Marcus Fleming

Pika had impressive generation technology but users treated it as a toy - generating one or two clips and never returning. Day-7 retention was 11% and average exports per user was 1.4. Creators couldn't integrate AI video into their actual production workflow.

Rebuilt the product around a "project" model where creators could iterate on scenes, maintain consistent style across clips, and export in formats compatible with Premiere/DaVinci. Added storyboard mode for planning multi-clip sequences, a style lock feature that maintained visual consistency across generations, and a direct-to-social export flow for TikTok/Reels/Shorts.

Day-7 retention jumped from 11% to 38%. Average exports per user went from 1.4 to 8.7. Monthly exports crossed 3M. The project model drove a 4.2x increase in pro plan conversions because creators needed persistent projects.

Lens Studio had powerful AR creation tools but 82% of downloads resulted in zero published lenses. The learning curve was too steep for non-3D-artists.

Built a template-first onboarding flow with 30 remix-ready templates and a simplified 2D-to-AR pipeline that let graphic designers create lenses without 3D modeling knowledge.

First-lens publication rate went from 18% to 47%. Template-based lenses accounted for 60% of all community submissions. Monthly new lens creators grew 2.8x.

YouTube needed competitive short-form creation tools to retain creators being pulled to TikTok. The existing creation flow required uploading pre-edited videos with no in-app creative tools.

Led the creation tools initiative: music library integration, text overlay editor, clip trimmer, and effects gallery. Designed a "remix" feature that let creators respond to and riff on existing Shorts. Partnered with 500 creators for beta testing.

Shorts creation volume increased 340% within 6 months of tools launch. In-app created Shorts had 2.1x higher engagement than upload-only Shorts. The remix feature generated 800M views in its first quarter.