After my path to becoming a professional athlete came to an end, I remained open to new experiences, which led me to explore different opportunities. My first project came quite unexpectedly. I heard about a local group looking for someone to build them a website. Despite having no prior experience in web design and development, I decided to give it a try. Not only did I create the website, but I also ended up designing new branding and print materials. This project was a turning point for me, as it opened the door to more freelance opportunities. Through this experience, I discovered that my "learn by doing" approach was not only effective but also deeply satisfying.
In parallel with my freelance work, I was employed at a relatively new startup, where we were developing a B2B web application. As the first version of the application gained some initial traction, we realized that in order to scale our business, we needed to simplify our product. Up to that point, we had been manually onboarding all our clients and teaching each of their employees how to use our product. While this approach helped us get our product off the ground, it was not sustainable. If users couldn’t intuitively figure out how to use the product, it meant we hadn’t done a good enough job designing it.
We also faced significant challenges with user retention. While there was an initial spike in interest from our users, it quickly dropped off. We understood that if our clients weren’t using our product (despite having paid for it), we risked losing their business in the long run.
Our transformation began by addressing all the issues our clients faced. We meticulously reviewed every feature, asking critical questions like: Why does this feature exist? Do it provide enough value to our customers? Is it easy enough to use?
Then we needed to come up with solutions. Being a small team and somewhat inexperienced, we went straight into developing the solutions we thought were best at the time. It quickly became evident that this approach was time-consuming and overwhelming.
With some prior design experience, I immediately began sketching lo-fi solutions to these problems. In attempting to address these issues, I unknowingly began engaging in product design. The first UI I created was not the most technically perfect design, but it was exactly what our team needed at that moment. It provided a quick sense of how our ideas might turn out, allowing us to rapidly test our assumptions. These early, low-fidelity experiments in solution-building gave us valuable insights into what worked and what didn’t. By embracing the "fail quickly" technique, we were able to identify potential flaws early on, saving both time and money in the long run. This iterative approach allowed us to refine our ideas without the cost of fully developing solutions that might not work.
After releasing V2 of our product, the early signs pointed to a successful redesign. Users adapted to the new interface with minimal friction, and our support team saw a significant drop in assistance requests. The most encouraging outcome, however, was the marked improvement in client acquisition. For the first time, new users were confidently adopting our product without the need for hand-holding. This shift not only validated our design efforts but also accelerated our growth—since the redesign, we’ve been able to double our revenue in half the time, proving the value of a well-crafted user experience.
For me, this process unveiled a deep-rooted passion for product design. While I enjoyed working as a freelancer and offering various services to my clients, nothing resonated with me as much as product design. Perhaps it was the need to deeply understand the problems I was solving, or maybe it was the fact that this iterative process never truly ends.
This realization has been a turning point in my career. I’ve come to appreciate the unique blend of creativity and problem-solving that product design demands, and I’m excited to continue improving my skills in this field.
I’m eager to see where this enthusiasm for product design will take me next.