How Keith Schembri got 500 beta users for his focus tool

Meet Keith Schembri.

Keith is from Sydney. After his first startup (read article about it) burned him out and eventually failed, he spent a few months completely lost.

He wasn’t sure what to build next, until he stumbled into coding with AI tools like Bolt and Claude.

This led Keith to built Eden, a focus tool which boosts productivity.

Keith works on Eden after hours, as he works a retail job during the day. He is also finishing his last semester at the University of Technology Sydney.

Before Keith tells his starter story. A few words from my sponsor …

The story told by Keith Schembri

Starting out

One day, I came across a focus space tool that had tons of users. But it was missing some must-have features for me.

So I thought, why not try building my own?

I bootstrapped everything. Worked 5 days a week at my retail job, finishing my degree at the same time, and spent every spare hour on this project.

I outsourced some of the more tedious technical task during development, but I’d still classify myself as a solopreneur.

Opening up for beta users

I put together a very rough MVP (minimum viable product) in about a month, and opened up my beta in January 2025. Since then I've been slowly iterating on user feedback, and repeating the cycle. Piece by piece the products got to the point of being market ready.

However in hindsight, 6 months from beta to official public launch was too long.

Quick demo of Eden below.

500 engaged beta users

Here’s the 6 steps that got me 500 engaged beta users.

1. Spot the opportunity
I noticed tons of users on competitor’s forums requesting features that were being totally ignored for months. That was my sign.

2. Fastest possible MVP
I built the absolute bare minimum version in a month. Only including the features people actually wanted.

3. Go where the users are
Once the MVP was done, I went straight into niche communities (examples below) where users were already hanging out. No hard sell. Just:

"Hey, I made a free tool that will get you x."

Remember, you're selling the benefits, not the features.

Examples of posts I made on Reddit:

• Tool that’s 2X my productivity

• I built tool that helps me focus - now you can too (free)

4. Free beta
Since my costs were low, I offered the beta for free. That lowered the barrier for people to try it out.

Why initially give your SaaS away for free? Because the feedback you get back in return is infinitely more valuable than short term profits.

5. Collecting feedback
I emailed every new user personally:

"Is [X] working for you? Feel free to roast it, I’m trying to improve x."

Most people were happy to share feedback because they felt heard (which wasn’t happening with the competitor).

6. Continually iterating to market fit
I used that feedback to fix bugs and improve the product fast. This loop kept users engaged and helped shape the tool into something they were genuinely excited to use.

Eventually making a tool that is a market fit.

The business model

Today (May 2025) Eden has over 500 users, and is almost ready to exit beta. I’m rolling out a super affordable paid plan soon.

The business model will be a flat, $5/month, with a 14 day free trial. Users who sign up now will get extended free use, as a thank you for giving the app a go in the early days.

Full version will be released in two weeks.

Eden screenshots

A few screenshots of the user interface.

You can get in contact with Keith Schembri on X.