Findaly started as a discovery product and was pivoted into an all-in-one platform for the maritime world. I led the pivot end-to-end: product direction, UX/UI, IA, scalable page systems, and the underlying data structure needed to represent a fragmented industry.
The maritime industry has no single place to search, compare, or transact with confidence. Boats are fragmented across brokers, regions, and disconnected platforms — and the user experience across all of them is poor. Findaly started as a discovery product. I saw a larger opportunity and led the pivot into a full maritime platform, owning product direction, UX strategy, information architecture, brand, and design through to front-end delivery.
Every boat. Every budget. Every need. That wasn't a tagline — it was the constraint I designed around. The platform had to serve casual browsers, serious buyers, brokers, and fleet operators within the same experience without compromising clarity for any of them. That tension shaped every structural and interface decision.
The core UX challenge was representing a fragmented industry without creating a fragmented experience. I studied how users navigate high-value purchases with many variables — filtering by brand, model, year, country, and category needed to feel intuitive, not overwhelming. I designed scalable filtering paths that encourage lateral exploration, keeping users moving through the inventory rather than hitting dead ends.
In high-value transactions, the detail page is where trust is won or lost. I designed each listing around a clear hierarchy: media first, then specs, seller identity, location context, and a single conversion path to enquiry. Save and share actions extend the listing's life beyond the first session. Every element was tested against one question — does this move the user closer to a confident decision?
Most marketplaces treat listing creation as a form. I treated it as a product. Sellers drop off when they're overwhelmed or uncertain about what's expected, so I designed a multi-step wizard that breaks the process into clear, manageable stages — type, category, details, features, location, photos, description, review. Structured input improves listing quality, which directly lifts the buyer experience on the other side of the marketplace.
Findaly is built as a full marketplace stack — discovery and filtering, rich listing objects, broker identity, messaging, saved searches, and a monetisation layer — designed to scale across regions and inventory sources. The architecture separates the browse system, listing data model, and broker workflows so the platform can expand without fragmenting the user experience.
Marine marketplaces carry a reputation for scams. Buyers are committing serious capital to assets they often can't inspect in person, and that anxiety kills conversion. I built trust into the product from the foundation — verification flows, safety guidance, scam education, and reporting tools. This wasn't a compliance exercise. It was a design decision rooted in understanding what stops users from transacting.
I approached SEO as a product design problem, not a marketing one. Instead of a content blog, I designed topic clusters — pillar guides, brand comparisons, buying checklists — with reusable internal linking components that strengthen the site's authority as it scales. Programmatic browse pages capture long-tail demand without manual effort. The system was designed to compound, not just publish.
A marketplace that doesn't retain users is just a search engine. I designed site-native messaging, saved listings, saved searches, and public broker profiles to create reasons to return. Each feature reinforces the others — a saved search triggers re-engagement, a broker profile builds credibility across multiple listings, and messaging keeps the transaction inside the platform.
Browsing boats is aspirational. Buying them is a financial decision. I identified a gap in the user journey — users would engage deeply with a listing, then leave to figure out whether they could actually afford it. I built the Waaza loan calculator directly into the experience, allowing users to assess affordability against real loan rates without breaking their flow. It bridges intent and action, and connects to Waaza's own financial product for users who want to go deeper.
Revenue had to be designed into the experience, not bolted on. I integrated payment infrastructure through KompiPay to support upgrade paths, promoted listings, and broker subscriptions — designing the billing UX so that the transition from free to paid feels like a natural extension of the product rather than a paywall. The commercial model was shaped alongside the user experience, not after it.
Findaly shipped as a live maritime marketplace — not a prototype, not an MVP scoped down to nothing. A full product loop from discovery through to transaction, with broker infrastructure, trust and safety systems, a retention layer, and an SEO engine designed to compound over time. One platform replacing the fragmented experience of an entire industry.
Lead Product Designer · 2025