The Canggu beta: 50 masters, 200 households, one PIN

For the past three months we have run a closed beta in Bali — 50 KTP-verified masters, 200 invited households, four neighbourhoods. Average rating 4.8 stars, dispute rate under 2%. Here is what surprised us.

Households did not care about the rating. They cared about the PIN. The single most-quoted moment in our user interviews was: "the PIN made me feel like I was actually in control for the first time." We are doubling down on the PIN as the primary trust signal in the next release.

Masters cared about same-day payouts. The biggest churn risk was not pricing or reviews — it was waiting for money. We moved payouts from T+1 to same-day for verified masters, and master retention jumped 30%.

Disputes were almost always communication problems, not bad work. Eight of the eleven disputes we logged were resolved by simply getting both sides on a call. We are building a lightweight in-app chat for v1 to head this off.

Public launch in Bali is next. If you are in Bali and want in, pre-register.