Pop Up People

I took over Pop Up People (PUP) when it was a stalled codebase with a looming deadline. My first priority was to re-scope the MVP, stripping away technical debt to focus on the core "Matchmaking" engine. I transitioned the project into a high-performance Next.js and Tailwind solution that balances the needs of two distinct user groups: independent vendors and corporate office managers .

A two-sided marketplace lives or dies by its data. I designed a bifurcated onboarding flow that segments users into "Exhibitors" or "Locations" from step one. For vendors, I created an illustrative, step-by-step wizard to capture product categories , brand values , and geographic reach , ensuring their profiles were "marketplace-ready" without feeling like a chore.

I designed distinct dashboard experiences for each persona. Vendors get a "Stand Manager" , focused on product visibility and payment setup . Locations, conversely, receive an event management suite , designed to handle practical logistics like visitor counts and facility access , .

The heart of the product is a custom bidding engine. I designed the UX to handle complex financial logic: merchants can browse upcoming markets , place bids, and secure dates via a deferred Stripe payment flow , . This ensures that venues only deal with committed, pre-authorized vendors, significantly reducing administrative overhead for the client.

To ensure high platform retention, I built management tools that go beyond the transaction. This includes a calendar-based "Market Day" tracker , detailed vendor selection modals for venues , and automated "Practical Info" sheets that consolidate parking, contact, and setup instructions in one place .

In less than a year, I moved the platform from a "broken prototype" to a live, revenue-ready marketplace. By using a modern stack (Next.js, shadcn UI, PostgreSQL), I delivered a responsive, accessible web experience , that scales with the growing number of market days across Denmark.