The backstory

I met Abhy through Kensington & Chelsea Cricket Club. We live nearby and drive to matches together, which turned into long conversations about fitness, startups, and careers. He'd talk about Athletic AbhyAn, the brand he and his brother Anurag were building. I'd share my own fitness journey as someone working in tech who'd struggled to stay match-ready as a fast bowler whilst juggling a career shift into product management.

These weren't surface-level chats. Abhy is passionate about fitness in a way that goes beyond the typical gym culture. Athletic AbhyAn isn't your standard weight loss programme or bodybuilding plan. It's tailored for people who want to improve their athletic ability, whether that's an amateur cricketer trying to bowl faster, a weekend footballer wanting more stamina, or a serious athlete training for competition.

Both founders played cricket at a decent level growing up in Delhi. That's their background into fitness. They studied sports management and fitness-related degrees at university, then turned their knowledge into a business. They work with clients one-on-one as personal trainers, creating bespoke programmes based on individual goals, body types, and sports.

The brand was growing through word of mouth, Instagram, and YouTube. They'd built a decent following by creating genuine content: training tips, nutrition advice, behind-the-scenes footage of client transformations. Their audience trusted them because they weren't selling quick fixes. They were selling expertise.

But operationally, everything ran through Google Forms and Gmail.

The problem

When a new client wanted to sign up, they'd fill out a Google Form. The data would land in an inbox. Abhy and Anurag would manually copy it into spreadsheets, send welcome emails by hand, and track everything through a patchwork of tools that weren't designed to work together.

There was no website. No centralised system. No way to scale without proportionally more admin work.

They had resources they wanted to share: free training guides, video content, programme outlines. But no platform to host them. Their Instagram bio linked to a Linktree with scattered links. Their YouTube content lived only on YouTube. There was no home base that brought everything together.

During one of our drives, Abhy mentioned he'd been thinking about getting a landing page built. Something simple. A place to send potential clients. He was considering outsourcing it to a developer back in India. He'd already written a brief.

I asked him to share it. Then I offered to help.

The POC

I built a quick proof of concept within days and shared it with him. Nothing fancy. Just enough to show what was possible and align on direction before committing to anything bigger.

The response was positive. Abhy showed it to his brother, they discussed it, and came back with feedback. That's when the scope started to evolve naturally.

They didn't just want a landing page. They wanted to publish blogs. They wanted to showcase their YouTube content. They wanted testimonials. They wanted a proper sign-up flow for new clients. They wanted to list their programmes with pricing and details.

The brief for "a simple landing page" was actually a brief for a platform.

The brand

As I reviewed their existing brand assets, it became clear the visual identity didn't match the ambition of the business. The logo felt cluttered, with a bodybuilder silhouette, decorative leaves, and a circular border all crammed into one emblem. It looked more like clip art than an athletic brand. It didn't scale well on mobile. It didn't work as a favicon. It felt dated.

I proposed simplifying it. Something bolder, cleaner, more modern. Something that would look as good on a website header as it would on a t-shirt.

I created several iterations using design tools I'd been learning. The direction that clicked was a simple "AA" monogram with strong typography and a forward-leaning angle. The slant suggests movement and progress. The bold lettering conveys strength. The initials nod to both Athletic AbhyAn and the two founders, Abhy and Anurag.

I presented the options. They loved the AA direction. We refined it together over a few rounds. The new brand was born.

This wasn't scope creep. It was necessary. A polished website with a clip-art logo would have felt disjointed. The brand needed to match the platform.

The pivot

What started as "a landing page" became a bigger product question: how do we turn Athletic AbhyAn into a platform that supports growth?

I went through their original requirements properly. They wanted to publish blogs and thought leadership content. They wanted to embed YouTube videos they'd already created. They wanted to list their programmes with descriptions and calls to action. They wanted testimonials from real clients. They wanted a contact form for enquiries. And they wanted a sign-up flow for new clients.

That sign-up flow alone was complex. Six steps covering personal information, fitness goals, current activity levels, nutritional preferences, availability, and timeline expectations. The kind of structured intake that would replace their Google Forms entirely.

Instead of building a static page, I proposed a full website with a custom CMS so they could manage everything themselves. No developer needed for day-to-day updates. No waiting for someone to make changes. Full ownership.

The website

The public-facing site includes everything they needed.

Hero section with a clear value proposition and call to action. Visitors immediately understand what Athletic AbhyAn offers and how to get started.

About section covering the founders' background, philosophy, and credentials. This builds trust. People want to know who they're working with.

Programmes listing with details on what Athletic AbhyAn offers: strength and conditioning, sport-specific training, nutrition guidance, and more. Each programme has its own description and target audience.

Testimonials from real clients. Social proof matters. Seeing transformation stories and genuine feedback builds confidence in potential clients.

Blog for publishing articles and thought leadership. Abhy and Anurag have knowledge worth sharing. The blog gives them a platform beyond social media, with content they own and control.

Video section pulling from their existing YouTube presence. Rather than asking visitors to leave the site, the content lives where the audience already is.

Resources hub for free training guides and downloadable content. Lead magnets that provide value whilst capturing interest.

Contact form for general enquiries. Simple, functional, sends notifications.

Six-step onboarding flow that captures everything needed to start working with a new client. Fitness goals, nutrition information, availability, timeline, the works. Submissions go directly to the database and trigger email notifications.

The CMS

This was the clever bit. I didn't just want to build them a website. I wanted to give them a system they could operate independently.

I designed and built a custom content management system that gives Abhy and Anurag full control. The admin dashboard lets them manage every aspect of the public site without touching code.

Blog management. Write and edit posts using a rich text editor with formatting, images, and links. Save drafts. Publish when ready. Update anytime.

Media library. Upload images, manage assets, organise files. Everything stored securely with CDN delivery for fast loading.

YouTube integration. Link videos from their existing channel. The site pulls thumbnails and metadata automatically.

Programme management. Add, edit, or remove programmes. Update descriptions and calls to action.

Testimonial management. Add client testimonials with photos and quotes. Control which ones display publicly.

Onboarding submissions. View and track every client sign-up. See the data they submitted. Filter by date. Export if needed.

Email notifications. Automatic alerts when someone submits the contact form or completes the onboarding flow. No more checking inboxes manually.

Brand settings. Update colours, logos, and site metadata from one place.

The CMS was an extension of what I'd built for my own portfolio. I knew the patterns worked. I adapted them for Athletic AbhyAn's specific needs.

No more Google Forms. No more scattered data. Everything in one place.

The tech

From a technical perspective, the platform runs on a modern stack designed for reliability and ease of maintenance.

Next.js for the frontend and API routes. Server-side rendering for SEO. App Router for clean code organisation. TypeScript throughout for type safety.

Vercel for deployment. Automatic deployments on push. Edge network for fast global delivery. Simple environment variable management.

NeonDB for the PostgreSQL database. Serverless scaling. Generous free tier. Reliable performance.

Vercel Blob for media storage. CDN-backed delivery. Simple upload API. No separate storage service to manage.

Resend for transactional emails. Notifications when clients sign up or submit enquiries. Clean templates. Reliable delivery.

Secure authentication for CMS access. Only Abhy and Anurag can log in and make changes. Session-based auth with proper security practices.

The architecture is straightforward. No over-engineering. Just solid foundations that will scale as the business grows.

The handover

Beyond building it, I helped with the handover. Abhy isn't technical, and I didn't want to leave him dependent on me for basic operations.

I set up a GitHub account for him and migrated the codebase to his ownership. The code lives in his repository now, not mine.

I configured the Vercel deployment and walked him through the dashboard. He knows how to check build status, view logs, and trigger redeployments if needed.

I advised on domain purchase and configuration. We discussed options, he bought the domain, and I helped connect it to Vercel.

I documented next steps for future features. What could be added. What would require more work. What he could potentially build himself versus what would need development support. The goal was to leave him informed, not dependent.

What I learned

This project reinforced something I've come to believe: the best products come from genuine relationships and real problems.

I didn't cold pitch Abhy. I didn't respond to a job listing. I offered to help someone I knew, respected, and wanted to see succeed. That foundation made everything smoother. There was trust. There was patience. There was honest feedback because we could speak frankly.

Scope evolved, and that was fine. What started as a landing page became a platform because that's what the business actually needed. A rigid spec would have delivered a worse outcome. Staying flexible whilst maintaining momentum produced something meaningful.

I also learned to balance ambition with pragmatism. There were features I wanted to add. Ideas I had for future iterations. But the priority was shipping something functional that solved immediate problems. Perfect is the enemy of done. We shipped, and now they have a foundation to build on.

Working with real stakeholders taught me more about product management than any course could. Requirements gathering. Prioritisation. Expectation management. Technical decisions with business implications. Design trade-offs. Handover and documentation. This was the full cycle.

What's next

The platform is live. Athletic AbhyAn now has a proper digital home. Abhy and Anurag can manage content, track sign-ups, and grow their business without the friction of scattered tools and manual processes.

There's a roadmap of potential additions: a client portal for tracking progress, payment integration for online bookings, a mobile-optimised PWA experience, analytics dashboards for business insights. But those are future iterations. The foundation is solid.

For me, this project goes in the portfolio as proof of something I care about: building real products for real people. Not hypothetical case studies. Not redesigns of apps that already exist. Actual software, used by actual humans, solving actual problems.

That's the work that matters.

Athletic AbhyAn: A 0 → 1 Platform Build for Two Founders