Smash Case Study
Turning a single-feature MVP into a Revenue-generating platform
Designing the products and revenue model that grew SMASH from MVP to a platform reaching nearly 10,000 users across 103 countries.
When I joined SMASH it was an MVP that did one thing: let a creator build a pitch and share it. There was no way for the industry side to discover projects, and no revenue model at all. In the years since, I've designed the products that became both its core USP and its subscription revenue. My role has grown alongside the platform, from sole designer to product partner across design, delivery and development.
What is SMASH
SMASH matches Film and TV creators with the people who can back their work, making project discovery easier, smarter and more transparent. At the centre is Cupid, SMASH's matchmaker, using smart filtering and human curation to surface projects that would otherwise stay hidden.
It serves three sides:
Creators building and pitching Film and TV projects
Discoverers looking for projects to back, commission or represent
Service providers offering opportunities to creators
SMASH has grown into a serious, well-backed platform. It has raised multiple funding rounds, with backing from Innovate UK, Scottish Enterprise and others. Today it reaches nearly 10,000 users across 103 countries. I've been part of that trajectory throughout. My work designing its core products and revenue model helped take SMASH from an early MVP to a growing, revenue generating, investable business.
The starting point
The MVP proved the core idea, but it was one feature deep. A creator could build and share a pitch, and that was the extent of it. There was no discovery mechanism, no way for the industry side to find or request work, and, critically for the business, no way for SMASH to earn.
The brief, in plain business terms, was to turn a promising MVP into a scalable, monetisable, multi-sided platform. I joined as the sole designer to do that, and over time the remit widened well beyond design.
How the role grew
I came on as SMASH's only designer after the MVP. As the work delivered, the scope of trust expanded: I took on QA, project management and strategic input, working directly with the founders and the development team, and latterly moved into building tools myself. Today I work as a product partner across design, management and development.
That trajectory matters. It is the clearest evidence I can offer that the work moved the needle: the engagement kept growing because the output kept earning it.
Creating a revenue model where there was none
Callouts. Designed end to end, Callouts are now the platform's main USP and one of its primary revenue streams. Discoverers and service providers post opportunities to the platform. Creators browse open callouts and submit the projects they have built on SMASH. An admin panel lets Cupid review submissions, curate a slate and pass it to the relevant discoverer, who then reviews it and gives feedback through a dedicated interface. To widen the pool beyond who applies, an AI matchmaking tool scans projects across the platform and scores them against each callout's creative requirements. It surfaces strong candidates that were never submitted, so Cupid can invite those creators to put them forward. Discoverers and service providers pay a subscription to run their callouts, which turned discovery into a product SMASH could charge for.
SMASH Pro and a four-tier subscription architecture. To monetise the creator side, I designed and helped implement SMASH Pro, a paid tier offering an unrestricted experience: AI tools, unlimited project creation, marketplace access, exclusive Pro callouts, collaboration and more. Around it I designed the full subscription model:
Legacy: honouring existing users' feature set so early adopters kept their goodwill
Free: the new default tier with considered restrictions and paywalls
Pro: the paid creator tier
Enterprise: the discoverer tier for running callouts
New creators start on a free Pro trial, so they experience the full product before deciding, with a series of automated emails through the trial designed to drive conversion to a paid subscription. Between Callouts and this subscription model, SMASH gained direct revenue on both sides of its marketplace where it previously had none.
Making the best projects discoverable
Marketplace. An editorialised, Netflix-style page of banners and carousels showcasing SMASH projects, which I designed alongside the back-end interface that powers it. That interface lets Cupid choose component types and curate exactly which projects sit inside them, bringing the strongest work to the front of the platform while protecting creator IP.
Dashboard. An all-in-one overview that adapts to the user. Creators see their projects and submissions; discoverers see their callouts and matches. Relevant information surfaces based on user type and activity rather than showing everyone the same thing.
Profiles. Creator profiles capture the person behind the projects, with sections for about, showcase, creative fit, background and experience. To drive completion I designed a goal system that guides creators to finish every section, motivated by a clear incentive: the more complete a profile, the more likely that creator is to be matched to opportunities. I also added a Creators page, where creators can make their finished profiles public and discoverable, so a profile doubles as a shareable portfolio. The payoff runs both ways: creators get visibility and better matches, and SMASH gains a far richer set of creator data to attract new discoverers, investors and business opportunities.
Adding intelligence with AI
Creators gained tools to improve their loglines and synopses with context-aware suggestions. Cupid gained a tool to write stronger callouts from discoverer notes, and an AI-assisted matchmaking tool that compares the content of projects and callouts to sharpen matches.
Building beyond design
As the role moved into development, I built internal tools myself. An analytics tool compiles data from SMASH's database, Stripe and Mixpanel into one place to produce weekly snapshots of platform performance. An activity-lookup tool lets Cupid search by creator, project or callout and see all related platform activity in one view. These gave the team operational visibility they did not have before, and are the clearest example of the role widening from design into delivery.
Foundations
Onboarding. Onboarding sits at the top of every funnel, so any loss there compounds across all of SMASH's growth. I rebuilt the flow to guide new creators through their first steps with as little friction as possible, and added Google sign-in to remove a common drop-off point at account creation. The result is near-zero drop-off, which means far more of the users SMASH attracts go on to become active on the platform rather than falling away at the first screen.
Platform UI overhaul. The MVP was functional but had not been designed to scale, either in everyday usability or in the impression it made on the professional discoverers and investors SMASH needed to win over. I overhauled the interface end to end, making it easier to navigate for every user type and giving it the polish of a product people would trust and pay for. This was as much a commercial decision as a design one: a platform that feels considered gives discoverers, broadcasters and investors the confidence to engage, which supports both monetisation and fundraising.
Results
Turned a single-feature MVP into a platform with two core revenue streams, callout subscriptions and creator and discoverer subscriptions, both of which I designed
Grown to nearly 10,000 users across 103 countries
Rebuilt onboarding lifted completion from around 70% to 94% across both email and Google sign-up, so more new users reach the platform and go on to start a Pro trial
Callouts became the platform's engine of activity, with more than 80 callouts run and over 3,000 project submissions. In a Pro user survey, callouts and opportunities were the single most cited reason for using SMASH
SMASH now runs callouts for globally recognised streaming platforms and major industry names
Several matches made through SMASH have progressed into production
What SMASH Thought
"Working with Jack and Scale Now Design has been a fantastic experience. Jack led the product side of our platform, covering both product management and design. The quality of his design work has been outstanding, and together we shipped a huge amount, from a new creator discovery experience and redesigned onboarding to tools that transformed our internal operations. He worked closely with our leadership team and developers, and he excelled at turning user feedback into tangible improvements. He also brought real AI expertise to the table. I'd highly recommend Scale Now Design to anyone looking for a product partner who can take ownership and deliver at pace."
Christine Hartland
Co-founder & COO of SMASH
The partnership continues
SMASH is live, growing, and heading into a new phase. As the team raises its next round, the focus is on smarter AI tooling for creators and matchmakers and new subscription options for discoverers. My relationship with SMASH is ongoing, and the work now spans design, product management and development. It has become the kind of long-term partnership I aim to build with every client: trusted enough to own outcomes, not just deliverables.