S. Skaromny
A PRODUCT LOVE LETTER, NOT A COVER LETTER ✳
Eugen Skaromny × Yope / Product thinking

Less scroll.
More us.

What if the next big social network grows not from how long people watch, but from how often friends show up for each other?

Explore 3 product bets ↘Meet the PM ↗
you
+ me
no feed.
no performance.
real friends
real moments ♡
tiny interactions
big connection.
THREE HYPOTHESES✳ONE SOCIAL LOOP✳TEST FIRST, SCALE SECOND✳PRIVATE BY DESIGN
An unsolicited product memo

3 small bets.
Real impact.

Yope already nails the ingredients: private circles, one-tap photo sharing, lock-screen presence, streaks and AI recaps. I'd focus on the moments between those features: reciprocity, group revival and shared memory. These are hypotheses, not claims about Yope's internal data.

01Activation / Week 1

The first “you too?” moment.

Don't optimize for creating a group. Optimize for the first moment a friend answers with a photo.

Product bet

Make onboarding feel like the beginning of an exchange, not a setup checklist. After the first snap, offer a personal one-tap invitation framed around that exact moment: “show me yours”. Make the recipient's photo reply frictionless.

Smallest test

A/B test a contextual photo-reply invitation after the first share against Yope's current onboarding. Start with newly formed friend groups.

North-star signal

New groups with 2+ unique photo contributors within 48 hours

Guardrails: invite accept rate, notification opt-outs, group D7 retention.

Concept sketch · not a real Yope screen
♡ the weekend crew 3 friends
👩
📷 this is my rainy-day view
🧑
📷 hah, here's mine ✨
2 friends shared · a group is alive ✳
from invite → interaction ↗
02Reactivation / Weeks 2–4

Pass the camera.

An inactive group doesn't need more push notifications. It needs a reason to respond.

Product bet

For groups that have gone quiet, test an opt-in, one-tap photo handoff: a friend shares a tiny prompt like “your view right now?” or “what changed since Friday?” The prompt arrives attached to a real friend's moment, not a generic app reminder.

Smallest test

Randomize eligible groups inactive for 7+ days: contextual friend-to-friend handoff vs existing reactivation experience. Limit frequency and make opting out obvious.

North-star signal

Dormant groups returning to 2+ contributors within 72 hours

Guardrails: notification fatigue, hidden/muted groups, D14 sustained activity.

Concept sketch · not a real Yope screen
📸Drop a momentOne real photo from a friend
→
🌈Pass it back“Show your view?” one-tap reply
Reactivation initiated by a friend, not a feed algorithm.
less nagging, more meaning ↗
03Retention / Month 2+

Memories with a sequel.

Yope already has AI recaps. What if the best recap isn't something you watch — it's a conversation you restart?

Product bet

Give small circles an optional “then & now” moment built from already-shared photos. Let every participant add today's continuation, keeping it private to the existing group. Don't generate fake memories or publish externally.

Smallest test

Offer an interactive recap to eligible, established groups with shared history. Compare against passive recaps or a holdout, measuring new shared contributions rather than recap views.

North-star signal

Recap-triggered new photo conversations per eligible group

Guardrails: privacy controls, consent, dismiss rate, incremental D30 retention.

Concept sketch · not a real Yope screen
OUR LITTLE TIME CAPSULE / 2025 → 2026
🍟
🌧️
🎂
same people, new chapteradd today ↗
from looking back to showing up ↗
STEP 01 / INSTRUMENT

See the real loops

Map group states, time to first reciprocal share and silent-group cohorts. Segment by circle size and group age before shipping any prompt.

STEP 02 / EXPERIMENT

Run lightweight tests

Start with the smallest opt-in workflow. Randomize by group, not individual, to avoid social network interference between variants.

STEP 03 / DECIDE

Earn the rollout

Scale only if meaningful two-way sharing improves and trust guardrails hold. Track retained groups, not vanity opens or notification volume.

The human behind the ideas

Hi, I'm
Eugen.

I build products where people, behavior and technology meet. I've led consumer experiences at serious scale, worked on applied AI products, and still spend my own time building things from scratch.

I would love to do that at Yope.

16Mmonthly active users · consumer app at MegaFon
+1MMAU growth · MegaFon product work
+15%ARPU impact · MegaFon product portfolio
11+years in digital product delivery & leadership
01 / VODAFONE

Product leadership for AI-augmented work: agents, knowledge, governance and decision support across a complex multinational environment.

02 / NEEDLE

Independently built a music-discovery product turning found tracks in social videos into streaming playlists. A personal proof that I still love to ship.

One last thought

Let's make
close feel
closer. ♡

I don't know Yope's internal funnel, current roadmap or experiment history. That's exactly why these are bets to validate, not a diagnosis. I'd love to test the assumptions with the team and move quickly from insight to impact.

Talk product with me ↗Explore my work ↗

Independent candidate concept, not commissioned or endorsed by Yope. Illustrations above are conceptual sketches, not screenshots. Built using publicly described Yope features, including private groups, photo sharing, streaks and AI recaps. Yope product →