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Skills
UX Research · Interaction Design · Product Strategy · Zero-to-One
4x
User base growth
$12k MRR
In 6 months
63%
Match response rate
MarketPryce connects DTC brands with college athletes for NIL partnerships and content deals. When I joined in 2023, the product existed — but customers weren’t consistently confident enough to act on it.
Brands were shown lists of athletes. It was hard to understand who someone was, why they were being recommended, or whether there was a real fit. The experience required a lot of comparison without giving enough clarity to support decisions. People hesitated. Even when they showed interest, it wasn’t always clear what to do next.
The system could generate matches. It wasn’t helping people feel confident in them.
Conversations with early brand partners clarified where things were breaking down. We had meaningful data about athletes — interests, content, audience — but it wasn’t coming through in a way that supported decisions. The issue wasn’t match quality. It was the moment of evaluation. I shifted focus from improving what we matched to improving how those matches were experienced.
Instead of comparing lists, brands were introduced to athletes one at a time. Each profile surfaced key information up front, with social content playing a central role. This reduced the need for side-by-side comparison and let brands focus on a single question: is there a fit here? The interaction became more intuitive — and brands could build a sense of direction as they went.
As engagement improved, the next needs became clearer. I expanded the product to support what happened after a match: saving athletes for later, initiating conversations, managing active partnerships. I also worked on athlete-facing touchpoints — including a partnership flow and email notifications — to keep both sides engaged and moving forward.
This work happened within a small team with limited engineering bandwidth and a need to show measurable traction fast. That shaped every decision — build on what exists, prioritize changes that directly affect behavior, focus on the moments that influence decisions.
It also meant I was operating as both product lead and principal designer — responsible for the full arc from research to shipped feature. That’s a different kind of accountability than working within a larger team, and it produced a different kind of work.
Within six months the product reached 30 paying customers and achieved the highest MRR in the company’s history. 75% of brands returned weekly and 15% increased spend month over month. Brands moved through matches more quickly and showed stronger intent to act.
The one-at-a-time interaction model produced a marketplace that felt less like a list of options and more like a set of potential relationships.
© 2026 Adam Baumgartner