Project Overview
Tools:
Figma, Claude, Cursor, Framer, Supabase, Expo, React Native
ScoutBase: Verified networking for professional hockey. Designed, built, and launched.
Built around trust, not features
Hockey is a small world where your reputation travels fast. Players and agents make career decisions based on relationships and word of mouth, not platforms. ScoutBase is my attempt to build something that fits that reality instead of fighting against it.
I designed and built the entire product: role-based accounts, verification mechanics, Invite-only flow, privacy controls, and discovery flows using Figma, Cursor, Claude, and React Native.
Player discovery in hockey is messy and uneven. Opportunities often rely on agent relationships, spreadsheets, or word of mouth, which favors players who are already well connected. Any tool in this space has to influence real career decisions, not just add another profile to manage.
I built Golf Lounge and learned the hard way that shipping fast on the wrong problem is worse than moving slow on the right one. ScoutBase launched in spring 2026 after validating the core thesis with professional players and representatives first. The plan is to expand from there once the trust layer is proven at the pro level.
Discovery insights & system-level decisions
The first real conversation I had with a pro player changed the whole product. Showing interest in a team too early can hurt your negotiating position. That one insight shaped every decision after it.
Because of that, ScoutBase isn’t designed like a traditional social network. It’s built as a professional discovery tool where privacy and timing matter more than visibility or engagement. Growth will be slower by design, but the tradeoff is a product people actually feel safe using.
Instead of followers, the platform uses connections. Communication unlocks when there’s mutual intent, which keeps interactions intentional rather than performative. There's a main trust layer built into the app intentionally; only verified accounts can endorse others, send invites to other pros outside the network, send connection requests, and profiles clearly show whether someone is a pro player or representative.
Discovery adapts to the person doing the searching. Players and representatives see different filters because they’re looking for different things. This reduces blind outreach and makes finding the right opportunities more focused. The home feed exists to support discovery and is designed to stay intentional rather than to grab attention.
The diagram below maps how roles, verification, and discovery connect across the platform.
Assumptions, validation & what success means
ScoutBase is built around a few core beliefs: players are more likely to participate when exposure risk is low, verification is more important than open access, and real opportunities in hockey come through more people than just agents. Connection limits, search filters, endorsements, and stats are all intentional design decisions. And the pro player experience has to be genuinely useful and completely free.The monetization sits on the rep and organization side, where reach and efficiency have a clear value.
One thing still being shaped is how to add credibility signals for established players without drowning out the underdogs. The platform shouldn't just work for people who are already known.
Success for ScoutBase isn’t about replacing what exists for the current system. It’s about naturally fitting into how hockey already works and influencing behavior in small but meaningful ways: fewer blind messages, more targeted outreach, and players feeling safe looking for options without the fear of public risk.
The bigger lesson from building this is the same one Golf Lounge taught me in a different way. Validate the problem before you build the solution. Design around real constraints, not ideal ones. And ship less than you think you need to.
What I learned after launch
The first post-launch addition was ScoutBoard, a matching feature that automatically surfaces relevant players to reps and relevant reps to players based on league, position, and preferences. ScoutBoard removes that initial friction without compromising the trust layer. You still have to connect intentionally, the system just makes sure the right people are finding each other first.
The invite-only model is both the product's biggest strength and its hardest growth constraint. It's what makes the platform feel safe and trustworthy. It's also what makes the first 100 users the hardest to get and the most important decision we'll make.
Getting active pro players as ambassadors is more complicated than expected. There's a real grey area that could create risk for their current careers. The smarter path is organic growth from players and reps themselves.
The first piece of real user feedback came from Daniel Brickley, a professional player who said he likes the idea of being able to connect with other pro players to research team culture and expand his network before making career moves. That's exactly the use case the product was designed for. Hearing it confirmed out loud was the clearest signal yet that the core thesis is right.