* I didn’t design the product. This one is about strategy + service design.
From Product to Service
Design @ Cre-aid Labs
A strategic pivot that tripled sales and client retention
ROLE
Customer Experience Service Design
TEAM
Leadership
2 Sales Managers
Production Engineer
SKILLS
Systems Thinking
TIMELINE
6 months
January 2023
TOOLS
Miro
Adobe
Figma
CONTEXT
India's most tech-advanced, patented splint just hit the market. Too good to fail, right?
Mithril Splints are 3D-printed, thermoplastic splints designed for custom fit and comfort. It's a new-tech alternative that's lightweight, breathable, waterproof and sustainable.​​ It's only competitor? Old-school POP casts. The kind we're all familiar with when we get a fracture. It's heavy, uncomfortable, itchy, smelly and taking a shower is a pain!
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What is a splint? It's a hard shell that keeps your bone or joint immobilized after a fracture, sprain or surgery.
But it did.
Consumer adoption was a big challenge
Mithril splints hit the ground running gaining strong early traction during demos and product trials. But soon after, usage declined sharply. The product itself wasn’t failing, something in the overall adoption experience was. This gap signaled the real barrier lay beyond the splint.
IDENTIFYING WHY
I followed the splints into the hospitals to identify why
Here's where I stepped in. The transparency of a small startup let me sit in on sales and business dev meetings. I was curious, so I followed the splints into demos, training sessions and patient fittings to see how they was being used. ​
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I turned these visits into targeted contextual inquiries, shadowing patients and providers. Mapping the purchase-to-use journey and conducting a root cause analysis revealed recurring friction points: â‘ staff time â‘¡ training efforts â‘¢ building trust â‘£ integration into existing clinical workflows.
Turns out, the barrier wasn’t interest, it was the inconvenience in adoption.
REFRAMING
Insights from our users shifted the problem from product to service
​Conversations with ortho, neuro and plastic doctors, and therapists revealed that the barrier wasn’t the splint itself, it was the extra work around adopting it. There wasn't sufficient incentive to train teams to use the splints. Providers needed solutions that saved time and fit seamlessly into existing clinical routines. This reframing shifted our focus: instead of improving the product, we had to rethink the model of delivery.
THE SOLUTION
Introducing the SaaS model
We repositioned Mithril Splints from a product to a service. Through a SaaS-style model, Cre-aid Labs provided splinting as a service: patient evaluation, splint fitting, and follow-up, while hospitals simply referred patients. This shift moved us from B2B to B2B2C, reducing provider burden and delivering end-to-end patient care.​
Here's the catch
The shift to service demanded structural change, rethinking how the whole company worked
Making this pivot required restructuring the company's workflows. Production and sales teams had to align through tighter workflows, and a new therapist team was created, bringing in clinical expertise to execute splinting directly with patients. This coordination turned the model from concept into practice.
SO WHAT?
This strategic pivot opened up the market and we tripled sales in one quarter
The results were immediate. In a quarter, we piloted with existing clients and sales tripled, client retention followed, and healthcare providers reported saving ~12 hours per week in splint fitting efforts. By solving for service, not just product, we unlocked growth and long-term partnerships with hospitals.
SERVICE ECOSYSTEM
Designing the ecosystem to support the SaaS model
I worked on shaping the pre-sales, sales, and post-sales journeys: onboarding workshops, digital scheduling for fittings, and a patient feedback loop. Each touchpoint ensured healthcare providers felt supported and patients experienced care.
VALIDATION
Pilot success validated the service model and unlocked funding
In just 3 months, our pilot proved that the service model worked, for patients, providers, and the business. The validation led to securing a $120K investment to scale the service model and onboard more hospitals.
REFLECTION
Curiosity, empathy, and designing beyond what’s visible
Curiosity and empathy were what grounded me to truly understand what patients and providers were struggling with, and to find a solution that worked for both.​ It also taught me an important truth that product launches rarely go as planned. What matters is staying adaptable and solving problems you didn’t see coming.
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Approaching the challenge through systems thinking helped me see how decisions ripple across people, processes, and outcomes. It was absolutely thrilling to work at the intersection of strategic design and customer experience.