EDTECH • Web app • B2C

Most calls were one-off. I made mentorship recurring & paid.

Most calls were one-off. I made mentorship recurring & paid.

Most calls were one-off. I made mentorship recurring & paid.

I rebuilt the legacy booking system with engineering and rolled it out in three releases. The top mentors could sell a series of sessions, bringing in ADPList’s first revenue from sessions, while 99% still offered free ones. Charging upfront cut session no-shows from 10% to 1%.

I rebuilt the legacy booking system with engineering and rolled it out in three releases. The top mentors could sell a series of sessions, bringing in ADPList’s first revenue from sessions, while 99% still offered free ones. Charging upfront cut session no-shows from 10% to 1%.

10 weeks

TIMELINE

10 weeks

TIMELINE

Shipped

STATUS

$50K+

EARNED

↑ 25%

MENTOR RETENTION

↑ 18%

MENTEE RETENTION

↑ 62%

ADOPTION

THE TENSION

No revenue, and no easy way to charge for free one-off calls

ADPList had 300K+ members and no revenue from mentorship. The booking system couldn’t handle a series, so mentors took repeat mentees to paid links elsewhere. What stayed were free one-off calls, and 10% ended in no-shows. Make every session paid and the community leaves. Do nothing and the best mentors churn.

my role

Design lead + acting PM. I unblocked a project stuck on the roadmap for 2+ years. I owned strategy, design, metrics, release plan and shipped with 4 engineers.

key decisions

01

Rebuilt booking infra instead of refactoring it.

Recurring and paid then shipped as settings, not new features.

02

Made paid sessions recurring-only.

Mentees would pay for progress, and a single call couldn’t promise it.

03

Kept free sessions on every profile.

Mentors asked for it, so mentees could meet the mentor before paying for a series. Free became the way into paid.

04

Launched the beta without Indian mentors.

Stripe payouts didn't support India or 50+ other countries. Rather than wait 7+ weeks, I tested supply with the top 1% of US mentors.

Exhibit 0110 weeks from first signal to paid launch, and who moved at each step
10 weeks from first signal to paid launch, and who moved at each step

problem

Every layer of booking assumed one call

Booking was built for one call, and nothing rewarded showing up twice. The value was in mentees coming back, so pricing the one-off call would have charged for the least valuable part.

Exhibit 02Nothing invited a repeat session, so mentors moved to their own calendars
Nothing invited a repeat session, so mentors moved to their own calendars

ALIGNMENT

How I broke a two-year deadlock

Leadership wanted to charge for one-off calls, which would have killed free mentorship. I sent the whole company to talk to users instead, and they came back wanting recurring sessions.

Exhibit 03The interview guide I wrote for the whole company

RESEARCH

The interviews that changed the company's mind

80+ interviews killed the pay-per-call plan. Mentees would pay for an outcome, not a single call. Mentors wanted to charge but doubted their worth. So the bet became continuity, not a price tag.

Exhibit 04Everything the interviews surfaced, mapped in one place
Everything the interviews surfaced, mapped in one place

APPROACH

From free to paid in three releases

I rebuilt booking first and shipped paid last, so recurring and paid each launched in weeks, not months.

Exhibit 05Three releases, each with a question to answer before the next
Three releases, each with a question to answer before the next
Exhibit 06One session type, with recurring and paid as two more rules on it
Exhibit 07Every paid profile still offers a free intro call
Every paid profile still offers a free intro call
Exhibit 08Paid is recurring-only, booked and paid upfront
Exhibit 09Paid sessions show up only when the search toggle is on
Paid sessions show up only when the search toggle is on
Exhibit 10Pricing starts from a filled-in template, not a blank field
Pricing starts from a filled-in template, not a blank field

DECISIONS

Three calls I had to defend

I traded speed or revenue for trust three times. India waited, the cut fell from 25% to 10%, and refunds stayed manual.

Exhibit 12Mentors see exactly what they keep before they set a price
Mentors see exactly what they keep before they set a price

Impact

Paid reached $100K a quarter. Free bookings held.

Mentorship made ADPList money for the first time. Mentors earned $50K+ in 90 days, paid bookings grew to $100K a quarter, and no-shows fell from 10% to 1%. Free bookings held.

The numbers behind each release, from one-off calls to paid at scale

Reflections

Commitment was the product, not payment

Paid mentorship stalled for two years as one big pitch. I learned to ship the smallest piece that unlocks the next, and to let the company hear users instead of hearing me.

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