MolbyExample · fictional person · live site
Lessons as easy as pressing play.
Mei teaches English and Mandarin in Vancouver. Her students learn on the bus and late at night. This is how Mo's crew turned her lessons into Twofold: a web player now, with iPhone and Android next.
Mei Lin 林梅
Bilingual English–Mandarin teacher · Vancouver
“My students learn on the bus and late at night. I want lessons that feel as easy as playing music — on the web and on their phones.”
The need
What Mei wanted.
Mei has taught English and Mandarin for years, in both directions. Her students already listen to her recordings on the SkyTrain and late at night, passed around as audio files and screenshots of handouts.
She wanted lessons that feel like music: albums and tracks, words that follow the audio in both languages, and a way to save a phrase for later. On the web first, then on her students' phones, with a plan they pay for and a version for whole classrooms.
Idea cardDone- One line
- Bilingual lessons that feel like playing music, on the web and on phones.
- For
- Adults who learn English or Mandarin on the commute, and their teachers.
- Money
- Free, Plus at CA$7.99 a month, and classroom plans.
- Must have
- Lessons as albums and tracksLyrics that follow the audio, in both languagesSave phrases for later
- Not now
- Live classes · speech scoring
Stage by stage
What Molby delivered, and what Mei decided.
Seven stages, one crew. Mei talked, looked and decided; the specialists did the rest. How the stages work
-
1 · Idea · Mo
An idea card, filled in as she talked.
Mo asked five questions, one at a time: who it's for, how they learn today, why Mei knows this better than anyone, what done looks like, and how much time and money she wants to put in.
MeiWeb first. Phones once real students have tried it. -
2 · Research · Researcher
Worth building. 54 sources say so.
Researcher ran five tracks at once: apps adults pay for, how commuters learn, teachers' tools and prices, learners in Canada, and audio lessons people actually finish.
- Demand: strong. Commuters look for audio-first lessons, and few apps teach both directions
- Will they pay: likely. Learners already pay CA$10–17 a month for apps they call generic
- Her edge: clear. Her own recordings and classroom, in both languages
- Sources included r/ChineseLanguage, App Store reviews, Google Trends and a survey of 14 teachers
MeiBuild it, starting with a web player. -
3 · Prototype · Designer
Night radio, and eleven things fixed before she saw it.
Designer offered three directions: Night radio, Paper notebook and Pop textbook. Mei chose Night radio: dark, green, lessons as album covers. The taste check fixed eleven things before the prototype reached her.
- Every album cover in one illustration style
- Chinese and English lines aligned
- The play button within thumb reach
- Readable on the bus at night
MeiNight radio. It looks like something my students already use. -
4 · Test · User researcher
Twelve testers, one link, no sign-up.
Testers opened try.molby.ai/twofold, long-pressed wherever something was off, and answered Mo's one-minute interview.
- Tester 4: “I need pinyin under this line.”
- Tester 7: “Track 3. The Chinese was too fast for me on the bus.”
- Fixes, ranked: a pinyin switch and a 0.75× speed
MeiAdd both, then build. -
5 · Build · Engineer & QA
312 tests passing.
Engineer turned the prototype into the real thing; QA checked every feature on iPhone, Android and desktop.
- Albums and tracks, with lyrics that follow the audio
- Pinyin switch and 0.75× speed
- Saved phrases
- Plus and Classroom billing, paid into Mei's account
- A dashboard for teachers with classrooms
MeiOpened the staging site on her phone, played Tea House, signed off. -
6 · Launch · Launch
Live on the web. The stores, from her own accounts.
The web player went live at once. For the phone apps, Mei registered her own Apple and Google Play developer accounts with Mo's help; the crew prepared everything else and submitted from her account.
- twofold.molby.app with SSL; payments in Canadian dollars
- Privacy policy and the stores' data forms
- Store listings and screenshots, then App Store review
- Google Play's closed test: 12 testers for 14 days, drawn from her test list
MeiApproved the store listing and pressed Launch. -
7 · Grow · Analyst
Learners, income, and what to do next.
Analyst's weekly note from Mo, with one button per suggestion.
- In this example: 1,184 learners and CA$999 a month
- “Night Bus drove 41% of new Plus sign-ups. I'll draft a track list for you to look at.”
MeiYes, draft it.
For your own
What it would take for you.
The same split as Mei's: most of it is done for you, a few things are one tap, and a few need you in person.
We handle it6Plus is a digital subscription, so inside the iPhone app it's sold through Apple's in-app purchase; on the web it's paid by card. New personal Google Play accounts need 12 testers opted in for 14 days before launch, and Twofold's testers covered that.
Mei Lin and Twofold are fictional, the numbers are illustrative, and twofold.molby.app is an example, so it's kept out of search results on purpose.
Lena Ortiz · Essayist and podcaster
Chen Yu · First-time game maker
Your idea deserves users.
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