Details shared with permission; company name withheld at their request.
Before opening the doors to a single user, a stealth-stage community platform for Black women's hair care had already built its v1 product; what it hadn't yet answered was who the platform was really for, and how the business would sustain itself.
The Challenge
The founder had a working product, built largely on her own hair journey and instincts, but hadn't yet tested those assumptions against real users.
"Before working with Kylia, I hadn't done any in-depth research into how users would experience the website I'd built. I had made a lot of assumptions about what Black women would want to see, based mostly on my own hair journey. Kylia helped me understand why it mattered to hear from a large number of women instead of relying on my own experience, and that shift changed how I approached the entire project."
What We Did
Three phases: a landscape assessment to find real differentiation in a crowded space, research to understand who the target audience actually is and what they need, and a monetization strategy built from what that research surfaced.
"I was surprised by how willing people were to take the time to answer questions and sit for interviews. Women clearly wanted to be heard on this topic. Some of their answers blew me away; for example, women with looser curl patterns were much more likely to trust a stylist's advice, while women with tighter coil patterns tended to rely on their own trial and error. Insights like that were things I never would have discovered on my own, and they've shaped how I'm building the platform."
The Outcome: Clarity
This phase of work delivered a validated direction: a defined position in a crowded market, a real understanding of who the platform is for, and a realistic picture of what it will actually take to get there.
"I have a much better understanding of how I want to move the site forward, how I want to engage with users, and how I want women to feel when they visit the platform. Most importantly, I now have a realistic picture of what it will take to get there, including what it will cost. I feel like I'm building with intention instead of guessing."
Working With TheBuildCo.
"I was worried Kylia would recommend a total rebuild of my site. Instead, she found ways to incorporate what survey respondents told us through small, thoughtful enhancements to what I'd already built. That meant a lot to me. What really stood out was how naturally her ideas come out in everyday conversation; you'll be talking through something, and suddenly she's offered an idea you never would have thought of."
A working product is a starting point, not a finish line. The clearer picture came from asking the right questions before launch, not after. If your team is sitting on something built but not yet validated, that's exactly the kind of gap we help close.
