Product Design · Marketing
From zero to MVP in 60 days
Chapter 1
Working class heroes
Stoovo is the brainchild of three immigrant founders who noticed something interesting: The platforms that power the gig economy are almost always optimized for buyers, not workers.
Hantz Févry, Pierre Frederic Mombeleur and Semih Korkmaz all had first hand experience of modern American gig work. They wanted Stoovo to be firmly in the workers’ corner, helping them navigate an often hostile and non-transparent market, and giving them access to some of the support structures available to workers in more traditional settings.
They had the insight and the idea. Now what they needed was a design partner to help them explore, implement and iterate. Enter Humbleteam.
Chapter 2
The team goes to work
Stoovo’s decision to hire Humbleteam came from a recommendation by a former colleague of Stoovo’s CEO at Google who had seen Humbleteam’s concept for Google Bank and liked it.
Work started in December 2019, and for a solid two months the teams worked closely together at a feverish pace, building the app, brainstorming, reviewing product requirements and experimenting with design solutions.
By February, Stoovo was ready to release a fully functioning minimum viable product, and also had a marketing site to entice new users.
Chapter 3
Nice features
#1 It’s looking good
Gig workers spend a looot of time monitoring various platforms, looking for gigs. The process is cumbersome and opaque, and often they end up randomly choosing jobs, and getting paid less than they should. By aggregating offers from over 6,000 services, and directing workers to the most lucrative gigs at any given moment, Stoovo helps them find better jobs and get paid more for their time.
#2 Less pain, more gain
Gig workers also have to deal with a lot of stuff that regular employees don’t. Stoovo is designed to help them reduce income volatility, manage their taxes, and plan their working lives. The app has features that help users reach their financial goals, as well as give them access to short term cash if they find themselves in a crunch.
#3 Join the workforce
Together with Stoovo’s team we started thinking about user acquisition on day one. The marketing website went live on the day that the app was released, and since then we’ve collaborated on several marketing campaigns, launched new landing pages, and taken the website through five iterations, all designed to attract new users and improve conversion.
“First, the level of expertise at Humbleteam is very high. We got a beautiful UI but also a deep understanding of our business goals. Second, communication is excellent and seamless with our teams really merging into one. Third, the consistency and the ability to adapt: We usually experiment and iterate a lot, and for Humbleteam it comes very naturally. When I was at Google I worked with a lot of designers, and I’ve been very impressed by Humbleteam.”
Hantz Févry
Co-founder and CEO, Stoovo
Chapter 4
In the end of the day
With the MVP version of their app out in the world, and the number of users growing steadily, Stoovo’s founders were able to raise $2.4m for further development, and also convince several key stakeholders to join the company.
A word from Humbleteam
“There’s nothing more satisfying for a product designer than getting to help a bunch of incredibly talented people like the Stoovo team take an idea and turn it into a successful business with thousands of users and millions of dollars in investment. We’re incredibly excited to see where this rocket ship can go.”
Yanosh Govoshi
Design Lead, Humbleteam
