This was the first major UI/UX project I had taken on in a team setting. Before, I was creating mockups and redesigning websites that annoyed me. With Sift, I learned a lot about implementing general design practices and accessibility guidelines. Developer capabilities were only theory; now practical. Not only did my devs teach me a lot about the backend but also what is technically capable, which helps me ground my outlandish to realistic usable designs.

In the short timeframe we had, we weren't able to see through some user testing and A/B testing we had lined up. For example, in our first pitch, one of the judges questioned the choice between presenting gifts individually rather than in a grid. Finding the balance between effective gift finding and maximizing time spent on the app might've boosted our beta user metrics.

In the future, I would conduct more user testing over the core functionalities with real users. Nonetheless, I'm proud of the team and the results we achieved. I would've never thought in university I would-found an app and present it to McKinsey & Co. employees and YC founders!

Also, in preparation for pitches, I made *the best* slide deck that the organization has ever seen, which has completely evolved how every other product team pitched their products since then. I modeled the pitch deck after Apple's and Google's demos/conferences!