I have decided to shut down Prodana, at least for the time being.
There is sadness there, because I am really passionate about the idea. The concept where people wouldn't pay for their own therapy services, but rather for those of others. The idea of mental health as a communal responsibility, drawing inspiration from meditation retreats and university scholarship models.
I still think Prodana is a good idea, just possibly ahead of its time. Or maybe it's too utopian for a complex capitalist world.
What I learned
I learned many things from building Prodana. They inform me, and hopefully they can inform others as well.
When I built the platform, I had no prior experience managing a product from idea to launch. I didn't have a job that would give me that experience, so I basically created it for myself. I ended up getting hired as a product manager, partially because of this experience, so in a way that was the payoff. People pay thousands of dollars on courses like this, I generally prefer to pay the money for hands-on experience.
I also learned about my preferences. I like building things. Marketing and selling them is a lot harder for me. But talking to clients, and potential clients is crucial for actually building a successful product, not to mention actually getting it launched and profitable. There were so many things I could have done before paying the first dollar for the first line of code. But I was afraid of actually talking to others, and I largely avoided it.
I tried delegating parts of the marketing to others. But I have found that with almost all aspects of a startup, you're best off doing something yourself for a while before handing it off. At the very least you'll need to provide very clear instructions to your hire - I was able to do this to my designer and developers, but not to my marketer, again, because I was avoiding that part of it all.
I ended up using Prodana for my own private practice, for over a year. I processed over $8,000 in contributions, usually in $100-200 increments. So it was really cool to personally utilize my own software and also run my practice around these values.
I also got to participate in a local startup competition, and experience the ways in which it is beneficial, and ways in which it isn't.
Doing it all Again
If I were starting all over again, here's what I'd do differently.
I'd talk to many potential clients, I'd say between 10 and 30, before I even launch. To gauge the need, get their feedback, and even just get practice articulating the idea. (Articulating how Prodana worked was, and remains, the biggest challenge for both practitioners and clients)
I'd use an existing framework like Woocommerece and WordPress to do a lot of the heavy lifting and then some custom code where things diverge. This often results in something that is not quite as user-friendly or perfectly functional, but it would have allowed me to get a prototype MVP up faster, at a fraction of the cost.
It would have also kept my ongoing costs low. Prodana has cost me over $100 in hosting every month to keep it up. At this point, I'd rather put the $1,200 annually towards other things, since if I'm honest with myself I don't see myself directly trying to grow it any further.
I am grateful for my experience with Prodana. I am sad it is over. I hope I can contribute more in the future to world of mental health, and the places in which technology can enhance it.
