When I saw Skype was deprecated earlier this year, I realised it left a clear gap to address a real problem that I was facing: no simple, affordable, and transparent way to make international calls. As a newly arrived expat in Australia, I felt this pain firsthand paying high fees just to reach my uk bank, tax office etc.
Curious to see how far I could take my AI prototyping, I decided to build Orbo: a fully browser native voip platform that combines pay as you go pricing, instant credit top ups, and custom caller ID to make mine and other expats lives easier.
55
MAUs
2,000
Call Minutes
2 months
Launched
50+
Countries
what i did
- led product design and development from zero to beta launch
- built the web architecture (fe/auth/billing) and integrated twilio + stripe + supabase
- interviewed expats, travelers, and global freelancers to shape the experience
- designed a frictionless sleek ui with real time call credit feedback
- crafted a pricing model that balances affordable and sustainable margins
- iterated fast on feedback/bugs, billing, and ux friction
- currently exploring how to use ai to help market orbo to expats
how it works
call in browser
no apps. no downloads. just open and call right in your browser.
pay as you go
simple, per-minute pricing. top up only what you need.
show a local number
set the caller id to match the country or your acutal number to help boost trust and pickup rates for sensitive calls.
global reach
connect to 50+ countries through twilio api and local carrier partnerships.
credits that just work
real time balance tracking and instant top-ups. no waiting, and no subscription lock in.
interactive regional menus
explored metaltical ui for pricing
built a realistic earth visualisation with real day/night boundry line and country flag positioning
metaltical ui dialpad + auto country-code detection
sign up and login pages
what i learned
ship early, learn faster
getting feedback early meant i was able to focus on the things that mattered. chasing polish too long just delayed getting clarity.
design for fidgeting
designing for fidgeting is a surprisingly powerful principle. users loved the interactive earth, as it replaced another dropdown with something tactile, ambient, and memorable, while communicating the global offering of orbo.
clear vision and everything follows
once I had defined my strategy and found core areas of differentiatation from competitors, everything else fell into place.
micro-interactions build trust
showing the cost per minute before each call, suggested regional numbers, real-time credit updates, these small details built credibility and trust.
ai isn't just a magic wand, persistence is key
it's never been easier to build things. what makes the difference now is clarity, technique, and just sticking with it.