Say what is
not working.
A small chat for product designers, founders and people building software. 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?
Four things,
and their awkward parts.
- Product design and UX
- Flows that lose people, onboarding that does not land, research at the scale you can actually afford. The practical end of it, not the theory.
- UI and craft
- When polish is the work and when it is procrastination wearing a lanyard. Design systems, components, and whether you need one yet.
- Startups and early product
- First versions, launches that went quiet, deciding what not to build. Most of the room is two to ten people with less time than the plan needed.
- Going out on your own
- Rates, scope, saying no, the first client, and the client you should have said no to. Freelancers, consultants and founders in the same thread.
How to ask so you
get a useful answer.
Most questions in product communities get sympathy instead of answers, and it is almost always the fault of how they were asked. Four things fix it.
-
Say what you already tried
Without it, the first six replies are things you have already ruled out. One line about what you tried and why it did not work skips all of them.
-
Give one number
«Nobody is using it» could be four people or four thousand. «Sixty signed up, eleven came back» is a completely different problem, and it is answerable.
-
Say what you would do if nobody replied
It forces you to name your own default, which is usually where the actual disagreement is. Half the time you answer your own question writing this line.
-
Say what kind of answer you want
A gut reaction, a sanity check, or somebody to argue with you. They are three different favours and people give the wrong one when you do not say.
What it is not.
- Not a Slack you will mute in four days.
- Not a place to post your launch.
- Not a course, a cohort, or a funnel with a nice name.
- Not free advice from me on demand — I am in there as one more person.
It is on Substack because it is one login you already have, and because if it ever stops being useful you can leave in one click. Both of those matter more than they sound.
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.