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CoDo

Pivot to a viable B2B SaaS

vision to business

CoDo was an early startup team with a vision to boost productivity with social reinforcement mechanics. When initial attempts to gain traction with B2C products proved difficult, the CoDo team sought an advisor who would lead a more deliberate process to discover a new market and a new Product-Market Fit (PMF) narrative.

Pivot-Test-Launch

As a hands-on advisor to CoDo, I led the PMF Discovery project to find a new direction for the company. After the discovery, I also participated in the Alpha launch and outlined a fundraising pitch deck based on the new B2B SaaS direction.

Please note: Some images on this page have been re-created and re-styled with placeholder content to illustrate the work process and the output without disclosing the actual deliverables.

Services Provided

PMF Discovery

Customer Research
PMF Interviews
Pretotype Tests
Research Synthesis
PMF Narrative

Coaching

Team Vision Alignment
Traction Workshop
Weekly Founder Coaching

Fundraising

Pitch Assist

Alpha Launch

Product Design
Email Marketing Setup
Creative Assets
React Components Styling
User Guides Documentation

Founder Insights

Every startup begins with a unique point of view (POV) from its founders.

CoDo founder & CEO Hisun Kim had a life-changing experience which taught her that small wins and encouragements from a close-knit social circle can help you achieve amazing things. Scientific research confirmed her experience too.

A serial entrepreneur, Hisun explored ways to apply the power of social mechanics and small wins to health and productivity problems in the B2C space. But it can be tricky to find an intersection between your vision and a viable PMF narrative. That’s when I got the call.

Levi's 10k raceHisun on a Slack channel: "Tried the 10k course... blisters!"

Friends commenting: "I totally predicted 1h 20m"

Emoji reactions: Tada, clapHisun's interview on YouTube: "I gotta do some exercise"

Authentic && Viable

The ask: Help the CoDo team find a viable business direction in the B2B space, while staying true to the founder vision.

Hand with heartsHand widh money

Team Alignment

The first thing we did was to gather as a team and talk about our personal motivations about why they want to work on this hypothetical product.

This exercise confirmed multiple things: The importance of staying true to our mission, our willingness to explore different problem spaces within B2B to achieve commercial traction,  and a consensus on our strengths and the team-mission fit factors.

Figma app toolbar
With CoDo, I want to prove...

Nicole: You can overcome challenges in a more systematic way.

Allie: My research can be applied to a commercial venture, in a way that empowers people.

Harlan: Use my time and knowledge making positive impact; Build a scalable product from scratch

Jisoo: It’s not your fault! You just need a little help.

Yousef: I can lead a team with a collaborative mission

Emily: Hisun’s recruiting pitch about outsourcing your willpower... social nudge works!

Zak: I just want CoDo to survive in the market.

Hisun: My personal experiences can translate to where motivation is needed the most: Workplaces.
Allie's mouse pointer
Emily's cursor
Harlan's mouse pointer
Hisun's mouse pointer
Jisoo's mouse pointer
Nicole's mouse pointer
Yousef's mouse pointer
Zak's mouse pointer
Keywon

Pretotype Testing

Pretotypes are created to address the question “what should we build?” — as opposed to prototypes that address “how should we build it” or “how should it look and behave?”

Based on the team alignment, we quickly drafted a very simplistic PMF narrative draft. And then we went through cycles of pretotype test process:

  • Ideal homepage mockup based on the PMF narrative
  • PMF interviews and homepage mockup feedback sessions with potential target customers
  • Feedback synthesis
  • Revise PMF narrative draft
  • Rinse & repeat
Ideal homepage mockup for HR Target, Problem A
Keywon in a Zoom windowKeywon
IntervieweeInterviewee
Typing hands
Target Personal V1
Real People V1
Problem to Solve
Value Proposition
Ideal homepage mockup for HR Target, Problem B1
Keywon in a Zoom windowKeywon
IntervieweeInterviewee
Hand holding a pencil
Target Personal V2
Real People V2
Problem to Solve
Value Proposition
Ideal homepage mockup for CS Target, Problem B2
Keywon in a Zoom windowKeywon
IntervieweeInterviewee
Hand holding a lightbulb
Target Personal V3
Real People V3
Problem to Solve
Value Proposition

Breakthrough Moments

After rounds of pretotype tests and PMF interviews, we had a mini breakthrough — coming up with ideas where CoDo’s social nudging approach can be used to solve a B2B customer’s problems.

CoDo Interview Synthesis #3CoDo team members
Values & Beliefs
Pain Points
Signals
Allie's mouse pointer
Emily's mouse pointer
Harlan's mouse pointer
Zak's mouse pointer
Opportunities:
1. Happiness/Satisfaction Check-In
2. Step-by-Step Onboarding/Activation/Training
Hisun's mouse pointer
Jisoo's mouse pointer
Keywon's mouse pointer
Nicole's mouse pointer
Youself's mouse pointer
CoDo Opportunity AreasCoDo team members
Remote Employees
Sales Reps
Big SaaS Customers
Customer Reps
Gig Workers
Remote Employees
Sales Reps
Big SaaS Customers
Customer Reps
Gig Workers
Onboarding & Activation For: Big SaaS Customers

Founder-Market Fit

After the team converged on two candidates directions for CoDo, the founder and CEO made an executive decision, largely based on the founder-market fit factor:

Which problem is the CoDo team, especially the founder, better positioned to solve?

Direction 1 user typeDirection 1
Direction 2 user typeDirection 2
Check

The Discovery Process

The direction discovered through this qualitative process then fueled CoDo’s initial customer acquisition and fundraising campaigns.

Ideal homepage iteration 1
Ideal homepage iteration 2
Ideal homepage iteration 3
Direction 1: HR Target x Problem B3
Direction 2: CS Target x Problem B4
Check
CoDo Sales Deck
CoDo Fundraising Deck

Based on the Discovery...

The CoDo team was able to hit the following milestones and expand their Product-Market Fit to eventually focus on onboarding and activating gig workers.

Fundraising success
B2B customer acquisition
Team building
Multiple product
launches
PMF expansion
Customer
outcome
Product Hunt #1 Product of the Day
+134%Workforce activation over target
97%Training completion
+121%Show-up rate improvement
3xPositive responses on preparedness
Actual data from CoDo Customers

“Keywon helped us find a viable SaaS direction
as a team, while staying true to our mission.”

Hisun headshot
Hisun Kim
Founder & CEO, CoDo
© Copyright-year Keywon Chung