Freelance UI Designers in ValenciaFreelance UI Designers in Valencia
I design meaningful experiences across web and print
1x
Hired
5.0
Rating
124
Followers
I design meaningful experiences across web and print
Creating profitable digital products with Flutter since 2018
15
Followers
Creating profitable digital products with Flutter since 2018
Design partner for founders & growing brands
7
Followers
Design partner for founders & growing brands
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.
0
61
Sr. Product (UX) Designer | Trusted by Fortune 500 Companies
9
Followers
Sr. Product (UX) Designer | Trusted by Fortune 500 Companies
All-in-one product guy. Specialising in start-ups.
All-in-one product guy. Specialising in start-ups.