by Gary Worthington, More Than Monkeys

Startups don’t succeed by doing more. They succeed by doing less, better.

When we started building Yepic, we didn’t set out to win design awards. We set out to make life easier for tradespeople. That meant building an app that didn’t just work — it worked with them. On-site, in their pocket, between jobs, during quotes. Every moment of downtime was an opportunity to create value.

And like any good startup story, our journey wasn’t linear. We didn’t just launch with the perfect product. We learned our way there. We used the Hooked Model to figure out what features stuck, what behaviours repeated, and what got ignored. We deleted more than we shipped. We pivoted away from ideas we loved but our users didn’t. We redefined what “best-in-class” meant, not from our perspective, but from theirs.

The Problem We Set Out to Solve

Tradespeople don’t have time for admin. Paperwork, quotes, follow-ups, and invoices are necessary evils that eat into evenings and weekends. They want to focus on their craft, not chase paperwork. We believed we could automate the unsexy parts of the job and give them their time back.

The problem? Admin software for trades was clunky, corporate, and clearly not designed with a builder in mind. We had a hunch that if we gave them a mobile-first, dead-simple, delightfully fast tool, they’d not only use it, but they’d come back to it every day.

How the Hooked Model Guided Us

Nir Eyal’s Hooked Model breaks down habit-forming products into four stages:

1. Trigger — What brings the user to the product?
2. Action — What is the simplest behaviour in anticipation of reward?
3. Variable Reward — What scratch is being itched, and how is it unpredictable?
4. Investment — What does the user do to increase their likelihood of returning?

We used this framework religiously. Every feature idea had to pass the test: What’s the trigger? What’s the reward? Where’s the investment?

Here’s how it shaped what we built and what we killed.

Trigger: Starting in the Right Moment

We realised early that tradespeople don’t sit down and “do admin.” Their admin happens in stolen moments: in the van, over a brew, while a customer’s signing off a job.

Our external triggers were WhatsApp messages, emails, and missed calls, all signs that a quote or invoice was needed. But more importantly, we realised the real magic would come from removing even that level of effort.

So we built Yepic to track time automatically; no timers to start, no clock-ins, no faff. It just worked in the background. When a job wrapped up, the app already had the time recorded, ready to turn into an invoice. No user action needed. The “trigger” wasn’t a manual reminder, it was the quiet confidence that Yepic had their back.

We initially built a calendar-based view of upcoming jobs and appointments. It looked useful in theory. But no one used it. The real trigger wasn’t, “I want to manage my week.” It was, “I’ve just finished a job….how do I get paid?”

We scrapped the calendar. It was hard to let go, but it wasn’t a trigger. It was a distraction.

Action: One Photo to Start, One Tap to Invoice

The key to action? Simplicity.

We obsessively removed friction. We made it so a single photo, of a boiler, a garden wall, a fuse box ,could kick off a new job. That image became the anchor: we automatically tracked time from that moment, letting users focus on the work, not the paperwork.

We streamlined the path from photo to payment. With automatic job tracking in the background, tradespeople didn’t need to fiddle with settings or fill out forms. One tap at the end of the job, and the invoice was ready to go.

Originally, we built a full-featured CRM, messaging threads, client tagging. It made sense to us. But no one used it. Why? Because tradespeople weren’t trying to manage relationships; they were trying to get paid faster.

So we stripped it back to just what they needed: names, numbers, payment status. Action over architecture.

Variable Reward: Seeing the Money Land

The ultimate reward in Yepic wasn’t abstract, it was concrete: getting paid.

We made that moment loud and visible. When a customer paid, the app didn’t just update silently in the background. It let users know, instantly. Clear push notifications. A satisfying status change. Visual confirmation that the job was done, the invoice was paid, and the money was on its way.

It turned admin into momentum. That moment of “Job done, money coming” created a feedback loop that kept users engaged. It felt good. It felt worth it.

We’d experimented with gamification early on such as streaks, XP, badges, but none of it resonated. Tradespeople didn’t want to play the app. They wanted real-world outcomes. Seeing their work turn into income was the only reward that mattered.

So we doubled down on that moment. And we made it impossible to miss.

Investment: The More Photos They Added, the More They Added

We made it easy, almost effortless, for users to invest in Yepic by doing something they were already doing: taking photos.

Every photo became part of the job record. Materials, progress shots, before-and-afters, all captured with a quick snap, automatically tagged to the right job. No extra effort. No admin. And crucially, no forgetting where anything was.

The more photos users added, the more they added. Once they saw the benefit (clear job records, fewer disputes, faster invoicing) it created a loop. Add a photo, get clarity. Add two, get context. Add five, never get caught short again.

And because Yepic started attaching photos automatically, the investment felt cheap. Users didn’t have to remember to log them. They just used their camera as usual, and Yepic took care of the rest.

Over time, that invisible investment built trust. The app wasn’t just a place to get paid; it became a reliable, visual history of their work.

Pivots We Had to Make (Even When It Hurt)

We killed some big features. Here are a few:

• Job boards — We thought users would love finding work inside the app. Turns out, they preferred word-of-mouth and trusted platforms.
• Calendar views — We built a slick calendar interface to help users plan their week. But tradespeople weren’t looking to schedule admin. Yhey were reacting to real-world jobs, not plotting them in advance. It added noise, not value.
• Pushy upsells — We tried nudging users into premium tiers with constant pop-ups. It annoyed them. We switched to subtle upgrade nudges based on usage types, not time.

Each pivot made the app simpler. More focused. More loved.

What “Best-in-Class” Really Means

It doesn’t mean having the most features.

It means being relentlessly useful.

Best-in-class for us meant:

• Always fast. Always mobile-first.
• Dead-simple pricing and no lock-in.
• Customer support that felt human, not robotic.
• Features designed for trades, not just generic SMEs.

We asked ourselves weekly: what’s working? what’s not? And then we moved quickly to adapt. That’s what earned us loyalty, and word-of-mouth referrals that fuelled our growth.

Why the Hooked Model Works for Startups

Most startups don’t die from a lack of ideas. They die from too many bad ones that stick around too long.

The Hooked Model gave us a way to test for traction. Not just launch and hope.

If a feature didn’t pass the trigger/action/reward/investment test, it didn’t stay in the app. And that discipline let us move faster and build better.

Final Thoughts: Learning Beats Guessing

Yepic didn’t become a best-in-class app overnight. It became one because we were willing to learn faster than we were building.

We weren’t precious about our ideas. We were precious about our users’ behaviour.

The Hooked Model wasn’t a silver bullet, but it gave us a map. And in the chaos of startup life, having a repeatable mental model to evaluate ideas is everything.

If you’re building something new, especially for a working-class, mobile-first audience, don’t guess. Observe. Ask. Adapt. Delete the dashboard. Keep the value.

Want to build a habit-forming product?

At More Than Monkeys, we help startups validate faster and scale with purpose. Whether you’re starting with an idea or navigating product-market fit, we can help you learn, build, and ship faster.

We’ll bring the product thinking, code, and QA so you can focus on growing your business.

And when it’s time to build your internal team, we’ll help you make that transition too - smoothly, gradually, and without losing momentum.

Let’s build something brilliant, together.

Gary Worthington is a software engineer, delivery consultant, and agile coach who helps teams move fast, learn faster, and scale when it matters. He writes about modern engineering, product thinking, and helping teams ship things that matter.

Through his consultancy, More Than Monkeys, Gary helps startups and scaleups improve how they build software — from tech strategy and agile delivery to product validation and team development.

Visit morethanmonkeys.co.uk to learn how we can help you build better, faster.

Follow Gary on LinkedIn for practical insights into engineering leadership, agile delivery, and team performance