Ch

a

em

in

Ahn

:)

Work

About

Contact

Shipped

Web App

Consumer AI

Zero to One

0 to Sticky: Starting & Scaling an AI Workspace for Knowledge Workers

Skipper is an AI-powered productivity web app that organizes your browser tabs for you.

Designed for knowledge workers, rooted in CMU research & backed by Menlo Ventures.

Overview

Problem

Knowledge workers lose almost 3 hours a day due to distractions caused by having too many browser tabs open.

Solution

An AI-powered self-organizing workspace that safely puts away, organizes, and helps quickly reopen stale tabs.

Impact

5,000

Weekly active users in 10 months

Average 50%

Week 8 retention in newest cohorts

3.2%

Paid conversion*

*Top quartile of AI products is at 3.9% while median is 1.8%

Role

Head of Design (sole designer)

Co-founder

Responsibilities

Design Strategy

UX/UI & Interaction Design

User Research

Prototyping & Testing

Establishing & Scaling Design System

Facilitating Collaboration

Fundraising

Team

2 engineers + 1 PM

Timeline

10 months

Problem

Tabs consume our most precious resource: Time.

Did you know?

An average knowledge worker visits 160+ URLs per day across 70 tabs. This accumulates to 200+ context switches and 3+ hours wasted each day.

User Problem

I struggle to stay focused because I constantly get distracted by too many open tabs.

Business Problem

We want to build a sticky solution that helps people stay more focused & organized, but we don't know what it is.

Solution

A self-organizing workspace for your browser tabs.

Always stay organized with…

1

Auto-Save

Automatically declutters browser by closing and saving stale tabs.

2

AI Organization

Organizes tabs into AI-powered "Sessions" for easy access or further organization.

3

Effortless Switching

Helps reopen related tabs together quickly.

Iterations

Some of the many, many iterations

1st rough proof of concept

W8 Retention

Not collected

Feb 2024

• Compares data from multiple tabs & provides tab-close suggestions

v1 launched to public

W8 Retention

17%

Mar 2024

• Automatically closes tabs & allows to save them as "Contexts"

Introduced AI-powered "Sessions" & the paywall

W8 Retention

40%

Jul 2024

• Self-organizes related tabs

Current UI

W8 Retention

50%

Oct 2024

• Further simplified UI with improved AI Sessions

Persona

Iterative approach to find our target

Research & iteration led to the target persona, 'Self-aware Sam', aka the distracted high achiever.

Busy professional, mostly manager level

Juggles multiple projects & meetings daily

Likely has or suspects ADHD/ADD

Great at hyper-focus but prone to diving into the wrong rabbit hole

Sam's Job to be Done

When I want to focus, I want unrelated tabs saved in a way that makes me feel confident that I’ll be able to quickly find & remember later.

System

Establishing the principles & system

Design Principles

1 Amplify clarity through purposeful reduction

2 Minimize effort, maximize control

3 Build trust through transparency & adaptation

The design system embodies clarity & efficiency, allowing users to focus on their tasks without getting in the way.

Scaling the UI patterns for further AI adoption

While further expanding & testing our AI offerings, I kept evolving the UI patterns to ensure seamless scalability.

Strategy

Hypothesis-driven rapid (in)validation

1

Align & Prioritize

I led user understanding by synthesizing and sharing qual research findings weekly, helping the team collectively align on highest priority goals based on riskiest assumptions and roadmap.

2

Analyze Problem & Hypothesize

I partnered with Engineering to find leverage in quant data, and led design sprints to collectively ideate solutions based on quant & qual findings.

3

Prototype, Test & Iterate Fast

I led validating new & iterative designs in 107 user interviews where we'd put working prototypes in front of users within 5 days on average.

Scroll down for a more detailed case study showcasing this process.

Impact

420,000 tabs closed every week.

Everyday, Skipper closes 12 tabs per user.

That's 60,000 tabs per day.

420,000 tabs per week.

5,000

Weekly active users in 10 months

Avg. 50%

Week 8 retention in newest cohorts as of Jan 2025

3.2%

Paid conversion*

*Top quartile of AI products is at 3.9% while median is 1.8%

$900,000

Additional funding unlocked in 2024

And then, a new challenge arose.

Active engagement was not lasting.

Nov 2024

Automatic Tab Save retention

→ 50% at week 8

Active engagement
(Tab Organization & Reopen)

→ 6% at week 8

See how this story ends…

Building an AI-Assisted Onboarding for Lasting Engagement

Shipped

Web App

Consumer AI

Zero to One

11% → 29%

w4 active engagement

63% → 96%

onboarding completion

This was only a taste.
Learn more about the strategy, process
& detailed hands-on execution.

Contact Today

Chaemin Ahn

Work

About

Oh, and did I say I DJ?

Made with care and many oat lattes.

Ch

a

em

in

Ahn

:)

0 to Sticky: Starting & Scaling an AI Workspace for Knowledge Workers

Skipper is an AI-powered productivity web app that organizes your browser tabs for you.Designed for knowledge workers, rooted in CMU research & backed by Menlo Ventures.

Overview

Problem

Knowledge workers lose almost 3 hours a day due to distractions caused by having too many browser tabs open.

Solution

An AI-powered self-organizing workspace that safely puts away, organizes, and helps quickly reopen stale tabs.

Impact

Weekly active users in 10 months

Week 8 retention in newest cohorts

Paid conversion*

Role

Responsibilities

Team

Timeline

Problem

Tabs consume our most precious resource: Time.

Did you know?

An average knowledge worker visits 160+ URLs per day across 70 tabs. This accumulates to 200+ context switches and 3+ hours wasted each day.

User Problem

I struggle to stay focused because I constantly get distracted by too many open tabs.

Business Problem

We want to build a sticky solution that helps people stay more focused & organized, but we don't know what it is.

Solution

A self-organizing workspace for your browser tabs.

Always stay organized with…

1

Auto-Save

Automatically declutters browser by closing and saving stale tabs.

2

AI Organization

Organizes tabs into AI-powered "Sessions" for easy access or further organization.

3

Effortless Switching

Helps reopen related tabs together quickly.

Iterations

Some of the many, many iterations

1st rough proof of concept

v1 launched to public

Introduced AI-powered "Sessions" & the paywall

Current UI

Persona

Iterative approach to find our target

Research & iteration led to the target persona, 'Self-aware Sam', aka the distracted high achiever.

Sam's Job to be Done

When I want to focus, I want unrelated tabs saved in a way that makes me feel confident that I’ll be able to quickly find & remember later.

System

Establishing the principles & system

Design Principles

1

Amplify clarity through purposeful reduction

2

Minimize effort, maximize control

3

Build trust through transparency & adaptation

The design system embodies clarity & efficiency, allowing users to focus on their tasks without getting in the way.

Scaling the UI patterns for further AI adoption

While further expanding & testing our AI offerings, I kept evolving the UI patterns to ensure seamless scalability.

Strategy

Hypothesis-driven rapid (in)validation

1

Align & Prioritize

I led user understanding by synthesizing and sharing qual research findings weekly, helping the team collectively align on highest priority goals based on riskiest assumptions and roadmap.

2

Analyze Problem & Hypothesize

I partnered with Engineering to find leverage in quant data, and led design sprints to collectively ideate solutions based on quant & qual findings.

3

Prototype, Test & Iterate Fast

I led validating new & iterative designs in 107 user interviews where we'd put working prototypes in front of users within 5 days on average.

Scroll down for a more detailed case study showcasing this process.

Impact

420,000 tabs closed every week.

Everyday, Skipper closes 12 tabs per user. That's 60,000 tabs per day. 420,000 tabs per week.

Weekly active users in 10 months

Skipper is an AI-powered productivity web app that organizes your browser tabs for you.

Designed for knowledge workers, rooted in CMU research & backed by Menlo Ventures.

Everyday, Skipper closes 12 tabs per user.

That's 60,000 tabs per day.

420,000 tabs per week.

Active engagement
(Tab Organization & Reopen)

This was only a taste.
Learn more about the strategy, process
& detailed hands-on execution.