Marketplace products are mostly coordination problems.
StartBridge was a platform for innovation projects: users could create offers or project calls, collect feedback from a professional network, and prepare launches on the marketplace. My work as a contractor focused on turning changing business requirements into React interfaces that could survive real product iteration.
The constraint
The platform had to explain a domain that was not obvious to every user.
Innovation offers, stakeholder feedback, calls for projects, and marketplace readiness all carry business-specific meaning. If the UI mirrors internal vocabulary too closely, new users get lost. If it hides that vocabulary too much, the workflow stops matching how the business actually operates.
The product work was mostly about finding that middle layer.
Product shape
The work included:
- React interfaces built from evolving Figma designs
- project pages for innovation offers and calls
- marketplace preparation flows
- real-time communication features
- direct collaboration with the CTO on product and technical decisions
Because the product was already moving, implementation had to fit into an existing codebase rather than assume a clean-room rewrite.
The hard part
Small-team product work punishes overengineering.
Requirements changed as the business tested the marketplace shape. The interface needed to adapt without becoming a pile of one-off screens. That meant keeping components practical, matching the design system where it helped, and avoiding abstractions that looked clever but slowed the next change.
Stack
- React
- React Query
- Material UI