When building software for coaches and practitioners, you quickly learn something crucial: the coach might be the one paying the invoice, but they're not the ones using the platform daily. Their clients are.
Picture an end user: burned out, overwhelmed, mid-scroll on a Monday night, wondering if they'll ever feel like themselves again. They decide to open a coach's app instead of doomscrolling. Maybe they're nervous, brand new, sceptical, but curious. Either way, if their experience isn't seamless, simple, and intuitive... they're gone.
I think about them every time we build at Plaece. I know I've deleted countless apps that looked amazing but didn't deliver what I expected.
It would be easy just to prioritise our coaches' wishlists. We've got an active backlog of feature requests and ideas. Most of them are brilliant, many of them are useful, and some of them are tempting to jump on right away. However, we must remind ourselves that their impact is only as strong as the experience their clients have.
That's why we built a Calendly integration from the start.
Was it the flashiest feature? No. Was it revenue-generating? Not directly.
However, we knew it would make things easier for both the coach and the end user. People are already familiar with Calendly. It's quick, precise, and removes the friction of back-and-forth scheduling. We could have focused on improving something within our Launchpad dashboard instead. But that could wait. This couldn't.
It's all about trade-offs. And the best trade-off is one where everyone wins. Don’t worry, our updates in the Launchpad are on the way plus more integrations!
To be honest, we haven't had much pushback. Coaches get it. They want their clients to have a great experience. The only question we get is: "Can we have it sooner?" Which, if you've ever worked in a startup, you'll know is a constant refrain.
We strive to move quickly, but never at the expense of thoughtful design.
We learn from multiple angles. We use Mobbin to see what other thoughtful platforms are doing, not to copy, but to understand what's working and why. Our UX/UI designer conducts global research, and then we ground that in conversations with our clients, as well as prospects.
We ask: What do you think your clients need? What would make their workflow smoother? Where are they getting stuck, even if they're not telling you?
And we listen.
On our team, we have a trained trauma-informed breathwork practitioner, who also happens to be our CEO, Paul. Across the team, we're users of wellness apps, including Calm, Insight Timer, and Headspace, so we're not designing from a detached, purely technical lens. We're building from lived experience.
That's what makes the difference.
As a co-founder, I know that impact doesn't stop at us. It flows through us and our coaches. We're just the bridge. They're the ones changing lives. They're the ones guiding someone through their first breathwork session, helping a mum find her feet again, or giving a burnt-out miner the tools to reconnect with themselves.
Yes, we build for coaches with the ambition that we can solve their business challenges, making their lives infinitely better. But really, we build for the people they're here to serve.
That's how we reconnect the world to wellbeing, one beautifully built app at a time.
If you're a coach looking to build your own mobile app, I'd love to chat and help you bring that vision to life. Hit me up on LinkedIn.