Sepas — From Prolonged Pre-launch to Public Release

Problem & Users

After about a year in pre-launch development, the product needed a clear path to public release, measurement, and monetization.

Users: Persian-speaking couples using assessments, partner connection, and premium experiences.

Role & Ownership

Technical Product Manager / Product & Go-to-Market Consultant (contract).

Key Action

Defined a launchable scope, instrumented behavior, and used channel-quality evidence to guide early GTM.

Key Decisions

Define a launchable scope and move to market learning instead of waiting for a perfect product.
Instrument onboarding, assessments, partner invitation, engagement, and subscription behavior before scaling acquisition.
Compare Matomo, Google Analytics, AdTrace, Metrix, and a custom path; select Metrix for app analytics in the launch phase rather than add measurement infrastructure without a clear decision use.
Use channel-quality evidence rather than optimize only for reach; in the recorded comparison, a smaller persona-aligned channel materially outperformed the broader network campaign on click-to-install.

Product Artifacts

Decision evidence, made visible.

Sanitized reconstruction from documented product work

Launch & Analytics Decision Artifact

Launch Measurement Decision

Sepas

Product situation

The product had spent roughly a year in pre-launch development. The launch needed to create usable evidence for the next product decisions, not only move the release status.

Decision principle

Do not add measurement infrastructure simply because more measurement is possible. Add it when the data has a clear role in a product decision.

Behaviors selected for measurement

OnboardingAssessmentsPartner invitationEngagementSubscription behavior

Analytics options considered

MatomoGoogle AnalyticsAdTraceMetrixCustom path

Decision: use Metrix for app analytics during the launch phase.

01Ship

02Observe real behavior

03Identify friction / value / monetization signals

04Adjust product or acquisition decisions

05Measure again

Acquisition learning

Channel performance should be evaluated by the quality of downstream behavior, not reach alone. In the recorded comparison, a smaller persona-aligned channel materially outperformed a broader network campaign on click-to-install.

Working rule: shipping is most useful when it changes the quality of the evidence available for the next decision.

Delivery & Technical Approach

Supported production-readiness improvements across environment separation, backups, release reliability, and deployment workflow.
Introduced product analytics/event tracking and strengthened QA, release, and support practices around the public launch.

Jira product operationsMetrix analyticsFunnel / event taxonomyMyket / Cafe Bazaar / PWASubscription & pricingQA / release

Product / System Flow

01
Onboarding
02
Assessments
03
Partner connection
04
Engagement features
05
Subscription / premium

Outcome / Impact

758 couple contests were recorded; 344 completed, a 45.4% completion rate.
A recorded acquisition comparison showed 31.67% click-to-install for the targeted Kaf channel versus 2.86% for Tapsell in that specific campaign context.

Product Metrics

These are separate measurement lenses, not sequential funnel stages: 25,800 assessment responses is event volume, not a conversion step after 1,450 registered users.

Couple contest

Recorded: 758
Completed: 344
Completion rate: 45.4%

Completion rate is calculated within the recorded couple-contest activity.

Campaign comparison

Kaf click-to-install: 31.67%
Tapsell click-to-install: 2.86%

Campaign-specific acquisition evidence; not a general benchmark for either channel.

Constraints & Boundary

Long pre-launch development and perfectionism had delayed market learning.
Active development later froze because of financial constraints after launch.
Team outcomes remain team outcomes under product coordination.

Scope note: 58 is the number of unique paying users; one purchase could cover a connected partner. IRR 22.1m is a recorded dashboard revenue snapshot, not lifetime revenue. Acquisition comparisons are campaign-specific, and forecasts are not achievements.

Reflection & Next

Launch can be a product decision when more pre-launch polish is blocking evidence.
Channel quality can matter more than top-of-funnel volume.
Analytics earns its place when it changes a launch, channel, or product decision rather than existing as dashboard decoration.

Next: Prioritize retention and premium-value validation by cohort, partner-connected behavior, and subscription outcomes before broadening acquisition spend.