projects · boon

Boon Listen — the journey so far.

Boon is my venture bet. Today it's an AI interview agent — it took six pivots to get here. The short version, newest first.

1. now Building

   Lining up the first customer conversations. Everything below rides along as hard-won rules: ship fast, test on behavior, keep only what survives the evidence.

2. jul 2026 · boon listen The product became the process

   Every pivot below started with customer interviews. Eventually one thing became obvious: the interviews were the valuable part. Boon Listen is an AI agent that conducts them — real voice interviews, not surveys — so companies can validate ideas faster and cheaper than traditional research panels.

3. jul 2026 · boon vibes The map became social

   Save spots from reels, plan them with your crew, keep the memories. Concept to beta testers in about three days. Then a harder question: nice-to-have, or burning need? Boon Vibes didn’t pass.

4. may–jun 2026 · boon map A Tokyo map where every pin is great

   Hand-curated places, no ads, no gamed reviews, matched to your taste. Built the iPhone app end to end and shipped it to beta testers. The usage data was honest: people didn’t come back — a beautiful map alone wasn’t a habit.

5. feb–may 2026 · experiments Three fast, cheap tests

   A hands-on planning service for group outings, back-office help for small tour operators, and a surprise-experience subscription. The one test that asked people to pay got zero takers — a hard number worth more than every kind opinion collected. Lesson kept for good: only behavior counts.

6. early 2026 · listening Customer interviews killed the idea

   A round of customer interviews found no appetite for meeting strangers — people wanted less friction doing things with the friends they already had. I followed the evidence.

7. late 2025 · the start A social idea

   Boon began as a way for young Tokyo professionals to discover experiences together — curated group outings with new people.