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#005 w/ Malte Scholz: The $1,000 Mobile App That Cost Far More
Malte is CPO & Co-Founder at airfocus.
In this week we talked with Malte Scholz about his biggest failure story. Malte is the CPO & Co-Founder of airfocus.com. He shared a story about a time, where they decided to build a mobile app for airfocus.
They decided to do that not because of customer requests or business reasons, but simply because it was easy to do.
“There was this developer who said, ‘Hey, I can build that for $1,000.’ It sounded amazing—so we just went for it”
The app was delivered on budget, but the team quickly learned that the real cost was just beginning:
* Maintenance Effort: The app required ongoing updates, bug fixes, and feature compatibility with the core platform. Their CTO spent three months rewriting it—time that could have been spent elsewhere.
* Distraction: Every product decision thereafter needed to account for mobile compatibility, slowing down roadmap execution.
* Sunsetting Isn’t Cheap: Even when they realized the app was a mistake, killing it took significant effort—arguably as much as building it.
A lesson that all software builds create work, regardless of how small something initially seems.
Nothing is ever “cheap” or “easy” to build. Every line of code carries the hidden costs of maintenance, iteration, and eventual deprecation.
Malte’s team learned to approach new ideas with a key question: Are we building this because it’s strategically valuable—or just because we can?
What Else We Talked About
Beyond the app story, this episode dives into:
* The Value of Failure: Why even a misstep like the app helped AirFocus refine their product strategy.
* AI in Product Teams: How large language models can help PMs with time-intensive tasks like feedback synthesis—but why trendy integrations often fail.
* PMs in 10 Years: Why stakeholder management and strategic thinking make PMs uniquely irreplaceable in the age of AI.
🎧 Listen Now
Curious about how to avoid similar pitfalls in your product journey? Check out the full episode:
Spotify:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hotfix-podcast
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thehotfixpodcast.substack.com
View all episodes
By The Hotfix PodcastMalte is CPO & Co-Founder at airfocus.
In this week we talked with Malte Scholz about his biggest failure story. Malte is the CPO & Co-Founder of airfocus.com. He shared a story about a time, where they decided to build a mobile app for airfocus.
They decided to do that not because of customer requests or business reasons, but simply because it was easy to do.
“There was this developer who said, ‘Hey, I can build that for $1,000.’ It sounded amazing—so we just went for it”
The app was delivered on budget, but the team quickly learned that the real cost was just beginning:
* Maintenance Effort: The app required ongoing updates, bug fixes, and feature compatibility with the core platform. Their CTO spent three months rewriting it—time that could have been spent elsewhere.
* Distraction: Every product decision thereafter needed to account for mobile compatibility, slowing down roadmap execution.
* Sunsetting Isn’t Cheap: Even when they realized the app was a mistake, killing it took significant effort—arguably as much as building it.
A lesson that all software builds create work, regardless of how small something initially seems.
Nothing is ever “cheap” or “easy” to build. Every line of code carries the hidden costs of maintenance, iteration, and eventual deprecation.
Malte’s team learned to approach new ideas with a key question: Are we building this because it’s strategically valuable—or just because we can?
What Else We Talked About
Beyond the app story, this episode dives into:
* The Value of Failure: Why even a misstep like the app helped AirFocus refine their product strategy.
* AI in Product Teams: How large language models can help PMs with time-intensive tasks like feedback synthesis—but why trendy integrations often fail.
* PMs in 10 Years: Why stakeholder management and strategic thinking make PMs uniquely irreplaceable in the age of AI.
🎧 Listen Now
Curious about how to avoid similar pitfalls in your product journey? Check out the full episode:
Spotify:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hotfix-podcast
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thehotfixpodcast.substack.com