Boozt.io: From brand concept to market launch—building Patreon for Filipinos
I led product design and brand development for a Filipino creator economy platform, analyzing creator psychology and marketplace dynamics to shape product strategy and user experience. We secured seed funding and achieved over 5,000 creator sign-ups.
Project Duration
November 2022 - July 2023
Industry
PaaS & Creator economy
Role
Founding Designer
Team Context
Sole designer among 5+ engineers and founders
Overview
Before Boozt was founded, our team originally worked on LYON. LYON version 2 was an all-in-one tool for businesses—a community platform, a payment system, the ability to livestream, and to chat with your members all in LYON. Prior to that, it was an EdTech platform for CPE credits. However, we struggled with penetrating a large portion of the market. Our solution was too general; existing—more mature—solutions already existed, and businesses weren't willing to pay for a premium quite yet.
But when our founders went to an event in Cebu and got a first hand interview experience with the creators there, they discovered a niche problem—existing solutions were not tailored to local needs such as Stripe, Patreon, Buy me a Coffee, among others. The tagline "Get boozted" was born that day and we pivoted to Boozt from our learnings from LYON, focusing specifically on the creator economy in gaming.
The Problem
Filipino creators were drowning in international platforms that didn't understand their needs. Patreon required international banking. Stripe wasn't available. Ko-Fi felt foreign. Local payment methods weren't supported, and the whole experience felt built for Western creators, not Filipino gaming streamers who wanted to monetize their communities but couldn't figure out how to get paid.
During those Cebu interviews, we kept hearing the same frustrations: "I have followers who want to support me, but they can't use their GCash" and "These platforms take too much and don't even work with our banks." It clicked when we realized we weren't just building another creator platform, we were building the first one that actually worked for Filipino creators, and we can stand on top of LYON.
The Process
We read books like "Get Together: How to Build a Community with Your People" and researched existing solutions like Circle.so, Tribe, Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, Ko-Fi. We shifted from a B2B mindset to a B2C, focusing on features that would induce virality such as the ability to share, etc. However, we focused on core features first.
Our rapid development process was like this: I designed wireframes → Devs implemented immediately → I style the frontend → We ship. This meant I was constantly switching between strategic design thinking and tactical TailwindCSS tweaking, but it kept us moving fast.
We sponsored and managed events, like in Tier One and Cosmatsuri. I managed the social media account, which became crucial for understanding our users in real-time. Every post, every comment, every DM taught us something about what Filipino creators actually wanted and what resonated.
When I designed the brand, I wanted it to look effortlessly cool. Variations were made until we landed on this final concept. After that, it was the design language of the platform, then it went viral with creators. The brand had to feel authentically Filipino but not trying too hard. Gaming-adjacent but not exclusively for gamers. Cool enough that creators would want to rep it, but professional enough that supporters would trust it with their money.
The onboarding experience was crucial. We knew creators would abandon ship if it felt too complicated, so every screen had to justify its existence. Payment setup, profile creation, first post—each step was designed to get creators to their first "aha" moment as quickly as possible.
Struggle
The main struggle was in making sure we stayed in tune with our customer base's problems. Who were our ideal customer profile? We listened to a lot of people, but diluted ourselves, among other issues. With such a broad creator ecosystem—streamers, artists, musicians, influencers—it was tempting to try to serve everyone. But every feature we added for one group potentially confused another. Finding that sweet spot of "simple enough for anyone, powerful enough for serious creators" was the constant tension.
Going viral (while it lasted)
The platform went viral with creators not because of paid marketing, but because it solved a real problem they'd been frustrated with for years. Creators started sharing their Boozt profiles organically, and supporters could finally use payment methods they actually had.
What happened next
For a while, the platform worked. Creators were getting paid, supporters were happy, and we had validation that we'd solved a real problem. But ultimately, Boozt didn't survive—not because the product failed, but because we couldn't align as a team on the right direction forward. Management issues and differing visions led us to go our separate ways.
It's the classic startup story: great product, wrong team dynamics. The platform is now defunct, but the lessons and the proof of concept remain. In the end, we raised P4.1M from DOST and had more than 5,000 creator sign-ups.
Takeaways
1. Go to where the source is. Those Cebu interviews changed everything. You can't design for users you've never talked to.
2. NICHE down. LLYON failed because it tried to be everything to everyone. Boozt succeeded for a while because it solved one specific problem really well.
3. Product-market fit isn't everything. We had users, we had growth, we had validation. But we didn't have team alignment. Sometimes the hardest problems aren't design problems—they're people problems.
4. Enjoy the process. I was 17. This was my crash course in startup life: brand design, user research, frontend styling, community management, all while figuring out what I wanted to do with my life. The energy and naivety of being young in a startup environment taught me that constraints breed creativity, and sometimes not knowing "the right way" to do things leads to better solutions.
