There is a moment that separates products people use once from products people come back to every day. It is not a feature. It is not a notification. It is the feeling that the product remembers who you are.

I have been thinking about this a lot while building Murror. We spent so much time on acquisition, onboarding funnels, and activation metrics. But the thing that actually moved our retention numbers was something much simpler: continuity.

For the first year of Murror, every landing page, every ad, every App Store screenshot led with the same thing: "AI-powered self-compassion."

It checked all the boxes. AI was the hot keyword. Investors loved it. It felt modern.

When we first launched Murror, we measured success the way most AI products do: how much are users interacting with the AI? How long are the conversations? How many follow-up questions are they asking?

The numbers looked great. Users were writing long entries, the AI was generating thoughtful reflections, and people kept coming back. We were building the world's best journaling chatbot.

There's a pattern I keep noticing across the AI products that actually stick with people vs. the ones that get tried once and forgotten.

The forgettable ones try to be impressive. They show off what the model can do -- generate faster, automate more, produce output at scale. And they're genuinely cool for about 15 minutes.

Our team is planning to launch a new version of our product on Product Hunt next week, after a period of optimization and improvements. As we get closer to launch day, I realize there s a lot to prepare, and I m curious about how other teams usually approach this process.

So far, here s what we ve been focusing on:

• Most importantly, making sure the product works well and delivers real value

• Continuous testing to ensure performance and stability

• Designing clean and clear product screenshots

• Preparing a summary of what s been updated, fixed, or optimized

• Writing launch content (tagline, description, first comment, etc.)

• Maintaining good health and a stable mindset for the launch

• Expanding our network and connecting with other makers

Most people are using AI wrong and I was one of them.

For the first year, I used AI like a fancy Google. "Write me a product description." "Summarize this." "Give me 10 ideas for X." Useful? Sure. Transformative? Not really.

We re usually very good at creating to-do lists for work.
But what about everything outside of work?

I ve started turning my personal habits into a checklist to build discipline and make these habits non-negotiable over time.

Here s mine:

One of the hardest conversations we had at Murror was about a pattern we kept seeing in the data.

Some users were journaling every single day. Multiple entries. Long, thoughtful, beautifully written reflections about the same thing over and over a breakup, a falling out with a friend, a decision they couldn't make.

When we first launched Murror, the number one feature request was always the same: "Can I talk to the AI?"

Users wanted a chatbot. Something they could vent to, ask for advice, get instant feedback from. Every competitor had one. Every investor asked why we didn't. So we built it.

At the beginning, my reason was very simple: I needed a job and I genuinely liked the product.

I graduated with a Marketing degree, but I never felt like I belonged in agencies or similar environments. It just wasn t for me. At the same time, I didn t have much experience in tech either. So I took a leap of faith and applied for a Customer Support role, almost blindly.

The early days were tough. I had no technical background, no real understanding of how apps were built, and everything felt overwhelming. But the product itself became my motivation. I started from the most basic things: learning simple technical terms, understanding how an app is structured, and slowly exploring how everything works behind the scenes.