Tempo - Cohort 17

In the first few weeks of the project at Tempo Labs, our focus was on laying a solid foundation through user research and smart scoping. We kicked things off by defining clear UXR goals — we wanted to understand how early-stage founders currently build MVPs, where they get stuck, and how comfortable they were with AI-generated outputs in product workflows. we interviewed startup founders, PMs, and early-stage teams to get a sense of their mental models. A big insight was that most struggled with translating ideas into structured requirements — PRDs were often skipped or hastily done, and there was a ton of context lost between ideation and execution. That insight shaped everything we built. With the research in hand, we mapped out the core user journey and scoped down our MVP to focus on the highest-impact flow: turning a raw idea into a well-structured PRD, with the ability to generate dev-ready tasks. This allowed us to stay lean but laser-focused, and gave us a clear design and build path for the next sprint.

Weeks 4 to 7 were all about rapid ideation, testing, and iteration. I started by prototyping a few core flows — how founders input ideas, how the AI generates PRDs, and where users might want control. I ran usability tests with early-stage founders and PMs, gathering quick feedback on what felt helpful vs. overwhelming. One big insight: users wanted more transparency and control over what the AI was doing, not just a black-box output. Based on that, I refined the flow to include more guided steps and editable outputs. I worked closely with engineering to align on feasibility, adjusting designs in real time. This tight loop helped us stay fast, focused, and user-first.

In the final stretch, my focus shifted to polishing the experience, spec’ing out final components, and pushing toward launch. With the core flow validated, I explored ways to elevate the product — like smart defaults, inline editing, and contextual AI prompts to guide users through ambiguity. I documented detailed specs for each interaction, edge case, and state, ensuring engineering had everything they needed to build with confidence. I also partnered with them daily to QA and fine-tune the handoff — catching UX gaps early and making real-time tweaks as we went. We shipped the PRD generation feature smoothly, and it was amazing to see it resonate — founders felt empowered, and the product hit #3 on Product Hunt. It was the kind of build where design, engineering, and user needs were all in sync — and that made it special.