Designing an MVP from 0-to-1 for the builders and joiners of club communities

Build IRL was a 0→1 platform for starting, running, and joining in-person clubs. Research revealed two different problems underneath that idea: builders were overwhelmed by the work of running communities, while joiners struggled to tell whether a club was actually for them. Over 10 weeks, my team and I helped shape the core builder and joiner flows for the MVP, from research and product framing through high-fidelity web and mobile design.

From 10+ interviews with club builders and joiners, two problems kept surfacing on opposite sides of the experience.

💡 Builders needed less work. Joiners needed more confidence.

Build IRL could have gone in a lot of directions — events, messaging, discovery, club management, profiles, onboarding, creation tools.

But trying to solve everything at once would just recreate the same complexity we were trying to reduce. So we narrowed the product around two questions:

01 Does this remove meaningful work for builders?

02 Does this give joiners enough context to feel confident joining?

We mapped the core builder and joiner journeys in mid-fi first, using them to work through hierarchy, flow, and scope before committing to high-fidelity screens.

This stage was intentionally loose. As we reviewed the experience with stakeholders, screens moved, flows changed, and some ideas were reworked once we could see the product end to end.

💡 Mid-fi gave us room to make those changes quickly without getting too attached to polished UI too early.

The joiner experience couldn't just answer what, where, and when. Research showed people were also trying to figure out whether the community actually felt like a fit.

So, we brought more of the club's personality and context forward — things like interests, visuals, and community details — before committing.

💡 The goal wasn't to add more information. It was to surface the information that actually helped someone decide: Can I see myself here?

Builders came into Build IRL with very different levels of momentum. Some already knew exactly what they wanted to create. Others had an idea but needed help shaping it. And existing communities might already have a visual identity somewhere else.

So instead of forcing everyone through one setup path, we designed three ways where builders could:

01: Create from scratch

For builders who already had a clear vision and wanted full control.

02: Generate with AI

For builders who had the idea, but needed help getting past the blank-page problem.

03: Import from Instagram

For existing communities that already had branding and content they shouldn’t have to rebuild.

💡 We adapted onboarding to different starting points instead of treating every builder like a blank slate.

Over 10 weeks, we defined and prototyped the core Build IRL experience across both sides of the community. The final direction was approved by the team and presented at a conference, where it received positive feedback.

Since I didn’t have access to long-term product metrics, the next things I’d want to understand is this:

Builder completion: Do people finish creating a club once they start?

Time to publish: How quickly can a builder get a club live?

Join conversion: Does detailed club context help people feel confident joining?

Drop-off: Where do builders or joiners lose momentum?

Build IRL changed a lot while we were working on it. Flows I thought were settled would shift after a stakeholder conversation or once we saw the whole experience together.

I left the project much more comfortable changing direction when the reasoning changes, even if it means letting go of something I already designed.