Case Studies @ HJ
Sound HSA
A "sats for steps" idea, researched and designed into the first bitcoin-native health savings platform, shipped from pitch deck to live app for…
Client Sound HSA (co-founders Stewart and Jon)
Role UX Designer, research, concept, and end-to-end product design.
Timeline March 2025 to Bitcoin Vegas 2025
Stack iOS and Android, live on the App Store and Google Play, Bitcoin, Lightning, Nostr
Stewart and Jon hired me to turn a "sats for steps" idea into a real product. I researched the space for best practices and shaped the platform, special-event sats-for-steps challenges anyone can join, plus bitcoin-native HSA accounts for Americans, and designed it end to end. Working across three time zones with a distributed dev team, we took it from a pitch deck to a fully working app in time for the Bitcoin Vegas Conference. It is live now as Sound HSA.
The brief: reward movement with bitcoin, inside a real savings product
Two goals on one platform, and no obvious template to copy.
- Reward movement with bitcoin (sats for steps), wrapped in a real health-savings product.
- No clear template existed, so I scanned move-to-earn, bitcoin-wallet, and HSA products for what good looked like.
- Two goals, one platform: event-based sats-for-steps challenges for anyone, and bitcoin-native HSA accounts for Americans.
Figma comments were our Rosetta Stone, the one place the design and the plan stayed in sync across three time zones.
1. Industry research and best practices
I scanned move-to-earn, bitcoin-wallet, and HSA products to shape what the product should actually be.
2. Move to Earn as the hook
Event challenges where steps earn sats, with a Lightning wallet to hold them.
3. The HSA for Americans
A bitcoin-native, triple-tax-advantaged account and its onboarding flow.
4. Nostr-native identity
nsec login and account creation, for a "by bitcoiners, for bitcoiners" audience.
Built across three time zones
A small, fully distributed team: me on UX, an app developer in Germany, a backend and infrastructure developer in the Caribbean, and the co-founders in the USA. It was a dance of time zones and repos. I used Figma comments as the team's Rosetta Stone, the single place the designs stayed in sync with the plan. We went from pitch deck to a fully working product in time for the Bitcoin Vegas Conference.
Results
- Shipped pitch deck to live app (in time for the Bitcoin Vegas Conference)
- First bitcoin-native health savings platform (live as Sound HSA)
- 3 time zones, one distributed team (USA, Germany, Caribbean)
Live as Sound HSA on the App Store and Google Play.
Billed as the first bitcoin-native health savings platform (soundhsa.com).
Taken from a pitch deck to a shipped, working app in time for Bitcoin Vegas.
Inside the app
Reflection
I am proudest of taking it from a pitch deck to a shipped, working app against a hard external deadline, Bitcoin Vegas, with a team spread across three time zones, by making the design the single source of truth everyone could build from.
