Surf Photography Marketplace.
Waawave.
Co-founder and Product Designer. Led research, design, and launch of two-sided marketplace in 2 months.
Year
2025
Duration
6 months
Tools
Figma
Bolt.new
Posthog
Team
Self-funded
Developer
Challenge
Surf photographers and surfers were stuck in a broken transaction model. Photographers spent 3-4 hours post-session coordinating sales with 10-15 surfers - sending previews, negotiating prices, handling payments manually. Most transactions never happened. Both sides wanted to buy and sell, but the friction made it impossible at scale.
Research & Validation
Interviewed photographers about workflows and sales processes:
Spoke with surfers about photo discovery challenges
Analyzed competitors across Brazil, Australia, and US markets
Built bolt.new prototype to test concept with both user groups
Core insight:
The manual workflow was killing both sides. Photographers spent hours sorting photos, sending previews, coordinating bank transfers, and delivering files individually.
Solution
A marketplace where photographers upload session photos tagged by location/date/time with pricing. Surfers search, find themselves, purchase through Stripe, and download instantly. Photographers get paid automatically.
Business Model: 20% commission per sale (€5-15 average photo price)
What We Built
Photographer bulk upload with location/date/time tagging
Dual-mode search (surf school vs beach location)
Surfer search and purchase flow
Photographer account and content management
Stripe payment integration with automated distribution
Search Context Toggle
Experienced surfers knew the exact where they surfed but we discovered early that beginner surfers (surf school students) knew their school name but not the beach. Added "Free Surf" vs "Surf Lesson" search modes.
Watermark Balance
People could screenshot photos easily. Needed high enough quality for surfers to see value, but not enough to steal. Watermarks visible enough to protect, subtle enough not to ruin preview.
Storage Constraints
As self-funded startup with low revenue per transaction, storage costs hit fast. Implemented 30-day photo limit to keep platform viable while small.
What Worked
150+ transactions in first two weeks
Surf school market validated - photographers could hand QR cards after lessons, traffic spiked immediately post-session
Faster photo uploads correlated directly with higher sales
What Didn't
Free surf market struggled - required brand awareness we couldn't fund, or longer time in the market for organic growth of awareness
Low transaction values (€1-2 commission after fees) needed massive scale
Storage costs unsustainable for self-funded startup with low transaction revenue
Photographers requested bulk pricing and quantity discounts we never built
Key Learning
Go-to-Market Mismatch
Built one product requiring two different strategies. Surf schools worked because photographers had direct communication channel. Free surf needed marketing investment to build awareness - photographers were uploading but not selling, killing their motivation.
Unit Economics
€5-15 photos with 20% commission, minus Stripe fees, storage, and platform costs meant needing huge volume before sustainable. Low transaction value businesses need different revenue models or significant scale.
Wrong Problem Sequencing
Built marketplace distribution before solving photographer workflow. The real bottleneck: photographers organizing 200+ photos by surfer, creating packages, managing inventory. Should have started with workflow tool to help them prep and sell directly, then added marketplace discovery once they had smooth selling process.
Technical Tradeoffs
Bolt.new enabled fast validation but was unstable for iteration. Every polish attempt risked breaking something else. Good for prototyping, challenging for production.
What I'd Build Instead
A photographer workflow tool first:
Organize session photos by surfer
Create bulk packages ("all your photos: €50")
Enable direct selling through existing channels (verbal at lessons, Instagram DMs)
Once photographers have consistent sales workflow, layer on marketplace discovery
Core principle: Solve the constraint furthest upstream. We built distribution before awareness and workflow were solved.