Building Tyvur: Lessons From My First Real Product Attempt

Why I Built Tyvur

Before Tyvur, I had built multiple tools, but all of them were for myself.

They helped me:

• automate repetitive work
• move faster as a developer
• solve problems I personally faced

I never had to think about users, distribution, or whether someone would actually pay for it.

Tyvur was different.

This was the first time I decided to build something for real users. Something live. Something public.

And honestly, I underestimated how different that would be.

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The Initial Idea

Tyvur started as an AI interview coach.

The idea was simple:

• Upload a resume
• Optionally add a job description
• Get relevant interview questions
• Answer via voice or text
• Receive feedback

From a technical perspective, it worked.

The system could:

• parse resumes
• generate structured questions
• evaluate answers
• manage multi step conversations

I was confident about the engineering.

But I had not validated the product.

And that turned out to be the real problem.

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Where Things Started Breaking

Once I put it in front of real users, patterns showed up very quickly:

• People don’t stick to interview prep tools
• Most users drop off after a few sessions
• Very few are willing to pay
• Some users prefer shortcuts over preparation

That last one hit hard.

I assumed people want to improve.

Reality is, many people want faster outcomes, not better preparation.

And then came the uncomfortable truth:

This was not a must have product.
It was a nice to have.

That difference changes everything.

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The Mistakes I Made

Looking back, the mistakes are very clear now.

1. I built before validating

I spent a lot of time building the system without validating:

• if people actually want this
• if they will use it consistently
• if they will pay for it

I was solving a problem I believed in, not a problem the market was demanding.

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2. I assumed my problems are universal

Just because I would use something does not mean others will.

This is a trap.

As developers, we often build for ourselves and assume scale will follow.

It usually does not.

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3. I over focused on engineering

I optimized for:

• better architecture
• cleaner flows
• smarter systems

But ignored:

• distribution
• positioning
• demand

No one cares how well your system is designed if they don’t need it.

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4. I ignored human behavior

This was the biggest blind spot.

I thought: "people want to prepare better"

Reality:

• people procrastinate
• people avoid effort
• people look for shortcuts

Products that fight human nature struggle.

Products that align with it win.

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What I Learned About Building Products

This project changed how I think completely.

1. Validation comes before building

Now the order is clear:

• validate demand
• validate willingness to pay
• then build

Not the other way around.

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2. Distribution is everything

Building is only half the game.

If people don’t see your product, nothing else matters.

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3. Simpler ideas often win

You don’t need complex systems to win.

You need:

• clear value
• clear outcome
• easy adoption

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4. Engineering is not the bottleneck

I used to think: "If I build something really good, it will work"

Now I know: Engineering is rarely the reason a product fails.

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What Tyvur Is Today

Let’s keep it honest.

Tyvur is not a successful product yet.

There is:

• no strong product market fit
• low retention
• no meaningful revenue

But it is live.

And more importantly, it forced me to confront reality.

It made me understand:

• what users actually do, not what they say
• how products fail in the real world
• how different building for users is from building for yourself

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What Changes Next

If I build something again, the approach will be very different.

Before writing a single line of code, I will:

• spend time in communities where my potential users already are
• observe their problems instead of assuming them
• talk to users carefully, knowing that people often say “yes” just to be polite
• validate whether the problem actually exists at scale
• test if there is real demand, not just interest
• check if people are already paying for a solution

Only then will I build.

Because building is not the hard part.

Building the right thing is.

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Final Thoughts

Tyvur did not become what I expected.

But it gave me something more valuable than a successful product.

Clarity.

Clarity about:

• what matters in products
• what does not
• and where I went wrong

This was my first real attempt at building something for the market.

It did not work.

But it changed how I think.

And that will matter much more in the long run.