Building Opal, week of Oct 5: meet the owners we're building for
This week we showed who Opal is for: seven membership owners, each beside one of their members, and a page for six kinds of business.
Where we’ve been. Last week I shared the vision for Opal, the MemberPress.ai assistant, with an honest list of what’s real today and what’s still coming (Field Notes 01). This week we showed who she’s for.
What shipped this week
- Find the business that looks like yours. Our profiles page now shows seven owners, grouped by the kind of business they run: associations, academies, coaching programs, online communities, course creators, local services and newsletters. Each owner sits beside one of their members, so you see both sides of the site.
- Hear it in their words. Five of those owners have a short interview on the page. Opal has her own video library at the bottom of her page.
- Meet Opal and Pip. Opal thinks, plans and talks with you. Pip is her crew: when a draft she wrote goes to your site, a Pip puts it there and tells you how it went.
- A page for your kind of membership. Six of the seven business types link to their own page about the work that kind of owner actually does, from running a community to selling courses. The same six now sit as cards under “Who it’s for” on our homepage, so you can find yours from the front door.
- A page for people, not just agents. For humans sits beside For agents in the site header. It says plainly what MemberPress.ai does for you, how Opal and Pip split the work, and that you say it once and Opal handles the rest.
- A clear first step. Both plans in our pricing now have their own button: Start free, or Start the beta.
- Send your own AI agent to Opal. If you already work with an AI agent, it can now ask Opal about MemberPress.ai for you. For agents shows where to point it, and a short help article walks you through the first request.
What we learned
As these pages went up, we read every line against what the product does today, and some lines promised more than it does. Setup, for example, builds your membership levels; it doesn’t write your pricing page for you. We cut those lines, and now each page is checked before it goes live. When a page and the product disagree, the page changes.
What’s next
- Next: more owner interviews, as each one is ready.
- Next: the next of these updates, one week from today.
- Vision: Opal handling the recurring work you’ve allowed, and flagging only what needs you.
Find the owner who looks most like you.
Then connect a site and ask Opal your first question. You say it once, and Opal handles the rest.
Connect a site→