The First Real Test Begins (Week 07)

Last week, I finally hit a milestone I’ve been dreaming about for two years: having a real, functional MVP ready for learners to try. It felt surreal. After all this time, the idea wasn’t just in my head anymore, it existed. You could hold it, open it, interact with it.

But building the MVP was never the finish line. It was only the start of the real work. The actual progress begins when the product meets reality, when a learner touches it, gets confused, gets motivated, gets stuck, gets excited. That’s where the truth shows up.

Uploading the app: way harder than expected

This week, I moved to the next step: uploading the MVP to Google Play Console.

I assumed it would take maybe an hour.
It didn’t.

First, I had to create an account.
Then pay the one-time $25 fee.
Then build the production version of the app.

And that’s where things got messy.

Building the app took way longer than I expected. My Mac became extremely slow every time I tried to generate a build. Then I would upload it to the Play Store… wait… and the app wouldn’t open. Back to debugging. Fix. Rebuild. Upload. Wait again.

Turned out the issue was with how I configured the production environment variables.
It took five full builds until I finally had a version that worked.

But I can’t lie, seeing the app appear inside Google Play Console for the first time was a special moment. Even if it’s only in internal testing, it hit me: I built this.

Choosing testing strategy: speed > formality

Publishing a public app on the Play Store takes time. Every change requires waiting. Every update needs approval. And I’m not at that stage yet, I need fast iteration, not bureaucracy.

So I decided to make my little brother a closed tester.
For him, it will feel like a normal Play Store app.
For me, it gives maximum speed and flexibility to improve quickly.

A dilemma: should he know it’s mine?

Here’s the problem: if people know you’re the founder, especially family, they rarely give honest feedback. They don’t want to hurt you, disappoint you, or discourage you.

I need the truth, not kindness.

So I chose not to tell him it’s my app.
I want his usage to be natural, not influenced.

At the end of the week, I told him:

“I found an app on the internet that might help you. Want to try it?”

He said yes.
Because it’s a closed test, it doesn’t show up in search results, so I had to help him install it.

The first interaction

He opened version 1.0.0.
He instantly understood what the app was about, even without onboarding.
That’s a very good sign. It means the core design is intuitive enough.

But he didn’t open any lesson.

He looked around, scrolled a bit, then closed it.

I asked him why.
He just said:

“Later, I’ll use it.”

I could tell he didn’t feel comfortable taking a lesson while I was sitting next to him, watching him. So I didn’t push. I decided to give him space and avoid asking anything for a few days.

For the rest of the day, he didn’t open it again.

Now I’m curious:
Will curiosity pull him back in?
Will he reach activation?
Will he experience the “aha moment”, finishing his first lesson?

This is where the real value of week 07 lies: observing real user behavior without interfering.

Closing Week 07

So that’s it for this week.
My brother installed version 1.0.0 of the app.

Next week is the first true test:
Will he use it? And what will that reveal?

Thank you for reading, see you next Tuesday! 🚀