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Who’s In Charge?
Adam Chiappone
DemoStoke
UX Case Study
Description
DemoStoke is a unified marketplace that helps riders and shops discover, book, and manage demo and rental gear in one place.
My Roles
- Founder
- Product Engineer
- UX designer
Project Link
The What
Product Summary
Riders and shops struggle with fragmented, offline demo and rental flows. I designed DemoStoke to be a unified marketplace to solve those issues. In validation sessions, 90% of shop owners said it would bring them more customers, and 100% of riders described it as "the thing that should already exist."
The Problem
Riders want to try gear before committing, but most demos still depend on scattered shop events, word of mouth, or expensive short-term rentals. Shops and independent makers also lack a shared digital system for surfacing availability, building trust, and converting a successful demo into a sale.
The Solution
DemoStoke turns those fragmented offline workflows into a location-aware marketplace where riders can discover gear nearby, compare listings, and book demos or rentals with more confidence. The platform also gives shops, shapers, and individual lenders tools to showcase inventory, manage availability, and turn trial experiences into repeat business.
My Roles
I led DemoStoke end to end as founder, Product Engineer, and UX designer, shaping the product strategy, research, information architecture, user flows, and visual system. I also built the front end, auth and dashboard flows, database-backed features, and AI-assisted discovery tooling needed to turn the concept into a working web application.
The How / AI-Driven Development
Location-Based Discovery
With DemoStoke, I created a comprehensive gear discovery and rental platform that connects riders with demo opportunities in their area.
Rapid Prototyping with AI
Using Lovable.dev, I was able to spin up the app’s foundation with a well-written prompt, then iterated rapidly to refine features and user experience.
Screenshots
The Who / User Personas
- Rachel (34, San Diego) is a marketing manager who rides 1-2x/month.
- She wants to try before buying expensive gear but is frustrated by limited demo options.
- She looks to Instagram and friends for recs, and wants DemoStoke to offer trusted peer reviews, easy filters, and clear pickup info.
- Chris (29, Truckee) is a remote project manager who snowboards 3-4x/week.
- He seeks variety in gear but shops don’t offer enough options.
- He’s active in forums and trades gear with friends.
- He wants DemoStoke to offer high-quality listings, flexible pickup, and rider reviews.
- Maya (31, Santa Cruz) is a van-lifer and remote Product Engineer who rides 1-3x/week.
- She doesn’t want to own a ton of gear and struggles to find quality rentals in new locations.
- She wants DemoStoke to offer verified local lenders, easy-to-find gear specs, and fair prices.
- Tony (45, South Lake Tahoe) co-owns a board shop and wants to run demos without building his own tech.
- He’s frustrated that most platforms don’t support niche gear.
- He wants DemoStoke to help list demo boards, drive traffic, and convert demos into sales.
- Dustin (38, Ventura) is a known surfboard shaper trying to grow his reputation.
- He wants to organize demos and track who rides his boards but lacks the tools.
- He wants DemoStoke to offer a shaper-specific feature, demo tracking, and review visibility.
- Jessie (27, Encinitas) is a yoga instructor with extra boards.
- She wants to earn passive income but doesn’t trust Craigslist.
- She wants DemoStoke to provide a smooth listing flow, damage protection, reviews, verified users, and an earnings dashboard.
Methods / The UX Process
Primary and Secondary Research
- Interviewed riders across surf, snow, and MTB to surface demo frustrations and trust gaps.
- Captured quotes about convenience, selection, and safety to anchor problem statements.
- Benchmarked competitors and availability patterns to spot underserved sports and locations.
Empathize, Define, and Ideate With Users
- Ran rider and shop employee interviews plus field observations to see friction in context.
- Framed trust-and-convenience problem statements with measurable goals for activation and conversion.
- Mapped discovery-to-feedback flows and prioritized must-have moments for riders and lenders.
Prototype, Test, and Refine the Product
- Used Lovable AI to generate hi-fi pages quickly, then refined with prompt engineering.
- Layered custom frontend polish and Supabase to demo discovery, admin, and AI integrations.
- Ran moderated and unmoderated walkthroughs to validate discovery, booking, and trust cues.
DemoStoke User Stories
www.demostoke.comThe Independent Surfboard Shaper
Abstract
From the lens of Curtis, an independent Southern California surfboard shaper, DemoStoke had the potential to radically simplify and expand his business by addressing key pain points around demo logistics, discovery, trust, and conversion.
Current Pain Points
High-effort demo days
Curtis manually hauled a van of boards to the beach, set up, and hoped the right audience showed up—labor-intensive and hit-or-miss.
Limited reach
He relied on Instagram, local shops, and word-of-mouth with no centralized platform to connect him with serious buyers.
Long wait times + uncertainty
Boards took 3–6 months to build, requiring big deposits with no guarantee the board would ride well.
Eco-niche under-leveraged
His eco-conscious boards weren’t visible enough to differentiate or educate a broader surf audience.
How DemoStoke Helps
The Weekend Warrior
Abstract
Krista is a snowboarder who valued speed and precision, and wouldn’t buy a new board without riding it first. Her frustrations with traditional demo events opened the door for DemoStoke as a more flexible, trustworthy, and convenient solution.
Current Pain Points
Inconvenient demo process
Resort demo days involved waivers and binding swaps that interrupted her riding flow.
Limited availability and timing
She often wanted to try new boards with updated tech, but they weren’t available or she missed the window.
Gear guesswork
She risked costly mismatches buying boots, bindings, and boards based on timing or availability instead of fit.
No platform to lend unused gear
She owned a board she never used but hadn’t considered renting it out.
Trust concerns
She was hesitant to demo unfamiliar gear without waxing, safety checks, or protection against damage.
How DemoStoke Helps
The Small Ski & Bike Shop
Abstract
For Jason, the owner of Town & Country Outfitters, a high-end ski and bike shop in a mountain town, DemoStoke offered a way to modernize without losing what made his shop personal and trusted. DemoStoke solved his toughest problems around demo logistics, digital visibility, and customer trust.
Current Pain Points
Clunky demo process
Jason still used paper forms and waivers; digital systems felt too expensive or confusing to adopt.
Premium demos hidden
High-end demo gear was labeled “Premium Rentals,” with no easy way to know the actual brand or model.
In-store knowledge bottleneck
The gear you received depended on the associate; the website lacked real-time gear visibility.
One-off demo days
Large demo events ran once or twice a year, resource-heavy and missing most of the season’s traffic.
No real-time inventory online
Lightspeed POS managed gear, but nothing synced to the site to show what was available to try or rent.