6 min • Read the TLDR
Climbing has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. What hooked me early on wasn’t only the movement on the wall, but the puzzles hidden in every route and the mindset it takes to push through. Those lessons shaped how I approach challenges even today. So when a climbing startup from Italy reached out with the chance to merge my passion with my profession, I didn’t hesitate. I left my job in Germany, packed my bags, and moved to the Dolomites to help scale and unify their ecosystem.
When I first arrived, it felt like stepping into a digital playground for climbers, exciting but scattered. There was a consumer app where climbers could log progress, follow training plans, and explore hundreds of thousands of climbing areas worldwide. It was basically like Strava for climbers, unlocking millions of routes both indoors and outdoors along with many features for tracking performance. Gyms ran their businesses through a management platform, while route setters uploaded creations onto 3D walls so climbers could instantly see and try them. The company had also acquired one of the oldest community-driven climbing platforms, full of verified routes and areas from around the world, waiting to be integrated. And on top of that, there was a connected training handboard with its own app.
It was a rich ecosystem, but it didn’t yet feel like one. Each piece had potential, like puzzle parts waiting to be matched into a seamless experience.
My mission was to bring these pieces together into one coherent experience. I led the creation of a design system that could scale across every touchpoint, guided the migration of millions of routes, and helped ship major launches like advanced map improvements. Alongside this, I mentored designers to think in systems with a holistic perspective. One vivid moment came when the CEO and I built a digital feedback funnel with Adidas. At events we gathered feedback that went beyond shoe fit, touching on quality, usage, and climbing-specific details. It was one example of how community insights could create value both for the app and for partners in the wider industry, but the heavier impact came from the design system and the route migration that laid the foundation for everything else.
The team was small but unique. It wasn’t just engineers, product and design. Together it felt like a family. We worked, climbed, and tested side by side. Many of our research sessions happened mid-route at gyms or on crags, talking to climbers in the moment. That mix of sport and research gave us raw, honest feedback that no survey could capture. Blending our passion with our process made the work authentic and fun. We refined features in the office, tested prototypes on the wall, and celebrated together afterwards.
Another thing that set us apart was our speed. Features were shipped fast and tested in reality straight away, more like the rapid cycles you see in today’s AI startups. We preferred to put ideas in front of climbers quickly, learn, and adjust, rather than wait for perfection.
As mentioned before, many of our research sessions took place right at the gym or out on the crag, and through those moments we saw a clear divide, which for me was fascinating to observe. Beginners, who made up most paying subscribers, embraced training plans and gym integrations. Experts often preferred their trusted route books and saw little reason to use tech outdoors. For them, climbing was about independence, tradition, and community. Our CEO often wanted to focus on professional climbers, but the data and interviews showed how difficult that would be. The real opportunity was with the growing mainstream of beginner and indoor climbers, which in recent years has exploded in popularity and is so different from the outdoor culture. Recognising this gap gave us clarity: invest in the features that fuel growth while still respecting the tradition of the sport. That realisation shaped the highlights that followed.