Megastar  ·  Senior Product Manager

Rebuilding the Core Engagement Loop

Jan 2017 - Aug 2018

Rebuilt a creator product's core engagement loop under hard deadlines and public stakes, turning a one-time talent show into a retentive live platform.

TL;DR: Transformation & Impact

Key Outcomes

  • 2.6 daily sessions per user: engagement became recurring, not one-off
  • +100% day-1 retention for artists and fans
  • 8% of fans converted to pay through live gifting
  • Found product-market fit: 500K+ downloads with Usher as partner

What Changed

One-time talent show spectacleInteractive live streaming platform
Strong spectacle, weak habit formationClear loops for artists and fans
Engagement reset after each eventEngagement compounding daily
No direct fan supportLive gifting: 8% fan conversion

Context

Megastar was a mobile talent show app evolving into a creator platform connecting artists and fans, with Usher as celebrity partner and a $1M prize. It was a public-facing product where failure would be visible.

I owned product decisions for the core experience: what shipped and what got cut. The company put artists first while operating under real revenue and market pressure.

Challenge

When I joined, Megastar had no product-market fit and no margin for error:

  • Hard competition launch deadlines that could not slip.
  • High brand expectations: with Usher attached, we could not ship something that felt cheap.
  • Incomplete engagement loops: high awareness and participation spikes, but weak retention and progression paths. One-off spectacle, not recurring behavior.

What I Did

1

Ruthless Scope Tied to Engagement

Hard competition launch deadlines could not slip, so only work that increased repeat participation shipped. Everything else got cut, no matter how appealing.

Tradeoff: Some polish and breadth sacrificed to protect the core loop under deadline.

2

Prototype-Led Alignment

With high brand expectations and public stakes, debate over abstractions was too slow. Concrete prototypes converged execs and investors quickly on what we were actually building.

3

Plugged the Leaky Bucket with Streaming Tech

Licensable video streaming technology replaced the weakest part of the experience, turning marquee moments into an interactive, retentive live platform.

4

Designed for Segments

Casual fans, active participants, artists, and superfans each needed a different experience. Each segment got its own path into the engagement loop rather than one generic flow.

Impact & Results

The product shifted from spectacle to habit and found product-market fit, growing to 500K+ downloads. Fans participated repeatedly instead of only during marquee moments, artists saw clearer signals of momentum and support, and engagement began compounding instead of resetting after each event.

2.6

Daily Sessions per User

+100%

Day-1 Retention

8%

Fan Conversion to Pay

Megastar

Megastar: app, Usher, $1M prize

Megastar: mobile talent competition with Usher and a $1M prize

Key Takeaways

Reduce Reliance on One-Off Spectacles

One-off engagement does not compound. Durable growth requires habit formation, not moments, and I would have shifted investment toward recurring behavior even earlier.

Build Artist Progression Paths

Artists needed clear milestones to work toward between competitions. Progression systems would have given momentum a visible shape.

Deepen Fan Investment Mechanics

Gifting proved fans would pay to support artists. Deeper investment mechanics would have strengthened the bond between fans and the artists they backed.