts of working with founders. Anything with a decision in it. Launch announcements and job posts are the two things that do not belong.
How active is it?
Deliberately quiet. A handful of real conversations a week rather than a firehose you mute in four days. If you want a channel that scrolls faster than you can read it, this is not that.
Where can I find a community for product designers?
There are three shapes worth knowing. Large open Slacks are good for meeting people and bad for getting a specific answer, because volume buries threads. Paid cohorts buy you structure and deadlines and end on a fixed date. Small chats like this one are for one decision you are stuck on, and are useless for networking. Pick by what you actually need this month rather than by size.
Why Substack chat instead of Slack or Discord?
Because it is one login most people already have, it does not add another icon to a dock, and leaving takes one click. Slack and Discord are built to be checked constantly, which is right for a workplace and wrong for a place you visit when you are stuck. The format shapes the behaviour more than the rules do.
How do I get a useful answer instead of sympathy?
Say what you already tried, give one number, say what you would do if nobody replied, and say what kind of answer you want. Most questions in product communities get sympathy because they describe a feeling rather than a decision, and nobody can help with a feeling.
Do you answer questions there yourself?
Often, but as one more person in the room rather than the resident expert. The useful answer usually comes from whoever last had the same problem, and that is rarely me.
Some questions are too specific for a group chat.
Let’s talkA written reply within five working days. No call to book.