Bold Product Bets

Early in my career, convincing engineers to care about features was hard. Sure, you can push features through. But skeptical engineers kill products faster than users do.

A junior engineer once told me, 'I hate coding features nobody uses.' As a founder, most of what I build never sees daylight. I’m hunting one big win, not perfection.

So I built a framework to help my engineers see features differently.

I called it the BIBO framework: Bets, Improvements, Bugs, Optimizations.

Don’t build safe, boring features everyone else has. Build the weird thing—the twist only you would dream up. Customers never ask for weird. They ask for normal.

Over time, user requests will make your roadmap safe. Weird comes first. Bets are bold, gut-driven features. Sometimes backed by evidence. Often just outrageous.

At EntryLevel (my startup, ~300k users), we did something wild: Finish the course? Get your money back. 100% refund. Most courses reward quitters. (Read less than 30% of the course and get a refund - change of mind) I wanted to reward finishers.

My team wasn’t sold. But they trusted the bet, and we shipped.

Revenue went $0 → $100k/month in 6 months. 75% let us keep the money, in exchange for bonus perks. That bold, weird bet helped us stand out from the noise. Calling it a ‘bet’ helped the engineers relax.

'I’m not sure either, but it’s a bet. We only need one.'

The other 3 parts of BIBO? Less wild. You know them well.

Things I actually use  🚀
Here are a few recommendations or ways I can help you. Follow the links if any of these are interesting. (FYI - Using these links helps support the newsletter through a small kick back!)

🌍 Hiring Global Talent: Fine A+ players at lower costs with Athyna
👨‍🎨 Get Unlimited Design Work: Want great designs at a low monthly cost? Try ManyPixels
📰 Build a Newsletter: Want to build a newsletter like me? Try Beehiiv

Improvements = Listening to your users. Surveys. Customer support. Friction points.

Example: your conversion rate is dipping.

• Maybe the signup form is confusing.

• Maybe the button's hiding.

• Clear the path. Easy wins.

But improvements alone won’t transform your business. They’re small steps—not leaps.

That’s why bets matter.

Bugs = When reality doesn’t match expectations. Users click ‘Buy’. Nothing happens. Fix it, ship it, move on.

If you're a developer—or you've ever nudged one—you've seen this graph before.

Optimizations = Invisible wins.
Users don't see them. But they'll feel them.

• Backend upgrades

• Clearing tech debt

• Faster hosting

They’re not glamorous, but they're essential. Like changing your oil. Boring—but skip it at your peril.

• Bet → Wild ideas, experiments, leaps forward

• Improvement → User-driven tweaks, friction-reducers

• Bug → Quick fixes, broken stuff

• Optimization → Invisible upgrades, smoother systems

Use BIBO. You’ll ship faster, argue less, and engineers might even thank you.

Until next time,

Ajay