Scaling a Hockey-First Platform into a Multi-Sport Management System
Role
Senior Product Designer
Context
B2B SaaS • League Management
Period
2022 – 2026
Responsibilities
Design leadership for product evolution
Monetization strategy alignment
End-to-end product design ownership
UX strategy across mobile and web
Research-driven decision making
Multi-sport expansion
Competitive landscape analysis
Go-to-market enablement
Scalable product architecture
Impact & Key Stats
120K+
Total Downloads
iOS + Android
63K
Active Users
in last 60 days
~90%
Fewer Support Tickets
with login optimization
10K+
Daily Messages
in-app team chat
By the Numbers
When I joined in 2022, the platform had 9K users and fewer than 10K downloads. By January 2026, we scaled to 120K+ downloads and 63K active users across mobile and web.
Growth, adoption & user confidence
Mobile engagement averaged 1h+ per session, well above SaaS benchmarks, while in-app chat centralized league communication with 5,000+ daily messages, replacing external tools.
App Store ratings improved from 2.0 → 3.7 stars (+85%) as reviews shifted from "absolute joke of an app" (2023) to consistent 5-star ratings in 2024: "The app has really been a huge upgrade for our league this year." Platform expanded to 10+ countries with multi-currency support.
Efficiency, scale & revenue impact
Login-related support tickets dropped ~90%. One client reported operating with 3 staff instead of 10–20, significantly reducing overhead. Standardized components enabled ~70% faster delivery despite team reduction.
The new Registration tool unlocked six-figure revenue for a single client. I advocated early for a subscription model (validated through user research), helping evolve the platform from free/ad-supported to 4-tier pricing (Free, Pro, Ultimate, Enterprise white-label). Platform expanded from hockey-only to 20+ sports across 15+ new leagues.
Chaos Inherited
When I joined as the first designer, the product was already losing user trust. Reviews described the app as “horrible to navigate”, and the experience confirmed it. What I inherited wasn’t a polish problem, but structural, operational, and cultural debt that restricted scalable growth and monetization.
Product & technical debt limiting scale
The mobile app mirrored a hockey-only web portal with no design system, no documentation, and inconsistent UI patterns. Analytics were minimal, leaving the team unable to measure behavior or prioritize confidently.
Reactive culture & rising operational cost
Without design ownership, UI decisions defaulted to engineering or the loudest stakeholder, features were hard-coded, and support tickets piled up. A free, ad-supported model without monetization further deprioritized UX while churn and sales friction increased.
Building Credibility Through Speed
As the sole designer in a fast-moving startup, my challenge wasn't just improving UX, it was proving design could accelerate the business. I tackled urgent usability issues while building scalable foundations, demonstrating value through measurable speed and alignment.
Diagnosing with evidence & aligning the company
I replaced assumptions with data: audited Firebase and GA flows, launched an NPS survey with 2,500+ users (score came back brutally low but gave us a baseline), and ran interviews exposing operational bottlenecks, like leagues needing 10–20 staff to operate due to manual workarounds. Presented findings company-wide to create shared ownership of the problem.
Systemizing delivery across teams
When pitching the design system to the CTO, I didn't lead with visual consistency — I led with speed: "Right now, every feature requires custom UI work. With standardized components, we can ship 70% faster — more sales ammunition." This reframing accelerated engineering buy-in. Established weekly "Consistency Calls" and bi-weekly design walkthroughs, while restructuring how Sales collaborated (introduced a filter: "How does this help current users? If not, validate with lost prospects").
From System to Scale
To move from firefighting to sustainable growth, I built foundations that could scale. In 3 months, I created a design system from scratch, then spent 6+ months pairing with engineering to embed it — reducing rework by ~70% compared to our old "design-toss-over-the-wall" approach.
Design system as infrastructure, not UI polish
Built tokens, components, and multi-platform libraries (iOS, Android, Web) synced through Figma Dev Mode. Introduced accessibility standards (WCAG contrast ratios, 44×44px touch targets, dynamic font scaling, Cyrillic alphabet support for international clients) — things the platform had never considered.
Simplifying experiences & validating features with real users
Redesigned navigation from horizontal/fragmented → vertical/hierarchical on web, bringing clarity to admins managing dozens of teams. With that base, we shipped faster: team chat (5,000+ daily messages), registration (six-figure revenue), and sport-specific scoring iterated with beta clients (90% called flows "intuitive"). Maintained competitive analysis vs 20+ platforms (TeamSnap, SportsEngine, LeagueApps) to guide priorities.
What I Learned
Over four years, this project reshaped how I think about design's role in business. I stopped seeing design as execution and started treating it as something that drives clarity, speed, and better decisions across the organization.
Design only matters when it moves the business
UX improvements only matter when they unlock revenue, efficiency, or retention. The design system wasn't approved because it was "the right thing to do" — it was approved because I demonstrated it would accelerate revenue-driving features. Framing initiatives around measurable outcomes secured buy-in faster than aesthetics.
Trust through small wins, then scale ambition
I could have spent 6 months on a perfect design system. Instead, I shipped quick wins (standardized fonts, redesigned home screen) within weeks to build credibility, then invested in infrastructure. That early momentum gave me political capital for longer-term bets. Without a team to manage, I still had to lead — by making myself useful. Rebuilding sales decks, creating tutorial videos, and embedding in dev sprints made me a collaborator, not a gatekeeper. That proximity gave me context to push back on bad ideas and advocate for the right ones.
