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Product discoverySep 2024

Turning an idea into a paid product

Seven client interviews, four tested hypotheses, one new paid product for JOTA, a Brazilian media company.

43+corporate clients using it today
6pre-sale contracts in two weeks
7 of 7interviewed clients said they would buy
Newsletter · Email
Role
I owned
Discovery and product definition: the discovery doc, interviews and synthesis. Also the newsletters’ structure (summary first, links to the source) and their place in the platform and WhatsApp.
Time
8 weeks, from the first hypothesis to the pre-sale.
Not me
Pricing, selling and the newsletters’ visual design. Growth, Content, Marketing, Sales and the design team did those.
Tools
Figma, Miro, Coda, Hotjar.

Context

JOTA is a Brazilian media company covering law and politics. JOTA PRO, its B2B subscription service, has one vertical per topic. In 2024, leadership asked for new opportunities, and labor law had no vertical yet.

PoliticsTaxHealth+Labor?

Problem

“Find opportunities” is not a problem statement. So before the first interview I wrote a discovery doc: the plan, from the problem to the hypotheses and the interview script.

Discovery docLabor law

CSD matrix

Certainties

Labor law matters to big employers

The 2017 reform is still settling in court

JOTA covers all three branches of government

Assumptions

The press doesn’t cover it well

One package fits companies and firms

No free trial needed

Questions

Legal, HR or law firms?

Labor Law or Work?

Research

The plan in action: seven 45-minute interviews with current clients, each ending with the first product proposal. All seven would buy, but intent isn’t proof: the pre-sale was the real test.

Insights

Scattered

Labor law news is spread across many sources; someone has to go look.

Too much

There is more to read than anyone has time for, and the volume buries what matters.

Can’t trust it

Most of what they read is opinion, so they still go back to the original source.

Decisions

One place for labor law ScatteredThere was no single place to look. So labor law got one page with all five newsletters, one click from the main menu.
Summary first, depth on demand Too muchNobody has time to read it all. Every edition opens with its highlight; the full newsletter is there for anyone who wants it.
Straight to the source Can’t trust itReaders distrust opinion and check the official text, so every law a post cites links straight to it.

Solution

A new JOTA PRO product: five labor law newsletters by email and, after launch, on WhatsApp, with every post also on the platform. I designed where it lives in the menu and the flows.

1/5 · Homepage

ScatteredLabor law is one click away, from the main menu and the JOTA PRO block on the homepage.

ScatteredAll five newsletters on one page, each post tagged with its newsletter.

Can’t trust itEvery law or rule cited links straight to the official text.

Too muchEach client picks which newsletters to get, and where. The page began in 2023 as my first usability test.

Too muchOn WhatsApp too: the highlight first, the full newsletter one tap away.

Results

Pre-sale numbers two weeks after it opened (Dec 18, 2024).

Total pipeline
42deals
Open proposals
22deals
Signed
6contracts

Contract values are under NDA, so only the number of deals is shown.

Today
43+ corporate clients, current and new, as of 2026.
Beyond the product
The discovery doc became the team’s template: later verticals and products start from hypotheses with pass/fail rules.
What I can’t claim
That design sold it. Sales ran the pre-sale and JOTA’s brand opened doors; my part was deciding what to build and testing it first.
Next time
Test demand first: use JOTA’s free audience to qualify paying leads, then build. I did that next, in the sponsored newsletter.
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