Manifesting your community's values and unmet needs through creative brand and product ideas is the secret to product market fit
Dmitry Pyanov is a mastermind behind some of the most popular tech products and cultural projects. He spearheaded the launch of Replika, an AI chatbot designed to help people improve their emotional well-being, worked at The Pattern app, which helps connect on a deeper level through astrology, and co-founded Mindpet, a mobile game focused on mental health.
Currently, Dmitry is working on launching Prog.AI, an AI recruitment platform that analyzes programming code and helps employers and recruiters to hire the most relevant engineering talent. In this interview, Dmitry talks about his career path as Creative Director and Product Manager, challenges of launching tech products and the future of AI.
Tell me a bit about your background. How did you come into tech?
I started my career at the age of 13 fueled by my passion for animation. I quickly learned to design animations in Macromedia Flash, as well as other design tools. I also picked up front-end development skills and created brands and websites for small businesses, even cold-calling offices through the Yellow Pages.
After a few years, I transitioned into the music industry, where I gained experience in music festivals and creative marketing. In my early 20s, I worked on a relaunch of a major music streaming service, Yandex.Music), where I was able to bring my creative skills into an engineering environment. For the past 9 years, I've been working alongside some of the best tech teams in the industry, developing, launching and growing mobile apps.
It seems like the best platform for tech platforms has been Twitter for a while. Do you think it is going to change with Elon Musk changing the rules of the game?
To be honest, I think Twitter gets more credit than it deserves. While it's certainly a powerful tool for giving voice to communities around the world, it's also a breeding ground for hate and negativity. That being said, I'm not quite sure what Elon Musk is trying to accomplish, but it's certainly causing quite a stir. Let's hope for the best. I'd like to see more new social platforms, decentralization of social media so to speak.
What's your take on the future of social media platforms? Do you anticipate seeing new platforms gaining momentum any time soon?
There are impressive debutants like Mastodon, this French app BeReal gained quite a momentum, and also Gas by Nikita Bier broke all the charts and quickly got acquired by Discord. This market is hot, but, as I said, I'd rather see more mental health or healthtech products rather than social media. But when it comes to social media we need more advanced next gen social products, more creativity and innovation to empower culture and grassroot communities, at the same time keeping it safe and healthy to use.
The Pattern prouds itself not only in connecting people with each other, but also brings more self-awareness and better understanding of yourself by providing tools for self-reflection. Indeed, when reading astrological forecasts we tend to pick the bits that feel good to us and relatable. How does that affect human behavior?
In my opinion, any act of self-reflection or self-awareness, no matter the form it takes, is a positive step towards feeling better, gaining confidence, and improving overall well-being. While some practices like therapy and meditation have been approved by the FDA and backed by scientific research, others like astrology may be more imaginative and lack concrete scientific evidence. However, this doesn't stop millions of people from feeling excited and passionate about this subject. Ultimately, if something enriches your life and makes it more interesting, then it can be a positive force in your life.
What are some of your qualities that helped you succeed in the competitive American market as Creative Director? What would you recommend to people who would like to follow a similar career path in tech?
In the tech industry, creative direction, product vision, marketing, and execution are crucial components for success. While the industry focuses heavily on solving complex engineering and scientific challenges, it's essential not to overlook the end-user who will be consuming the final product. In fact, one of the main reasons tech startups fail is due to a lack of "product-market fit," resulting in no traction or interest from actual people.
To establish a connection between the brand and its message with the end-user and the structured, rational thinking of the engineering world, it's vital to strike a balance. Creatives must understand engineering culture and speak the same language with engineers. By doing so, they can create a robust brand and product that connects the three most crucial axes: user, brand, and engineering.
So the most important skills would be 1) communication and creativity 2) empathy 3) design-thinking 4) technical skills 5) strategic thinking
You have also developed and launched your own mobile game, MindPet. How did you come up with this one?
I came up with the idea of Mindpet as a creative project because I saw an opportunity to help young people improve their well-being through a unique mobile game experience. Traditional games often only serve as entertainment, but Mindpet is different. It's designed to provide users with valuable knowledge and tools for self-care, such as meditation lessons, mood tracking, and journaling.
Initially, we envisioned Mindpet as a tamagotchi-like concept where users care for their Mindpet by meditating and learning healthy habits. But we soon expanded our idea into a multiplayer sandbox game that allows users to invite up to six friends to their island for shared meditation and other self-care activities. Our inspiration for the game came from popular indie games such as Everything by David Oreilly and Sky: Children of Light.
Mindpet is a passion project, not a business, and we've strived to create a cozy indie-feel product. We're proud that our community has grown to over 10,000 users who have downloaded the game for free. As we continue to experiment with the combination of gaming and mental health, we hope to make a significant impact on the mental health crisis.
What are you working on these days? What product problems are you going to solve in the near future?
I joined Prog.AI in 2022 to bring my experience in product and creative design to build a recruitment platform that leverages programming code analysis to help engineers get discovered by top employers and recruiters. The brand I'm creating is focused on addressing the needs of both engineers and employers, and we're dedicated to showcasing the talent of the best and brightest through their open-source contributions.
By using code analysis, we can provide talented individuals with the spotlight they deserve and the opportunity to work for some of the most esteemed companies in the United States and worldwide.
I find it quite interesting to work on a brand that is associated with developer communities and engineering culture. It presents a unique challenge that requires a deep understanding of the nuances and intricacies of the engineering community.
