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Service design · case study 09a · 2024 – 2026 · 5-minute read

Fruityard Studio: selling the test before the build

The studio half of Fruityard sells discovery to new founders and small music businesses, labels first. Each service below is its own small case: what it's for, what's built, and what has to be true for it to work.

My roleFounder: service design, pricing, the tools and the site
WhenConsulting from Nov 2024; services redesigned Oct–Nov 2026
StageDefine and Develop. No paying client yet
First audienceLabels, then promoters, record shops and would-be founders
How the services fit together

A ladder matched to what people can pay

Each audience gets a free tool, then a cheap self-serve plan, then a full Discovery. People climb only as far as they need to, and the free tool tells me who's worth talking to.

AudienceFree toolSelf-serveFull serviceStatus
LabelsRelease cost-per-sale calculatorFirst Release PlanDiscovery for a new revenue lineFirst audience
Promoters and nightsBreak-even calculatorFirst Night Plan, £150–£300Discovery for a bigger format or venueTool built
Record shops and listening roomsListening-night calculatorFirst Listening Night PlanNew offers and a booking systemDraft
Would-be foundersFree evaluationSelf-serve sprint for their marketDiscovery, £1,500 for the first 3 clientsDraft
The services, one by one

Five services, five small cases

Designed · piloting

1 · Discovery

One sprint that covers the customer, the market and the build together, ending in a go, change or stop call backed by evidence.

ProblemFounders spend on a build before anyone has shown they'll pay for it.
What changedBusiness and tech discovery were two five-day stages. Now they're one, because AI tools make the prototype cheap enough to test inside discovery.
Price£1,500 founding rate, capped at the first three clients.
Proof so farRun first on my own ventures, unpaid, so the method is tested before anyone pays for it.
Designed · worked example

2 · Ad prototype and test

Prototype the advert with AI (a storyboard and an audio spot) and test it on the people you want to reach, before money goes on a shoot, a site or a launch.

ProblemSmall businesses pay for production before they know which message makes people act.
HowCheap versions first. Quality goes up only once the cheaper ad has shown that people act on it.
PriceInside Discovery, or on its own: price on request until tested.
Proof so farA full worked example on my own venture: storyboards, recast scenes and audio spots rewritten after listening back.

Rules: AI stand-ins are labelled, voices are licensed, no real likenesses, and no paid media before a real-cast version.

Built · being improved

3 · Free planning tools

Promoters told me they couldn't pay for discovery, so the first service is free: a break-even calculator for a night out. It helps first and shows me who's planning what.

BuiltBreak-even calculator on the staging site, with double opt-in email for results.
Next versionA capacity range, artist fees, ticket tiers and a marketing panel. Try the working demo →
Next toolA release cost-per-sale calculator for labels.
What it testsWhether people who use a free tool ask for an evaluation, then pay for a plan.
The first break-even calculator for nights out
Version one on the staging site. Numbers are demo data.
Briefed · measuring demand

4 · Room Fit Review

A review of how well student housing fits the people who live in it, delivered by the pilot cohort of the academy's UX Researcher course. It grew out of my student housing research.

Who it's forSeven audiences, from students and alumni to housing providers, councils and policy teams.
Built so farAn offer, an outreach plan and a demand tracker. An interest page is briefed for the site.
What it testsWhich audiences register interest, and which would pay, before the first review runs.
NoteIndependent work. No university endorses or commissioned it.
Designed · not yet run

5 · Incubation to Spin-Out

The later stages turn a tested prototype into a first product, then grow and spin it out. They're priced and described, but nobody has reached them yet, so there's nothing to show beyond the design.

IncubationThe prototype becomes the first product, run for real with the first paying customers.
AccelerationQuoted.
GrowthPriced per stage.
Spin-OutQuoted.
The studio by sector

One sector case at a time

Each sector the studio serves gets its own case, built on earlier work in my portfolio.

09e · Music businesses

Labels first, then promoters, record shops and new founders. The studio's first sector.

Read the case →

Housing · in progress

The Room Fit Review, built on my housing study (05a) and the booking-page review (05b).

Read 05b →

09f · Small games studios

Player research, concept tests for worlds and characters, and release ad tests, built from my Skate. research (08).

Read the case →
What I took from it

Price the evidence, not the hours

Then → Now

Then: one service and one price. Now: a ladder per audience, from a free tool to a full Discovery.

Then → Now

Then: outreach sold as a service. Now: outreach sits inside Discovery, because a cheap lead tool beats it on its own.