DOGGIT
Doggit: 0→1 Product Design for an Ethical Marketplace
Three product surfaces. One trust framework. 10K+ users.
Doggit is an ethical breeder marketplace that vets every breeder for health and ethics. I designed the full product experience—breeder portal, buyer discovery journey, and training platform.
Role
Lead Product Designer
Timeline
Ongoing
Scope
Breeder Portal
Buyer Experience · Training Platform
Status
Live product
Outcomes
10K+
users
1K+
vetted breeders
$200K
raised
Top 10
Purina Pet Innovation 2024
"They saved us from what could have been an absolute nightmare. They helped us find our soul-dog Stewart."
— The Handke Family
THE PROBLEM
Why online puppy buying is broken
Scams are rampant. Buyers meet "breeders" in parking lots, wire money to strangers, receive sick puppies or no puppy at all. Existing platforms are listing aggregators. They don't solve for trust.
The product needed to solve:
- Help buyers find the right breed for their lifestyle
- Make breeder credibility visible before first contact
- Let non-tech-savvy breeders build professional profiles
- Create recurring revenue beyond marketplace transactions
The Handke family almost drove three hours to meet a "breeder" in a parking lot. Doggit flagged the red flags, matched them with a vetted breeder, and they found their dog Stewart.
THE APPROACH
Trust as the entire experience
I designed every surface to answer one question: "How do I know this breeder is legit?"
Badge system. OFA health verification. Transparent pricing. Education before transaction. Trust isn't a feature—it's the product.
Breeder profile with badge system and health clearances
THE WORK
Three product surfaces
Designing for non-tech-savvy breeders
Breeders are dog experts, not software users. The portal had to work for someone who's never used a dashboard.
Progressive disclosure—only show what's needed at each step. Language that matches how breeders talk about health testing. Visual preview so they see their page as they build it.
Outcome: 1K+ breeders onboarded without a support team or training documentation.
Education to connection
I designed the full buyer journey—from learning about breeds to connecting with vetted breeders.
All Breeds page for education. Search and filter at global and breed level. Breeder discovery with trust signals throughout. Pre-application flow to connect with confidence.
Outcome: 10K+ users across 83 countries. 83% task success rate in usability testing.
View liveFirst revenue product
I designed Doggit's first subscription product—training content for new dog owners.
User-facing training experience. Admin portal for founders to manage subscribers. Content CMS to update without engineering. Built with Claude Code to ship fast.
Outcome: First subscription revenue live. Shifted Doggit from marketplace to platform.
View livePLATFORM IMPACT
The bigger picture
Three product surfaces. One mission: make ethical dog ownership accessible to everyone.
The founders are second-generation dog people—trusted experts in the community. I designed an experience that brings their knowledge into every interaction. Trust signals. Breed education. Breeder vetting. An end-to-end experience for dog lovers who want to do it right.