Details
Company: ShortPen
Role: Co-Founder & Product Designer
Team: Designer & Developer
Scope: Product Strategy, UX/UI Design, Design System, End-to-End Flows, Growth Strategy
Link: shortpen.com
Project Overview
ShortPen is a SaaS platform for link management, QR code generation, and conversion tracking.
The idea was born from a clear market gap: existing tools were either too complex, too expensive, or lacked flexibility.
Our vision was to build an intuitive and scalable platform that professionals, agencies, and SaaS teams could adopt easily while retaining the analytical depth they need.
MY ROLE & DESIGN PROCESS
As Cofounder, I led both product and go-to-market activities:
Product Design
Designed user flows, wireframes, and prototypes, and built a complete design system in Figma. Crafted a minimal, rounded, and consistent UI that balances simplicity with scalability.
Website & Marketing Pages
Designed and developed the entire website, including product pages, dashboards, and onboarding areas, plus dedicated marketing landing pages to support feature discovery and conversion.
SEO & Growth Content
Created content strategies for SEO, blog, Quora, Reddit, and AI search results, positioning ShortPen as a relevant solution where users search for alternatives.
Documentation
Wrote the entire technical and user documentation, ensuring clarity, accessibility, and SEO optimization.
Growth & Acquisition Strategy
Designed a product-led growth funnel with a generous free tier. Current acquisition results: 2–3 new sign-ups daily, completely passive, with no paid ads or outreach.
KEY CONTRIBUTIONS & ACHIEVEMENTS
Innovative Link Creation Flow
Modular interface with a quick mode for simple links and an advanced toggle for UTMs, QR codes, branded domains, and password protection.
Workspace & Organization Management
Created a navigation system that supports multiple organizations and workspaces, critical for agencies and SaaS teams.
Scalable Growth Channels
Built sustainable acquisition via SEO, content, Reddit, Quora, and AI-driven search results → generating organic sign-ups daily.
Full Website & Landing Pages
Designed and built the entire site structure (product pages, onboarding, dashboards) plus ad hoc marketing pages to highlight features and drive conversions.
Documentation as Growth
Transformed documentation into a dual-purpose asset: user education + organic search acquisition.
CHALLENGES & LESSONS LEARNED
Balancing product vs. growth
One of the main lessons was realizing that building a great product is not enough. Growth and marketing are often even more critical than the product itself when it comes to adoption and traction.
The limits of outreach
Traditional outreach strategies (cold emails, messages, etc.) are becoming less effective and harder to scale. This pushed me to focus on building more sustainable, inbound acquisition channels.
The reality of product-led growth
A product-led strategy is by far the best way to drive real, “automatic” results. However, it requires patience: growth is steady and sustainable, but significantly slower compared to aggressive outreach.
RESULTS & STRATEGIC IMPACT
Shipped a fully functional SaaS with a complete design system
Achieved consistent passive sign-ups (2–3 daily) without outreach or ads
Established sustainable growth channels (SEO, content, AI search visibility)
Positioned ShortPen with a clear PLG strategy (free plan + conversion-based upgrades)
TAKEWAYS
This project allowed me to combine design and growth strategy in a single workflow: designing not just the product, but also the acquisition engine around it. ShortPen taught me how to ship a scalable SaaS with minimal resources, while building organic, long-term user acquisition.