Building Fyllyo: Our Journey from Idea to Launch
Behind the scenes look at building an AI-powered form filling solution. The challenges we faced, lessons we learned, and what's coming next.
Every startup has an origin story. Ours started with a simple frustration: spending 3 hours filling out a visa application form, only to realize we'd made a typo that required starting over. Sound familiar?
The "Aha!" Moment
It was 2 AM, and I was on my fourth attempt at completing a DS-160 form for a US visa. The form had timed out twice, I'd lost my progress once due to a browser crash, and now I was staring at the same 15 pages of questions I'd answered three times before.
The Lightbulb Moment
"What if AI could remember all this information and fill it out for me? Not just basic auto-fill, but actually understand the context and requirements of different forms."
That frustration became the seed for Fyllyo. But turning a 2 AM idea into a working product was harder than we ever imagined.
The Early Days: Research and Reality Checks
Our first step was understanding the problem space. We surveyed 500 people about their form-filling experiences. The results were eye-opening:
😤 The Pain Points
- • 73% had lost progress due to timeouts
- • 68% made errors requiring restarts
- • Average time per complex form: 2.5 hours
- • 45% avoided opportunities due to form complexity
💡 The Opportunities
- • 89% would pay for a reliable solution
- • 92% wanted AI-powered assistance
- • 85% prioritized privacy and security
- • 78% needed multi-form support
The market validation was clear, but the technical challenges were daunting. How do you build AI that understands thousands of different form structures, each with unique requirements and validation rules?
Technical Challenges: The Hard Problems
Challenge #1: Form Recognition
Every website builds forms differently. Some use standard HTML, others use complex JavaScript frameworks. Government sites often have legacy systems with unusual structures. Our AI needed to understand them all.
Challenge #2: Context Understanding
A "name" field on a job application needs different information than a "name" field on a visa form. The AI needed to understand context, not just field labels.
Challenge #3: Privacy and Security
Users were trusting us with their most sensitive information: SSNs, passport numbers, financial data. We couldn't just build a great product—we had to build a secure one.
🔒 Security First
We made a crucial decision early: all sensitive data stays on the user's device. Our servers never see your personal information. This made development harder but was non-negotiable for user trust.
The MVP: Learning from Real Users
After 14 months of development, we launched our MVP to 100 beta users. The feedback was... humbling.
Our Response: We spent 3 months specifically training our AI on government forms.
Our Response: We added confidence scoring and mandatory review for high-stakes forms.
Our Response: This kept us going through the tough times.
The Pivot: From Tool to Platform
Six months after launch, we realized users weren't just filling individual forms—they were managing entire processes. Job hunting, immigration, insurance shopping. They needed a platform, not just a tool.
Version 1.0
Basic form filling with simple field recognition
Version 2.0
Context-aware AI with user profiles and form templates
Version 3.0
Full platform with workflow automation and team features
Lessons Learned: What We Wish We'd Known
1. Start with Privacy by Design
Building privacy in from the beginning is easier than retrofitting it. Our early decision to keep data local saved us months of rework later.
2. AI Training Never Ends
We thought we could train our AI once and be done. Reality: forms change constantly, new sites launch daily, and user needs evolve. Continuous learning is essential.
3. User Feedback is Gold
Our best features came from user suggestions. The batch processing feature? A user's idea. Multi-profile support? Another user request. Listen to your users.
4. Performance Matters More Than Features
Users will forgive missing features, but they won't forgive slow performance. We learned this the hard way when our initial version took 30 seconds to analyze complex forms.
📊 By the Numbers
Active users
Forms filled
Hours saved
Accuracy rate
What's Next: The Roadmap Ahead
We're just getting started. Here's what we're working on:
Thank You to Our Community
None of this would have been possible without our incredible community of users, beta testers, and supporters. You've helped us build something that truly makes people's lives easier.
Special thanks to our first 100 users who stuck with us through the bugs, the crashes, and the "interesting" UI choices. Your patience and feedback shaped Fyllyo into what it is today.
🚀 Join Our Journey
We're always looking for feedback, feature requests, and stories about how Fyllyo has helped you. Reach out to us—we read every message and many of our best features started as user suggestions.
The Journey Continues
Building Fyllyo has been the most challenging and rewarding experience of our careers. We've learned that great products aren't built in isolation—they're built in partnership with users who share your vision.
The future of form filling is intelligent, secure, and user-centric. We're excited to continue building that future with you.