DEV Community: Morgan Kung 🎯🚀

Tips I Learned from My 10+ MVP Validations.

Morgan Kung 🎯🚀 — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 03:22:28 +0000

Hello everyone,

It's Morgan, the founder of Gemoo.

In the past year and a half, I have been focused on creating tools for making and sharing multimedia content. I have made several products, including Gemoo Recorder, a tool for team collaboration and communication through video messages; Gemoo Snap, a tool for making beautiful social screenshots; FocuSee, a tool for making automated product demonstration videos; and a series of free online tools for editing images, videos, and audio. Some of them gained high popularity on Product Hunt.

In last month, these products brought 356.8K visits to our website. I am really thankful for this and feel fulfilled in my role. The increasing number of visitors and users for our products shows that we are doing the right thing. Though it has been challenging, the feeling of accomplishment from creating a product that meets people's needs is worth it.

So, I really would like to share something about MVP product validation.

What I Learned from My 10+ Product Releases

My team and I released more than 10 products in the last year and a half, and each time has been more successful than the last.

Less is More

From my experiences, the key to an MVP product ain't about looking pretty. No, it's about how fast you can show off your product idea and its core value to users. That's when you can find out if users are into more than just good-looking web pages and fancy UI designs. You wanna know if they dig the actual solution your product offers? 'Cause otherwise, it's hard to tell if customer conversion is 'cause of the product idea itself or just 'cause of the flashy design.

Landing pages, demo videos, and minimalistic functional beta versions are good ways to quickly validate your product idea. They don't have to be perfect with some bugs, as long as you can show them to your target users and get their honest feedback. Sometimes, user feedback during this period can be discouraging at times, but it helps you see if your product is really worth it. Instead of wasting time and energy on products that just won't work, it's better to abandon them as soon as possible.

Example：

We recently made a music-synced video generation tool called Wordance. We validated it by giving people a basic version to try. We wanted to keep it super easy to start it, reducing the learning curve. So we didn't include a bunch of fancy stuff or complicated editing features.

All users have to do is enter some text by typing or copying/pasting, select a music track (we have some built-in options), and boom! They get a cool video with their text and music all synced up. Through user feedback, we could see if people really needed something like this for their everyday life and work.

And based on that, we added some extra stuff like different fonts, colors for the text and background, some simple text effects, and even the option to add a watermark. We also made it super easy for users to adjust their video clips with just clicking ‘Apply all’ , so they don't have to spend a ton of time tweaking things one by one.

Easy Access is Crucial for Validating Product Ideas

Easy access is also crucial to swiftly validate your product ideas. So, we opted for a web app to make it extremely simple for users to get started. With it, users don't need to download anything or create an account. They can simply jump on their web browsers, give the product a try, and begin creating videos immediately. This not only speeds up the process for our users, but it also enables us to collect more valuable feedback from them during the trial period. It's a mutually beneficial situation!

When it comes to the inspiration for the product, I believe it lies in user feedback on existing products and your personal user experiences.

Example:

The idea for Wordance actually came from my own experience using Capcut to make a teaser video for my FocuSee. Undoutbly, Capcut is one of the most awesome web-based video editors out there. It lets me create videos with text that syncs to music. But the thing is, it takes me more than 20 minutes just to input text, adjust their positions, choose music, and add animations on the editor timeline. And all that just to showcase a few simple ad lines. And they provide an excessive number of fonts and effects to choose from, resulting in additional time spent switching and previewing text effects. It's a bit of a drag, to be honest.

I mean, the most important thing is the meaning behind the text, right? The effects are just a bonus. That's why my team and I got together to create a tool that lets users quickly make these awesome music-synced videos or clips. Whether it's for their teaser videos or for specific scenes in product videos.

In Short

Through above approachs, Wordance quickly gained many seed users within one week of its release. They also provided many valuable suggestions, which we need to learn how to filter. However, having too many features in a product can sometimes become a burden.

These are my thoughts on how to validate an MVP idea.

If you agree with my thoughts, feel free to leave comments and let's discuss.

Alternatively, you can DM me at MorganKung7.

BTW, if you are interested in my new product, you can try Wordance to create your own videos for free. I would love to hear your feedback on it.

We built a tool to speed up your MVP validation

Morgan Kung 🎯🚀 — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 08:16:46 +0000

Hi all,

Have you struggled with MVP validation when starting a new project? We’ve been there too, which is why we built this tool to make the process smoother.

It's common to have high video traffic but few leads. One reason could be the value you provide, but another could be the barriers viewers face in taking action. So, we're wondering if allowing prospects to sign up and leave feedback directly in the video would improve conversion rates and speed up data collection for your MVP.

With the interactive video tool from Gemoo.com, you can add email collectors, quizzes, and buttons to your videos to engage your viewers and increase the chances of collecting useful information.

How it works?

Upload your video (Or feel free to record one using our built-in recorder)
Add the interactive elements you want to the video
Share it through a link with your audience
Check the data report to see how your viewers interact with your video

We're offering a free trial and would appreciate it if you could try it out and leave your comments. Thanks a ton!

What handy app have I made using 'text-to-image' AI technology?

Morgan Kung 🎯🚀 — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 06:45:18 +0000

Hey there,

I'm Morgan, and I have something really cool to share with you all. I've created an AI-powered wallpaper generator called "Gemoo AI Wallpaper Generator," and it's free to try out. It's so easy to use that you won't believe it!

I initially made it for personal use, but after seeing how much my friends loved it, I decided to share it with the world. You can try it for free before it officially launches at: https://gemoo.com/tools/ai-wallpaper-generator

So, what's great about it?

Well, it can create various styles, like Landscape, Anime, Portrait, Painting, and 3D. All you have to do is right-click the icon in the menu bar, choose the style you want, type in a quick prompt, and voila! Your wallpaper is generated and set automatically.

If you love changing your wallpaper frequently, just like me, but don't have the time to search for the perfect one, you're going to absolutely love this app. It's only available for Mac, though, since that's what I use.

And，you know what，You can get it for free and make up to 10 wallpapers per day. That's more than enough, I believe, to keep things fresh and exciting.

I'm really excited to share this with you all, and I hope you have as much fun with it as I have. Don't hesitate to let me know what you think in the comments and show your love for it on Product Hunt.

Cheers,
Morgan

Maker Community — Exploring the New Features of Product Hunt.

Morgan Kung 🎯🚀 — Wed, 17 May 2023 02:21:37 +0000

Hey everyone, it’s Morgan.

I’ve been really busy lately, working on developing new side projects (three free quick web tools) while also preparing for the launch of Gemoo Snap 2.0 on Product Hunt. As a result, I’ve had to slow down on my blogging.

During this preparation time, I noticed some big changes in Product Hunt in the first half of this year. It feels completely different from when I released Gemoo Recorder on the platform in December of last year.

Previously, I thought of it as a product launch platform with good exposure and traffic, as well as a product search tool. It was like a bridge between users and developers, allowing users to efficiently find tools that meet their needs.

However, after engaging in the community for the past two weeks, I’ve noticed that it has become a platform for makers and founders to communicate and help each other, just as they said in the discussion section 👇. I have to admire the execution of the PH team for this.

Product Hunt has been focusing on improving its platform in the past six months. In this blog, I want to talk about the new Q&A section and the new sidebar.

Product Hunt’s new Q&A section

One of the major changes is the new Q&A section, which was introduced in February 2023. PH team will regularly post a new question related to products, and users can answer by voting for products and seeing the vote results of their friends, deepening mutual understanding among friends on the site and allowing them to discover more products. I believe it helps to give more inspiration for the creation of their own products.

I quite like this new section. Through my following people, I have found many great products that I had previously overlooked. I’ve also identified where Gemoo can be improved by comparing Gemoo with other similar products that are widely praised by the community.

In addition, I even made some like-minded friends who have provided me with valuable insight, which is awesome! I highly recommend that you spend some time engaging with this section, you will definitely discover its value.

The New Sidebar

If you are an old user of Product Hunt, you may have noticed that their sidebar has undergone significant changes. Without further ado, here is the screenshot to show the changes：

https://app.gemoo.com/share/home?codeId=M09WVkO30wWKg

They have added the “Reviews from friends” and a quick view “Coming soon section” module and placed them in a prominent position. In this way, we can easily notice what our community friends (users you follow) are using and following, as well as lock in new product launches in advance, avoiding us from missing out on any launch promotions for new products that we are interested in, as well as our potential competitors.

One of the reasons why I think PH has become more like a maker and founder community is that it not only considers the possibility of creating more exposure for our products but also focuses on the personal development of makers (all roles). This also provides founders with a good way to find suitable partners.

Of course, PH already had the Jobs module, but it was very hidden before, and now it is in the sidebar that everyone will definitely see, making it effortless to pay attention to. However, I have a small suggestion. Charging $299 for a job posting is too high for most startups in the initial stages, let alone solo makers.

In addition, the discussion module has been added to display popular community posts. This makes it easier to participate in community discussions since we can quickly see if there are any interesting topics to engage with. It also helps us find other users who share similar interests. This is especially important for startups as having like-minded supporters can help us persevere through tough times, provide new ideas, and even become new partners.

The Q&A section and the new Sidebar are just two small parts of PH’s redesign. In addition to these, they have also made many other changes, such as reorganizing and categorizing discussion and product topics, launching community events like the ‘May is for makers’, and redesigning hubs, among others.

Have you found any other new features or changes that you think are good for makers? What are your favorite changes? Leave your comments and let me know.

Thank you for reading, for more stories and thoughts on my startup journey, please check my blog 🔗.

Wish you good luck in both your business 🚀and personal life✨.

6 AI Development & Coding Tools 2023

Morgan Kung 🎯🚀 — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 08:47:38 +0000

Software engineering entails creating algorithms that can solve deterministic issues using logic. However, because of the recent rise of AI, the way software engineers create codes has altered.

AI tools have transformed the programmer’s perspective because of the advancement of artificial intelligence and machine learning in software development for problem-solving.

Artificial intelligence has aided in processing vast quantities of data. It is an application of separate technologies working together to enable the computer to execute operations normally reserved for people to expedite the development method for a programmer. And if you’re looking for AI Development Tools for streamlining your development procedure, you’re at the right place. In this article, we’ve reviewed the finest AI development tools in the market.

Let’s get going!

What are AI Development & Coding Tools?

AI Development Tools are software applications and frameworks specifically designed to support the development of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. These tools provide developers with various functionalities, such as data processing, model training, testing, and deployment, which are critical for building robust and effective AI and Machine Learning applications.

AI development tools are essential for reducing the time and effort required for building AI applications. They offer a standard platform for developers to work on and ensure that the models are scalable, modular, and maintainable. Moreover, with these tools, you can get a wide range of resources such as documentation, tutorials, and forums, which make it easier for developers to learn and collaborate with the community.

How Is AI Used in Software Development?

Automated debugging is facilitated by artificial intelligence tools and software, namely pattern recognition for comprehensive error analysis, identification, and classification. The debugging process is sped up, and errors are more readily detected using the deep learning system. In addition, it significantly lessens the burden of code generation. If an AI-based software learns the fundamental patterns, it can construct a whole program simply by assembling a set of pre-set modules, much like LEGO blocks are assembled.

Artificial intelligence software assistants are becoming more popular due to their ability to accelerate the software development process intelligently. Even for newcomers, it speeds up the learning process. AI assistant tools may act as a tutor by suggesting solutions, providing code samples, and even preventing rookie errors like forgotten closing brackets. Furthermore, AI tools can execute the testing by reviewing the historical logs and generating a set of test cases to be executed on the system. Without doing the tests, it can also accurately anticipate the results.

What Can AI Do in Software Programming?

Code Generation: AI can generate code based on the requirements and specifications provided by the programmer.

**Code Optimization: **Automatically identify and eliminate inefficiencies in code. This can include identifying redundant or unnecessary code, optimizing algorithms and data structures, and improving memory usage. AI can also be used to predict and prevent potential performance issues before they occur. Additionally, it can automatically generate optimized code based on specific performance goals or constraints.

Bug Detection: One of the most common ways of AI bug detection is through the use of machine learning algorithms that can analyze code and identify patterns that are indicative of bugs or errors. These algorithms can be trained on large datasets of code to learn what types of errors are most common and how to identify them. Another way that AI can be used in bug detection is through the use of natural language processing (NLP) algorithms. These algorithms can analyze bug reports and other documentation to identify common patterns and keywords that are associated with specific types of bugs.

Code Completion: AI can suggest code completion options based on the context and the developer’s coding style.
Testing: Automating the testing process by generating test cases and identifying potential issues. Increasingly intelligent software testing capability to drive test execution, qualify and reproduce issues reliably, shortening the development cycle and ensuring higher quality results.
Code Review: Automating code reviews and performance optimization – using parameters that are machine-learned and avoiding human-driven repetitive regression and performance tests.

Top 6 AI Development & Coding Tools Widely Used in 2023

Want the best AI development tools for your SDLC?
These tools can help:

1.MxNet

Mxnet is a powerful and adaptable deep-learning library. Researchers and engineers from several institutions and businesses can work together on MXNet. MXNet’s extensive Python application programming interface (API) suits Python’s large user base. When used by developers, the sophisticated tools provided by MXNet unlock the full potential of GPUs and cloud computing. While these methods and tools can be applied to various mathematical computations, MXNet focuses particularly on facilitating the creation and deployment of massively scaled deep neural networks.

MxNet’s Key Features

Provides flexibility and support through a hybrid front end that can easily switch between an imperative and symbolic mode.
Research and production can use scalable, distributed learning and performance optimization.
Scala, Julia, Clojure, Java, C++, R, and Perl support, and tight interaction with Python.
Has applications in computer vision, natural language processing, time series, and more.

Supported Platforms: Windows, Mac, and Linux
Pricing: Free to use

2.TensorFlow

TensorFlow is a set of machine learning frameworks, tools, and resources. A large community of academics globally relies on this framework to create cutting-edge ML models.

It is a free and publicly available machine learning library for creating reliable and effective ML-based software. Because of this tool, developers can use more than just the features offered by individual vendors to address machine learning challenges.

TensorFlow’s Key Features

Distributed model training across several devices is made possible by DTensor in TensorFlow.
Provides compatibility with both Parallel spatial training and parallel training utilizing data partitioned across dispersed devices.
Allows rapid debugging and model iteration with support for high-level APIs like Keras, simplifying model creation.
Offers a set of resources aimed at streamlining developer work on AI projects.

Supported Platforms: Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Pricing: Free to use

3.H20

H2O is a cloud-based AI platform that allows any data analyst, developer, or data scientist to create high-quality AI models and apps in minutes, swiftly delivering AI to business customers. Before, this process may take months or even years. But its powerful automated ML features allow cutting-edge AI models and programs to be easily developed.

H2O’s Key Features

Consists of a user-friendly AI app store that makes it simple for developers to deploy new apps to clients
The models you build with this tool are portable between on-premises, cloud, and other infrastructures.
Converts text to useful features utilizing techniques for extracting document characteristics like TFIDF, CNN, and GRU.
Includes Superior ML models for spotting deceptive practices in massive data sets of transactions for application in real-time security monitoring.

Supported Platforms: Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Pricing: Free to $30 per month

4.Mintlify

By automation, and more especially automated documentation generation, Mintlify hopes to solve the problems associated with documentation. Using tools like NLP and web scraping, the company’s platform can read code and generate documentation that describes it. Just highlighting the code will trigger this tool to generate the documentation process.

It saves time and improves your codebase by creating documentation. Moreover, Mintlify saves senior developers time in the future when explaining their code to others.

Mintlify’s Key Features

Improves the document’s readability by scanning for “outdated” sections and detecting user interaction.
It doesn’t keep any code and encrypts all user data while stored and in transit.
Includes support for integration with well-known tools like Slack, Dropbox, and GitHub to streamline and automate development and project management processes.
Includes a user base of 6000+ active accounts.

Supported Platforms: Windows, Mac, and Linux
Pricing: Free to $120 per month

5.Scikit Learn

Scikit Learn (also known as sklearn), a popular open-source machine-learning library, is designed to provide a range of supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms for classification, regression, clustering, and dimensionality reduction tasks.

Scikit-learn provides a user-friendly and efficient API for building machine learning models. It includes a wide range of pre-processing techniques for handling missing data, scaling features, and transforming data into a suitable format for modeling.

Scikit Learn’s Key Features

Includes a range of model evaluation techniques for assessing the performance of the models, such as cross-validation and grid search.
Can be easily integrated with other tools and libraries in the Python ecosystem.
Contains many computations for common artificial intelligence and data mining tasks, such as bunching, relapsing, and order.
Built on top of other popular scientific computing libraries for Python such as NumPy, SciPy, and matplotlib.

Supported Platforms: Windows, Mac, and Linux
Pricing: Free to use

6.Rainbird

Rainbird is a cutting-edge artificial intelligence platform with a short history. The Rainbird suite includes the Rainbird Infer module, the Rainbird Flow module, and the Rainbird AutoML module, all of which may be accessed via the Rainbird Studio interface. You can use the tool’s brand-new artificial intelligence component Rainbird AutoML with machine learning for model training and deployment.

Rainbird’s Key Features

Uses a robust inference engine to automate the decision-making process.
You can get better quality forecasts using the results of the trained model with Rainbird Infer.
The users can generate visualizations of the decision logic with the help of the knowledge maps.
Allows for the development of comprehensive approaches for complex decision-making.

Supported Platforms: Windows, Mac, and Linux
Pricing: Free to use

For more AI development and coding tools, please check check my this blog post. In addition to the six tools already mentioned above, it also introduces:

Tabnine
Otter.ai
PyTorch
GitHub Copilot
Wing Pro

Over all, Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the way we develop software. With the rise of AI-powered software development tools, developers can streamline the development process and create high-quality applications faster than ever.

A plethora of AI Development Tools are available, from data processing to natural language processing, and we hope you’ve found the best one after reading this article.

A Curated List of 10 Sites to Submit Your Side Projects.

Morgan Kung 🎯🚀 — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 07:26:41 +0000

Hey developers, this is Morgan, the founder of Gemoo.

With my partner, I recently introduced Gemoo Recorder and Gemoo Snap. Due to our initial lack of funding, we had to look for some free platforms in an effort to increase traffic to our website.

So we gathered a lot of resources—whether ones we discovered on our own or were recommended by others—and submitted them. Fortunately, it worked on a few platforms. Since then, our traffic has been continuously increasing.

Now, I want to share with you guys the 10 best-working sites we spotted and wish you good luck as well! 👇👇👇

A list of 10 sites to submit your product at the early stage

👆👆👆By clicking above, you'll go to a list my partner created with Gemoo to demonstrate the platform that, in our opinion, is most effective for generating visitors.

In order to take a glance at the landing page and add some details, such as how much traffic it has brought us, and how much traffic it has for one month, we added some recording videos, YouTube videos, as well as screenshots.

Hope you'll find it useful!

I'd also like to know which platform works best for you.🏆