Freelancers using Figma in ValenciaFreelancers using Figma in Valencia
I design meaningful experiences across web and print
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5.0
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125
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I design meaningful experiences across web and print
Creating profitable digital products with Flutter since 2018
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Creating profitable digital products with Flutter since 2018
We help brands develop identities by innovating
5.0
Rating
4
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We help brands develop identities by innovating
Brand identity and art direction rooted in concept and place
New to Contra
Brand identity and art direction rooted in concept and place
Product Designer
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Hired
Product Designer
Product Designer & Dev — Figma to shipped SaaS & apps.
New to Contra
Product Designer & Dev — Figma to shipped SaaS & apps.
Cover image for 🎾 I built and shipped
🎾 I built and shipped a padel app. Solo. From idea to the App Store. This is SMASH — and here's the whole story, the stack, and who it's for. The problem I lived I play padel. And like everyone who plays, I was organizing matches across four different WhatsApp groups, arguing about who won, with no real ranking and no easy way to run a club league. Clubs were managing tournaments in Excel. The fastest-growing sport in the world had no home on your phone. So I built one. What SMASH is An iOS app that turns padel into a social, competitive experience: • Organize matches and track results • A real ELO ranking, by city and by level — win, you climb; lose, you drop • Leagues & tournaments where the app auto-generates the bracket and standings • Matchmaking ("I want to play") that fills your game with players nearby • A short-video feed for your best padel moments • Push notifications that bring you back ("you've been challenged", "you moved up to #3 in your city") How I built it (the stack) Frontend: • Flutter / Dart — one codebase, iOS-first • Riverpod for state management • Custom UI (Material + Cupertino, glass effects), fully localized (ES/EN) • Video pipeline: playback, caching, compression, thumbnails Backend — 100% serverless on Firebase: • Cloud Firestore — real-time database for users, matches, squads, leagues, tournaments • Cloud Functions (2nd gen, Node 24) — server-side ELO calculation, a push-notification fan-out system, and city-based matchmaking • Firebase Auth (Google + Apple Sign In) • Firebase Cloud Messaging for push (APNs) • Firebase Storage for media • Security rules + composite indexes Monetization: • RevenueCat + StoreKit 2 — subscriptions, freemium model (play for free, organize as Pro) Systems I built from scratch: • The ELO algorithm (K=32, team-average) for fair competitive ranking • A round-robin generator for tournaments • A viral invite loop (a padel match needs 4 players → every game created is an invitation) Who it's for Primary — padel players, from casual to competitive: people who play weekly and want to organize better, measure their real level, and compete. Starting in Spain, expanding to the padel hotspots: Italy, Sweden, Germany, the US (Miami, California), and Australia. Secondary (B2B) — padel clubs: run official leagues and tournaments with zero paperwork, and add a booking link so players find and book courts. Recurring, defensible revenue. What I actually learned Shipping alone means being the product manager, designer, Flutter dev, backend engineer, growth marketer and App Store submitter — often in the same afternoon. I learned that features don't make a startup; loops do — a retention loop (notifications), a growth loop (invites), and a business model that scales. I learned that "global from day one" is a trap: 500 real users in one city beats 0 scattered worldwide. And I learned that the last 10% — App Store review, push certificates, subscription approvals — is where most side projects quietly die. So I pushed through it. SMASH is live on the App Store now, and I'm building it in the open with the players who use it. If you play padel, run a club, or just like watching a product get built from zero — I'd love your feedback.
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