Case study — 04
HBS Section Website
My HBS section needed one simple place for the week ahead and the people around us. I interviewed five sectionmates, designed and built the product solo, and launched it in under a week to more than seventy percent adoption.
Section adoption in the first week
Active users measured with Cloudflare Web Analytics
From concept to launch
01 The problem
Five interviews revealed one common need: a simple hub for section events, classmates and shared knowledge. Sectionmates wanted immediate utility—not another account, configurable feed or complex product to manage.
02 What I built
I built a React and TypeScript SPA and deployed it to Cloudflare Pages in under a week. Public content stays static; Workers KV and Pages Functions support editable events. The private roster is encrypted and decrypted only in the browser, so no server holds its plaintext or key.
Live demo, fictional data — password: demo
03 Key decisions
Decision 01
Static simplicity over application complexity
A primarily static hub that opens immediately, with live infrastructure only where administrators need to update events.
A database-heavy platform with individual accounts, user-created content and granular permissions.
Interviews favored a low-friction information hub. The tradeoff was fewer direct contributions and simpler permissions.
Decision 02
Weekly utility over feature novelty
Launching the four experiences sectionmates mentioned most often and would have reasons to revisit each week.
A larger first release built around speculative or one-time-use features.
Interview frequency set the initial scope, while recurring value created a reason to return.
04 Outcome
I launched through the section chat, an in-person demo and early interview participants. Cloudflare Web Analytics showed over seventy percent adoption and more than sixty active users in week one.
Other sections requested guidance and source code. I am now adding lightweight submissions and simpler administration without introducing full user accounts.
Confidentiality note
This project was built within McKinsey & Company. Specific client names, proprietary architectures, and internal tooling details are confidential. What's shared here reflects the publicly describable scope of the work; product screens shown are generic, illustrative recreations, not the shipped product.