AI Persona App Testing | blok

AI-Driven App Testing with Simulated User Personas

Developers are increasingly leveraging AI-powered coding tools such as Cursor, Replit, Claude Code, and Lovable to accelerate software development. Despite this progress, validating new features often necessitates either deploying incomplete beta versions or relying on simulation software.

Emerging from stealth mode, Blok offers a novel approach. The company utilizes artificial intelligence to simulate diverse user personas, enabling developers to assess app features and refine their designs.

Company Founding and Background

Blok was established in 2024 by Tom Charman and Olivia Higgs. Both founders bring extensive experience as serial entrepreneurs, having collaborated on previous ventures in the travel and education sectors.

Funding and Investors

To date, Blok has secured $7.5 million in funding across two investment rounds. A $5 million seed round was spearheaded by MaC Venture Capital, attracting participation from representatives of Discord, Google, Meta, Apple, Snapchat, and Pinterest.

The company’s pre-seed funding came from Protagonist, alongside contributions from Rackhouse, Weekend Fund (Ryan Hoover’s fund), and Blank Ventures.

Competitive Advantage and Market Positioning

Marlon Nichols, Managing General Partner at MaC Venture Capital, positions Blok as a forward-thinking alternative to tools like Optimizely and Amplitude. He emphasizes that while existing solutions are largely reactive, Blok provides a predictive testing layer for applications.

“Our investment in Blok stems from our belief that product development is undergoing a significant shift,” Nichols stated. “Teams are releasing updates at an unprecedented rate, yet critical decisions are still frequently based on A/B testing and intuition. Blok’s simulation engine fundamentally alters this approach, empowering teams to anticipate user behavior before writing any code.”

The Growing Need for Enhanced Testing

Higgs highlights the increasing complexity of user interfaces as a key driver for more robust testing methodologies. The company’s research, involving interviews with over 100 product engineers, revealed significant challenges faced by product teams.

“The expectations for visual interfaces are continually rising,” Higgs explained. “Users now interact with technology through various modalities, including chat and voice. Introducing new visual UI elements necessitates careful consideration to avoid disrupting the user experience.”

Addressing Challenges for Companies of All Sizes

Charman notes that both large and small organizations encounter distinct testing hurdles. Smaller companies often lack sufficient user cohorts for live feedback, while larger enterprises aim to prevent feature bloat and maintain a streamlined user experience.

“Our goal is to enable companies to move beyond experimental feature releases and lengthy wait times for results,” Charman stated.

How Blok Works: Data Input and Persona Creation

When onboarding, clients provide Blok with event log data from platforms like Amplitude, Mixpanel, or Segment. Blok then utilizes this data to build behavioral models and generate representative user personas.

These personas are designed to encompass the majority of an app’s user base, ensuring comprehensive testing coverage.

Simulation and Insight Generation

Development teams submit Figma designs and experiment details – including their hypotheses and desired user outcomes – to Blok. The AI-powered personas then execute the simulation repeatedly.

Blok delivers detailed insights into user behavior, offering recommendations for feature optimization. This includes a comprehensive experiment report, highlighting successes and areas for improvement, as well as persona-specific reports and suggestions.

Furthermore, a chatbot interface allows users to query the experiment data directly.

Target Industries and Future Outlook

Currently, Blok operates behind a waitlist and is collaborating with initial customers in the finance and healthcare industries. These sectors were chosen due to their sensitivity to public experimentation and the need for rigorous product validation.

The company employs a SaaS-based pricing model and is actively addressing the computational costs associated with its simulations. Blok anticipates achieving mid-single-digit millions in revenue this year and expanding its customer base.