B2B Wellness Marketplace

Balancing Custom Client Demands with Core Product Strategy

Balancing Custom Client Demands with Core Product Strategy

A clear-cut approach to handling roadmap-adjacent requests for a B2B wellness marketplace.

ROLE

Product designer

Product

designer

INDUSTRY

B2B Wellness SaaS

B2B Wellness

SaaS

LAUNCHED

Jan. 12, 2026

OUTCOME

Reusable premium feature

Reusable

premium feature

LAUNCHED

Jan. 12, 2026

OUTCOME

Reusable premium

feature

The platform connects multi-location wellness providers with members across studios.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The short version

A high-value enterprise client demanded custom features that sat outside the roadmap. Instead of forking the codebase or losing the account, the request was reframed as a flexible configuration layer — protecting the core product while shipping what the client needed.

BUSINESS CONTEXT

What was at stake

Enterprise wellness provider threatened to churn.

Needed an advanced dashboard across multiple gym locations: schedules, staff tiers, class utilization.

Request was off-roadmap, under-documented, on a tight deadline.

The ask: a unified view of schedules, staff tiers, and class utilization across every location.

*Due to NDA requirements, company details, branding, and content have been anonymized or recreated. The challenges, process, and outcomes accurately reflect the actual project work.

APPROACH

Three moves to unblock the work

1. Separate wants from needs

Stripped away visual preferences with account managers. The real problem: the client couldn't see where space and staff were being wasted across locations.

Stripped away visual preferences with account managers. The real problem: the client couldn't see where space and staff were being wasted across locations.

Stripped away visual preferences with account managers. The real problem: the client couldn't see where space and staff were being wasted across locations.

2. Find "good enough"

Partnered with engineering on a compromise that solved the problem without rebuilding core systems.

Partnered with engineering on a compromise that solved the problem without rebuilding core systems.

Partnered with engineering on a compromise that solved the problem without rebuilding core systems.

3. Design clear data views

Replaced dense tables with a clean analytics view surfacing low-attendance classes and empty locations at a glance.

Replaced dense tables with a clean analytics view surfacing low-attendance classes and empty locations at a glance.

Replaced dense tables with a clean analytics view surfacing low-attendance classes and empty locations at a glance.

FINDINGS

The insight that changed scope

The client's "custom" issue wasn't unique. Many multi-location businesses on the platform struggled to read their daily attendance data. That reframed the request from a one-off liability into a premium, repeatable feature.

EXECUTION

A configuration layer, not a fork

Rather than custom code for one account, engineering and I built a flexible configuration layer that sat on top of existing tools — letting us tailor the dashboard for this enterprise client without touching the backend everyone else depends on.

What started as an off-roadmap, tight-deadline ask became a premium, repeatable feature.

RESULTS

Shipped on time, on January 12, 2026

35%

Reduction in setup friction

Reduction in setup friction

Reduction in setup friction

100%

On-time MVP delivery

On-time MVP delivery

On-time MVP delivery

1

Unified platform extension

Unified platform extension

Unified platform extension

REALITY CHECK

It wasn't perfectly smooth

Mid-project, sales accidentally promised the client a separate set of custom data reports. Because we had a shared, simple scope document, I caught the mistake early, realigned teams, and avoided a major delay.


True collaboration requires clear, uninflated communication when things get messy.

c

2026 SB - Product Design Strategist.

EMPATHETIC.

EMPATHETIC.

EMPATHETIC.

SYSTEMATIC.

SYSTEMATIC.

SYSTEMATIC.

OBSERVATIONAL.

OBSERVATIONAL.

OBSERVATIONAL.

EMPATHETIC.

SYSTEMATIC.

OBSERVATIONAL.

c

2026 SB - Product Design Strategist.

c

2026 SB - Product Design Strategist.

EMPATHETIC.

SYSTEMATIC.

OBSERVATIONAL.

c

2026 SB - Product Design Strategist.

EMPATHETIC.

SYSTEMATIC.

OBSERVATIONAL.