Case studies

Three case studies, written around the decisions I made,rather than the outcomes. This is because the decisions are the part that transfers across products and contexts.

Email CRM

Building audience infrastructure for people who don't think in databases

A contact database with lists, segments and trigger-based email sequences, layered on top of a platform that previously sent one-off welcome and broadcast emails. The hard part was the structure: contacts sit inside lists, segments are carved out of those, and sequences run off both. Creators had to be able to predict what any of it would contain.

Proves: Data model design for non-experts, plan gating, and open questions resolved in writing
Shipped: 13 August 2026

Ask Ella AI

Deciding what an AI agent is allowed to do

An in-product AI agent that builds products with creators through conversation and answers questions from their own account data. I wrote the behavioural contract: how it is experienced, what it may do, what it must ask permission for, and what it must refuse.

Proves: Agent behaviour design, permission scoping, monetisation, and a decision reversed on new information
Shipped: 13 August 2026

Hubs

Designing access for when payment and permission disagree

Paid membership communities with tiered access, a members-only resource library, events, paid sub-groups and a leaderboard. The hard part was access: one tier system holding a whole community, and rules that still make sense when a member has paid but has not been approved.

Proves: Access and pricing rules that hold under edge cases, scope discipline under a deadline, and research design
Shipped: MVP 1 October 2025 · Public 18 March 2026