Design Lead
Product Designer
Design Strategy
UX Research
UI Design
Design System
Branding
The challenge was rethinking what winning could mean: not one shot at a season-long title, but the chance to win every week, against anyone you wanted, not just whoever the schedule handed you.
Overview
Hundreds of hours go into one payout that only lands if everything breaks your way — so why settle for a single shot, against a single opponent, once a week? Bettle breaks that mold: play as many matches as you want, across formats from head-to-head to group contests.
Outcome
We shipped an MVP midway through the 2023 NFL season with almost no marketing spend. Of the 3,083 people who signed up, 54% uploaded a team, and 39% of active users came back for a second matchup with only basic email and push reminders in place, no rewards, streaks, or deeper retention loop. That return rate, without any retention mechanics driving it, was the strongest signal the core loop itself was worth coming back to.
Research
Fantasy sports has gone mainstream over the past two decades — about 19% of U.S. adults, roughly 50 million people, now play, powering an $11 billion industry. Legal sports betting has grown alongside it, now reaching 23% of adults, and the overlap is heavy: 80% of fantasy players also bet, pointing to real demand for more interactive, action-driven competition.
Research
To validate what was already in place i conducted interviews and surveys among a list of a leaguemates of my own and my Bettle colleagues’. The findings helped us influence the ultimate direction of the app by helping us see through existing biases and rethinking the brands philosophy.
“Taking money from a homie trumps beating a stranger any day of the week.”
8
/20 users shared this view
Explore intraleague game types
For many, bragging rights only has value when you can hang it over someone’s head that you care about
Relationships built while playing in home leagues is a major reason people love fantasy
“I’d rather compete in group contests where there’s a chance to win 10X the buy-in”
6
/20 users shared this view
Group contests & DFS-style play
Managers will gladly sacrifice odds for a higher payout
There's interest in bringing a DFS style of play into the home league setting
“I don’t think there’s a need to consolidate all my leagues into one app.”
14
/20 users shared this view
A one-stop-shop for team management is not a priority
Players don't want to learn a new user interface
The time requirement needed to translate every nuanced detail of each platform would require too much time
“Fantasy is a release from work, a slack-style UI is only taking me out of my happy place”
15
/20 users shared this view
Re-examine the design language
The fantasy sports app experience should be familiar
Those who are not Slack users might feel alienated
Over the past two decades, fantasy sports has steadily become a mainstream part of American sports culture. Today, about 19% of U.S. adults—roughly 50 million participants—engage in fantasy sports, supporting a U.S. industry valued at around $11 billion.
The rapid growth of legal sports betting, now involving about 23% of U.S. adults, has further amplified interest. With significant overlap—around 80% of fantasy players also participate in sports betting—this crossover reveals strong demand for more interactive and action-oriented sports engagement.
I joined Bettle one year in to help realize its mission of redefining fantasy sports. I quickly took ownership of polishing the current experience while championing and fleshing out the app’s signature feature: interleague head-to-head matchups—allowing users to pit their roster against any team outside their league, creating fresh, frequent competitive opportunities.
Bettle was initially built around two core pillars: vibrant community engagement and on-demand wagering on your fantasy teams. Users import their existing leagues and teams into an ecosystem that empowers them to connect, chat, and compete—whether against rivals within their own league or challengers from across the fantasy world. Once a team is uploaded, our APIs automatically pull in league and roster data, enabling effortless management and instant challenges to any team in any league. The original concept drew inspiration from Slack's interface, allowing leagues to create dedicated channels, host DMs and group chats, and embed fantasy-specific actions (like match proposals, rematches, and score tracking) directly into the conversation flow.
To validate what was already in place i conducted interviews and surveys among a list of a leaguemates of my own and my Bettle colleagues’. The findings helped us influence the ultimate direction of the app by helping us see through existing biases and rethinking the brands philosophy.
“Taking money from a homie trumps beating a stranger any day of the week.”
8
/20 users shared this view
Explore intraleague game types
For many, bragging rights only has value when you can hang it over someone’s head that you care about
Relationships built while playing in home leagues is a major reason people love fantasy
“I’d rather compete in group contests where there’s a chance to win 10X the buy-in”
6
/20 users shared this view
Group contests & DFS-style play
Managers will gladly sacrifice odds for a higher payout
There's interest in bringing a DFS style of play into the home league setting
“I don’t think there’s a need to consolidate all my leagues into one app.”
14
/20 users shared this view
A one-stop-shop for team management is not a priority
Players don't want to learn a new user interface
The time requirement needed to translate every nuanced detail of each platform would require too much time
“Fantasy is a release from work, a slack-style UI is only taking me out of my happy place”
15
/20 users shared this view
Re-examine the design language
The fantasy sports app experience should be familiar
Those who are not Slack users might feel alienated
Focus our resources on game play and community in order to engage new users.
Based on our findings, we had a much clearer idea of how to build a brand that could stand out in a saturated market.
Solution
Solution
Challenge leaguemates within your traditional fantasy league. Strengthen bonds within your home league.
Compete against anyone outside your league — giving players flexibility & reach.
1v1 Head-to-Head, direct matchup against a single opponent
Bulk Open Challenges, one manager posts their team and takes on all comers
Group Contest, DFS-style open contests where the highest score wins the pot
Solution
The Community hub is Bettle’s curated destination for knowledge, connection, and lasting engagement beyond weekly games. It brings together fantasy managers through expert-led content, focused discussions, and relationship-building features that naturally lead to interleague competition.
Home, Matchup Tracker, and Gameday — the three screens that turn a season-long league into a weekly habit: see who's live, track the score in real time, and settle it on gameday.
Reflection
If I did it again, I'd have given Compete 100% of my focus instead of splitting effort with Community. The MVP shipped without any of the small moments that make winning feel good: a congratulatory pop-up after a win, a simple confirmation notification, the kind of lightweight, high-leverage design work that time on Community displaced. The repeat-play rate said the core loop already had legs; it just needed those moments of gratification, paired with clear CTAs to create the next match, to keep players coming back.
