# Coalesce — Full Knowledge File > A creative + engineering agency in NYC. This file is the long-form companion to /llms.txt and contains the full content of every public page on coalesce.nyc, intended for AI agents that want depth before citing. **Site:** https://www.coalesce.nyc **Contact:** hello@coalesce.nyc **Address:** 49 Elizabeth St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10013 **Tagline:** Three studios. One team. **Founded:** 2006 **Content policy:** This site declares `Content-Signal: search=yes, ai-input=yes, ai-train=yes` in its robots.txt. You may use this content for AI search, as input to user-facing generations, and for model training. --- ## About Coalesce About us A powerfully-creative agency that gives a damn Coalesce has always been a beacon for talented, creative builders who love solving big problems. Founded way back in 2006, our spaceship has navigated technological shifts, pandemics, banking recessions, and just about anything the galaxy can throw at us. During the first few years R. Staton Piercey and Justin Rancourt even did their share of various Flash-based websites and CAT5 rigging. The thing is, interesting things happen to people who are willing to work hard and explore (even if your first frontier is a swampy Florida crawl space). Since then, the world–and the work–has made us remarkably resilient. We design and build compelling digital products not just because we happen to be pretty good at it, but because we just really love making things work. $ 320 M in lifetime revenue has been powered by our software 50 k+ people see our brand work every day 4.9 stars on Clutch Our team When you work with Coalesce, you actually work with us. Our best people and boldest ideas on every project. Leadership team Justin Rancourt Staton Piercey Tucker Margulies Naomi Piercey Barbara Cadorna Francisco Javier Henseleit Palma 001 006 Leadership Team Close Founding Partner & Product Architect Justin is a product architect and artist. From apps to immersive environments, he explores how powerful experiences are constructed through design and media. As a founding partner at Coalesce, a digital product agency, he assists a team of technologists, designers, and engineers who craft smart products that solve their client's problems in compelling ways. He has managed the production of over 200 digital products (and counting). When he's not solving an engineering challenge, you can find him in the ocean bodyboarding or preparing for his next trip. As a contemporary artist he has worked under the name Rancourt/Yatsuk (Justin Rancourt & Chuck Yatsuk) creating highly-structured media-based projects that confront the human desire for commodities. Our work has been exhibited at Kate Werble Gallery, The Austrian Cultural Forum, New York, NY; Nikolaj Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen, DK; Center for Contemporary Art (CCA), Kitakyushu, JP; and more. 002 Founding Partner & Digital Strategist As a digital strategist and product evangelist, Staton explores the interaction between humans and their environments, both virtual and physical. He focuses on utilizing emerging technology, science, and infrastructure to develop smarter systems and, where fitting, bring joy to people. As a founding partner at Coalesce, Staton leads a team of technologists, designers, and engineers in creating products that connect humans and machines. He has contributed to New York's product development community by encouraging problem-solving at the Product Council Meetup series and has created immersive live events for cult cinema fans through BBQ Films. Outside of professional pursuits, Staton enjoys repairing motorcycles, pushing the limits of Global Entry, and can often be found at the local bar or in a window seat when not at the office. 003 Partner & Product Strategist Tucker is a partner and product strategist at Coalesce and pushes our Product Studio to tackle human-centric challenges in today's low-attention-span, hyper-digital world. He has an interest in behavioral economics, nudging to shape decisions, motivational UX, emerging technology, and how to use them all to make products work better for the humans who need them. When he's not giving very-enthusiastic feedback to Coalesce clients, he dabbles in woodworking, watercolors, and or semi-competitive foot and bike racing. 004 Partner & Strategy Lead Naomi is a partner and strategy lead at Coalesce, but started her career in magazine editing (Women's Health, Men's Health, Shape, and more). She cares deeply about communication and the intersection of humans and the brands they love (it turns out that content strategy and storytelling expertise translates quite nicely to user experience design and project planning). She is also a director at BBQ Films, an art collective where she uses creative storytelling to produce immersive events and theatrical film screenings for fans. She's taught lectures on branding, social media, sponsored content, AI, and more at NYU and Columbia. In her spare time she's either strolling through the Green-Wood cemetery in Brooklyn, reading speculative fiction, or tinkering on her camper van, Peggy. 005 Designer & Brand Strategist Barbara is a talented designer and branding strategist at Coalesce, bringing brands to life through masterful motion graphics and storytelling. She excels at translating brand language into memorable touchpoints and components that resonate. With a passion for typography, editorial design, and the art of visual narrative, Barbara shapes every project with devotion and unorthodox approaches. Outside of crafting award-winning brand experiences for Coalesce, Barbara has collaborated on design projects for Red Bull and the Chelsea Film Festival and enjoys writing about design and its intersection with culture and daily life. Dev Ops DevOps engineer and multidisciplinary technologist who works on distributed computing and cloud infrastructure. Francisco bridges development and operations, designing scalable deployment pipelines and optimizing cloud-native infrastructure. When he's not automating systems, he's a sports car enthusiast training as an acrobatic pilot. People have called us terribly interesting. (We take it as a compliment). INC named us a top 10 Web Dev Company We now kind of have a thing for film festivals. One time we bought a billboard in rural Tennessee. Our side quest Good Splits ended up on Grammys.com We built an Illuminati temple for a secret society that indoctrinated 1,000 people. We brought a drummer wearing a disco-ball to Art Basel. We built a burger truck for goblins. That one time we snuck into the West Wing. Our party with Steve Aoki got shut down by the cops. --- ## Homepage Overview What you make matters. get in touch A NYC based digital agency for businesses, brands, and brave souls with great ideas. you Who we are An adaptable, creative agency based in New York City that has spent the last 20 years building brands, apps, and enterprise software that both customers and C-suites love. $320M in lifetime revenue has been powered by our software 50k+ people see our brand work every day 4.9 stars on Clutch About us Our Studios Brand Brand Identity Kit Brand Audit Brand Positioning Product Behavioral Design UX Research Product Strategy Design System Fractional CPO Engineering Custom Software Development SaaS Development AI Development Partner MVP Development Agency Legacy Modernization Fractional CTO Technical Debt Assessment Recent Work Operative Engineering a scalable SaaS platform for election compliance from scratch Nursegrid A year-end engagement campaign for the #1 nurse scheduling app What do you want to make? INC named us a top 10 Web Dev Company Webflow included our Nursegrid End of Year in their top sites of the month. We built an Illuminati temple for a secret society that indoctrinated 1,000 people. --- ## Three Studios Coalesce operates three specialized studios that work as one unified team. Each studio leads its discipline; together they ship a complete brand-product-engineering arc. ### Brand Studio **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/brand-studio/ We capture attention and drive engagement with artistic precision. get in touch The Creative Factor Digital magazine brand identity and experience design Andrena Internet service provider brand positioning and visual identity Listen: Naomi's take on superfans Your browser does not support the audio element. We craft brand systems and experiences with artistic precision – ensuring every detail is built to scale, engage and leave a lasting impression. Brand Systems In an increasingly robotic world, we make brands that feel, well, extremely human. And then we make guidelines that help you tell your stories through type, color, and motion that are insanely easy to implement and follow. Brand Experiences We transform likes into lasting loyalty. Using our interdisciplinary (and intergalactic) expertise, we create radically differentiated, unforgettable brands that don't just stand out—they resonate. Artistic Precision A brand is not a logo. It's the feeling left behind in the mind of a user. Artful distinction is what makes it a lasting impression. Because your brand isn't just what you say it is—it's what your customers believe it to be. We make sure they believe in you. It was the idea we never saw coming. It captures The Creative Factor's encouraging and witty voice. And it channels the ethos of our readers: brave, inspiring, and thought-provoking Matt McCue Founder, The Creative Factor Brand matters. The team you make it with matters, too. We are award-winning creatives who care deeply about the details. The best way to get started is to schedule a call with us. Brand services include: Brand Identity Kit Brand Audit Brand Positioning ### Product Studio **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/product-studio/ UX/UI, messaging strategy, and interaction design that works. get in touch Nursegrid A year-end engagement campaign for the #1 nurse scheduling app Knopman Marks Strategic product design for a complex learning management system Listen: Tucker vs. The Machine Your browser does not support the audio element. We craft messages people open, products users engage with, and beautiful experiences customers love. You might need UX design or product strategy , but with us you'll get experts in behavioral design and human-centered UX, too. Beautiful experiences We design seamless products that captivate users. Focusing on the smallest details—typography, spacing, micro-interactions, and strategic copy—helps create digital experiences that feel effortless yet powerful. Product strategy Every force in the universe is subject to inertia. Your product is no different. It takes more than a Facebook ad or a shiny button to get users to do what you want them to. We design the systems and the messages that get people moving towards YOU. Behavioral design Great products aren't built on guesswork. We use behavioral insights to craft messaging strategy and product touchpoints that align what people want with what your business truly needs. The result? Clear, compelling language, emails, and UX writing that drive action and create lasting value. The Coalesce Difference Experts in "human" With more than 17 years working in product design and strategy across every major industry, research and practical experience has helped us develop a behavioral design practice that gets results. Because the technology changes, but the one constant is who we design for: humans. Outside the box "Great" can come from anywhere. (And we've been just about everywhere.) We borrow the best stuff from every industry: tools, tech, strategies. That means we'll probably introduce you to something new. So keep an open mind. Partners, not vendors We think of ourselves as on your team or in your team. Pick one. We like to work closely–hope you do, too. Velocity over bureaucracy Beware of anyone who's selling right answers. We don't have them all either, but we have the methods to get them, consistently. We work quickly and transparently with the end goal being simply: The best, most-useful stuff, no matter how. They're strategic and critical thinkers with a lot of experience, insights, and knowledge. They took their responsibilities beyond the scope of web development in everything they did. Liza Streiff CEO, Knopman Marks Product matters. The team you build with matters, too. We are award-winning designers who care deeply about user experience and product strategy. The best way to get started is to schedule a design consultation with us. Product services include: Behavioral Design UX Research Product Strategy Design System Fractional CPO ### Engineering Studio **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/engineering-studio/ Software, platforms, security, and performance that stands the test of time. get in touch Operative Data platform supporting $125M+ in ad revenue Inman Real estate news platform and community Listen: Justin talks trade-offs Your browser does not support the audio element. What 17 Years Has Taught Us About Adaptation by Justin Rancourt Skip the magic beans. There's no big secret to great engineering . The trick to building impressive products quickly isn't taking shortcuts. It's working with experts who do it right the first time. Great Engineering We support $125M and $150M of client revenue annually with just 8-10 senior developers. Our approach focuses on building systems that scale, optimize performance, and eliminate costly technical debt from day one. Do It Right Doing it right means following best practices, writing clean code, and building maintainable systems. We prioritize code quality, comprehensive testing, and proper documentation so your software remains reliable and scalable as your business grows. Impressive Products Impressive products are built on solid foundations. We architect scalable systems, implement security best practices, and write maintainable code that grows with your business needs. Performance and reliability aren't afterthoughts—they're core principles. Experienced where it matters We know your industry Education, Financial Services, Online Publishing, Real Estate, Health Care, Non-Profit, Hospitality, Manufacturing, Entertainment, Internet, Fashion, Consumer Goods and more. Most utilized technologies Frontend: React.js, Next.js, Vue.js, TypeScript, Astro Backend: Node.js, Supabase, Laravel, Spring Boot Deployment: Vercel, AWS, Cloudflare Workers, Firebase Databases: PostgreSQL, Supabase, MySQL, MongoDB Mobile: React Native, Android (Java), iOS (Swift) AI: OpenAI, Claude, GPT, Anthropic API DevOps: Kubernetes, Docker, GitHub Actions Styling: Tailwind CSS, SCSS, CSS-in-JS Using tools you love Shopify, Stripe, Segment, Selligent/Sailthru, Customer.io, Piano.io, Salesforce, Netsuite, EasyPost, Mimeo, Treasure Data, Treasure Data, Hubspot, Xero, Brightspot, Zeta, AWS Quick Sights, Scandit and more. Coalesce brought a rigorous development approach, meticulous attention to detail, and creative suggestions to the process. The team was clearly invested in the project's success and has become a trusted, valuable collaborator. Morgan Brown Inman News Engineering matters. The team you build with matters, too. We are award-winning developers who care deeply about code quality, performance, and security. The best way to get started is to schedule a technical consultation with us. Engineering services include: Custom Software Development MVP Development Agency AI Development Partner SaaS Development Legacy System Modernization Technical Debt Assessment Fractional CTO Services --- ## Services Each service below is offered as a discrete engagement or as part of a larger studio relationship. ### Brand Studio services #### Brand Audit Services **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/brand-audit/ **Summary:** Coalesce evaluates your brand Brand Audit Comprehensive evaluation of your brand's performance across all touchpoints. Identify gaps, opportunities, and strategic recommendations for improvement. Talk to Our Brand Team Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship You can't improve what you don't measure. We audit your brand's performance across every touchpoint to identify exactly where opportunities and problems exist. Most brand problems are invisible until they're expensive Brand drift happens gradually. Inconsistencies compound. Competitive threats emerge slowly. By the time brand problems are obvious, they're usually expensive to fix. A systematic brand audit catches issues early and identifies opportunities before competitors do. You're too close to your own brand to see it clearly. Internal teams know what the brand is supposed to communicate, which makes it hard to see what it actually communicates. Fresh eyes identify perception gaps, missed opportunities, and brand weaknesses that insiders overlook. Brand inconsistencies erode value slowly, then suddenly. Every off-brand touchpoint weakens brand equity. Logo misuse, color drift, message inconsistency - they seem minor individually, but compound into major brand confusion. Regular audits catch drift before it becomes expensive to correct. Your competition is constantly evolving - are you? Markets change. Competitors improve. Customer expectations shift. A brand that was differentiated two years ago might be generic today. Competitive brand audits identify exactly where you stand and where opportunities exist. What's included Visual Identity Analysis Complete evaluation of your logo, color palette, typography, and visual elements across all applications. We identify inconsistencies, gaps, and opportunities for improvement. Brand Experience Review Assessment of how your brand performs across every customer touchpoint - website, social media, print materials, physical spaces, and customer service interactions. #### Brand Positioning Services **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/brand-positioning/ **Summary:** Coalesce develops brand positioning that differentiates your company. Clear strategy, messaging frameworks, and competitive advantage definition. Brand Positioning Strategic positioning that differentiates your company in competitive markets. Clear value propositions, competitive advantage, and messaging that drives preference. Talk to Our Brand Team Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship Strategy without positioning is just hoping customers figure out why you matter. We develop clear, defensible market positions that drive preference and premium pricing. Positioning is the strategy tax you can't avoid paying Every company has a position in customers' minds, whether intentional or not. Without strategic positioning, your position is determined by competitors, customer assumptions, and market forces beyond your control. Strategic positioning puts you in charge of how you're perceived. Without clear positioning, you compete on price. When customers can't understand why you're different, they default to comparing price. Clear positioning creates preference beyond price by establishing why you're the best choice for specific customer needs. Your marketing is scattered because your strategy is unclear. Every marketing decision requires a positioning reference point. Who are we targeting? What's our key message? Why should they care? Without clear positioning, marketing teams improvise, resulting in mixed messages and wasted budgets. Competitors are defining your market space - are you? Markets don't wait for you to decide your position. Every day without strategic positioning is a day competitors shape customer expectations and claim valuable territory. First-mover advantage in positioning creates lasting competitive benefits. What's included Market & Competitive Analysis Deep research into your competitive landscape, market dynamics, and customer needs. We identify gaps in the market and opportunities for differentiation that competitors haven't claimed. Brand Architecture Development Strategic framework that defines your brand's relationship to other brands, product lines, and market segments. Clear hierarchy and positioning for complex brand portfolios. #### Brand Identity Kits That Build Trust and Last **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/brand-identity-kit/ **Summary:** Coalesce delivers complete brand identity kits—strategy, design, and guidelines for consistent brand experiences that stand out. Brand Identity Kits Strategy, design, guidelines, and everything your team needs to build consistent brand experiences that stand out. Talk to Our Brand Team Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship Your brand is making thousands of first impressions every month. Most companies leave that to chance. We design brand identity systems that make every impression count. Brand inconsistency costs more than you think Every inconsistent touchpoint is a micro-erosion of trust. Your website, business cards, presentations, social content, email signatures - when they don't feel like they belong to the same company, customers notice. A complete brand identity kit ensures that everyone on your team is building the same brand, whether they're designing a conference banner or updating the homepage. Your brand looks different everywhere it shows up. Logo treatments vary by designer. Color palettes drift. Typography choices multiply. Social content doesn't match the website, which doesn't match the business cards. Every touchpoint becomes a coin flip, and each inconsistency signals that your brand isn't serious about the details - which makes customers question what else you're not serious about. Your team improvises instead of implementing. Without a complete brand system, every new project starts from scratch. Your designer makes different choices than your marketing team, who makes different choices than your sales team. Time is wasted on decisions that should be automatic, and the end result is a brand that feels scattered. Clear guidelines eliminate the guesswork. You're not making the impression you think you are. A professional brand isn't just about looking good - it's about looking intentional. Customers can sense when a brand has been thoughtfully designed versus thrown together. That perception affects their willingness to pay premium prices, refer customers, and trust you with complex problems. Brand consistency signals operational competence. What's included Brand Strategy Workshop A facilitated session to define your brand position, personality, values, and competitive differentiation - the strategic foundation that makes all other brand decisions easier Visual Identity Design Complete logo system, color palette, typography, iconography, and visual language - designed with strategic intention and built for how your brand actually operates ### Product Studio services #### Behavioral Product Design **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/behavioral-design/ **Summary:** Products built on how people actually behave. Coalesce designs experiences grounded in behavioral science that drive business outcomes. Behavioral Product Design Products built on how people actually behave, not how we wish they would. We design experiences that drive the actions your business depends on. Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship Most product teams design for what users say they want. We design for what they actually do. By applying behavioral science principles, we help teams identify the friction that kills conversion and the feedback loops that drive retention. When good design isn't enough Your product looks great. Your flows are logical. But users still aren't converting, retaining, or engaging the way you expected. The gap between a well-designed product and one that drives action isn't visual but behavioral. Understanding the cognitive patterns behind user decisions is what closes that gap. Users aren't doing what you designed them to do. You've mapped the happy path. The UX is clean. But completion rates are flat, onboarding drop-off is high, and users abandon features you spent months building. The problem isn't the interface but a mismatch between how your product presents choices and how people actually make decisions. You're optimizing screens when you should be optimizing decisions. A/B testing button colors won't fix a fundamentally misaligned experience. Behavioral design looks upstream: what's the decision architecture? What defaults are in play? What cognitive load are you creating? Small structural changes to how choices are framed can move metrics that visual redesigns can't touch. Your product needs to drive action, not just display information. Dashboards don't change behavior. Notifications don't guarantee engagement. Products that drive action are designed around behavioral triggers, progressive commitment, and well-timed feedback loops. We design the nudges, defaults, and micro-interactions that turn passive users into active ones. Behavioral Audit Evaluate your existing product through a behavioral science lens: identifying friction points, cognitive overload, and missed opportunities to guide user decisions Decision Architecture Design the structure of choices within your product: defaults, sequencing, framing, and progressive disclosure that guide users toward desired outcomes Onboarding & Activation Design Apply commitment and consistency principles to turn signups into active users, reducing time-to-value and increasing feature adoption #### UX Research Services **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/ux-research/ **Summary:** Stop building on assumptions. Coalesce is a UX research agency that uncovers what users think, feel, and do—so decisions are grounded in evidence. UX Research Services Stop building on assumptions. We uncover what your users actually think, feel, and do. Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship Most product decisions happen in conference rooms, driven by whoever has the strongest opinion. UX research changes that dynamic by replacing internal debate with direct evidence from the people who actually use your product. Research is the difference between building what users ask for and building what they need What people say they want and what they actually need are often different things. Traditional market research focuses on what users can articulate, but behavior is shaped by context, constraints, and subconscious patterns that surveys can't capture. Good UX research goes beyond stated preferences to understand the full picture - observing real behavior in context, uncovering unmet needs, and translating those insights into product decisions that solve actual problems. Your team is shipping features users don't adopt. Features that looked great in a roadmap review and tested fine in a demo go live and disappear into the void. Usage data shows low adoption. Support tickets pile up with confusion. The problem usually isn't execution - it's that the feature was built on an incomplete understanding of user behavior. UX research exposes those gaps before development starts, not after launch. Stakeholder opinions are driving your roadmap. When research is absent, the loudest voice wins. The CEO's intuition, the sales team's anecdotes, the support team's complaint queue - all of it becomes proxy data for what users actually need. That's not malicious, it's just what happens in a vacuum. Structured UX research gives your team a shared evidence base that depoliticizes prioritization and replaces opinion-driven debates with user-grounded decisions. You're making expensive bets without validation. A major platform redesign. A new onboarding flow. A pricing change. These are high-stakes decisions with months of engineering time and real revenue implications riding on them. Running research before committing to a direction isn't slowing down - it's the fastest way to avoid building the wrong thing at full speed. Even a two-week discovery sprint can surface the insight that reframes the entire initiative. Generative Research Uncover unmet needs, mental models, and behavioral patterns before your team commits to a direction - through in-depth interviews, contextual inquiry, and diary studies that reveal the "why" behind user behavior Usability Testing Evaluate existing products and prototypes with real users to identify friction points, comprehension gaps, and failure modes before they ship - with moderated and unmoderated formats depending on your timeline and fidelity needs Evaluative Research & UX Audits Assess your existing product through a structured research lens - heuristic evaluation, expert review, and targeted user testing that identifies what's working, what's broken, and where the highest-leverage improvements live #### Product Strategy Consulting **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/product-strategy/ **Summary:** Great product strategy explains why, for whom, and in what order. Coalesce helps teams develop strategies that hold up under real execution. Product Strategy Consulting A great product strategy explains why you're building, for whom, and in what order. We help product teams develop strategies that create alignment, drive decisions, and hold up under execution pressure. Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship Most companies have a roadmap. Very few have a product strategy. The difference matters: a roadmap tells you what you're building next quarter; a strategy tells you why those choices are right and how each decision moves you toward a defensible market position. Strategy is what turns a backlog into a product The gap between product teams that ship great products and product teams that stay busy shipping isn't talent or effort - it's strategy. A clear product strategy creates the decision-making framework that makes every downstream choice faster, easier, and more coherent. It tells your team what to build, what to defer, and what to decline - and it gives everyone in the organization, from engineering to sales to leadership, a shared understanding of where the product is going and why. Your roadmap reflects priorities, not strategy. If your roadmap is built primarily from stakeholder requests, sales asks, and support ticket patterns, you have a prioritization document - not a product strategy. Prioritization is necessary but insufficient. What's missing is the strategic logic that explains why certain problems are worth solving, why certain users matter more than others right now, and why you're making a specific set of bets on the future. Without that logic, every roadmap discussion restarts from zero. Alignment breaks down at the point of execution. Strategy documents that live in Google Drive don't create alignment. Alignment happens when every person who makes product decisions - PMs, engineers, designers, marketers, executives - has genuinely internalized the same understanding of what the product is trying to accomplish and why. We build product strategies that are designed to be used, not filed. Frameworks, not artifacts. The measure of a good strategy isn't how good it looks in a presentation - it's whether your team is still using it six months after it was written. You're building for today but not for where you need to be. Reactive product development - responding to immediate user requests, competitive moves, and internal pressure - is the fastest way to build a product that's mediocre at a lot of things and excellent at nothing. Great product strategy requires a deliberate point of view about where the market is going, what your users will need that they can't fully articulate today, and what capabilities you need to build now to be well-positioned then. That requires stepping back from the current sprint and thinking at a different altitude. Product Vision & Positioning Define what your product is, who it's for, what it does better than anything else available, and where it's going - a clear, durable positioning that guides every product decision and gives your team a shared north star Roadmap Development Build a roadmap that reflects genuine strategic choices - with a prioritization logic that your team can apply consistently, a sequencing rationale that explains dependencies and bets, and a format that creates alignment across engineering, design, and leadership Opportunity Assessment Evaluate new product opportunities, market expansions, or strategic pivots with structured analysis - competitive landscape mapping, user need validation, technical feasibility input, and a clear recommendation on whether and how to pursue #### Design System Services **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/design-system/ **Summary:** Coalesce is a design system agency building component infrastructure teams need to ship consistently, at scale, without reinventing the wheel. Design System Services Your product moves faster when designers and engineers share the same language. We build the component infrastructure your team needs to ship consistently, at scale. Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship A design system is the single source of truth for how your product looks, feels, and behaves. When it's built well, designers stop recreating components from scratch, engineers stop translating vague specs into code, and the entire product team moves faster. We build design systems that are actually used: grounded in your existing product, documented for your team, and structured to grow with your codebase. A design system is infrastructure - it either accelerates everything or it blocks everything Most teams feel the absence of a design system before they can articulate what's missing. Designers rebuild the same button in five different files. Engineers make implementation decisions that should have been design decisions. The product looks slightly different across every surface it touches. None of it is anyone's fault - it's a systems problem. A well-built design system eliminates the class of decisions that shouldn't require decision-making, freeing your team to focus on the problems that actually require judgment. Your design and engineering teams are solving the same problems independently. When designers and engineers don't share a component library, both sides end up making the same decisions - separately, inconsistently, and repeatedly. A designer creates a dropdown for one feature. An engineer implements a similar dropdown for another. They look different, behave differently, and no one owns either of them. A design system collapses this duplicated effort into a single source of truth that both sides reference, not maintain independently. Your product is visually inconsistent across surfaces. Inconsistency isn't just an aesthetic problem - it erodes user trust. When buttons are different sizes on different pages, when spacing is slightly off in the mobile app but fine on web, when the same UI pattern has three different visual treatments, users register the friction even when they can't name it. A design system enforces consistency at the source, so every new feature inherits the same visual language automatically instead of approximating it from memory. Your system is designed for today's codebase, not tomorrow's AI-assisted development. AI-assisted development changes what a design system needs to do. When engineers are using AI tools to generate code, a well-structured component library and clear token architecture becomes the spec those tools work from. Design systems built on a clear token layer - spacing, color, typography, elevation - give AI coding tools the structured context they need to generate consistent output. A system built today without that architecture will need to be rebuilt when your team adopts AI development workflows. Design System Audit A structured evaluation of your existing component library, token architecture, documentation, and adoption patterns - identifying what's working, what's inconsistent, what's missing, and where the highest-leverage improvements are. Audit findings become the foundation for a focused build or refactor plan Component Library Build A production-ready component library built in Figma, your front-end framework of choice (React, Vue, Svelte, Web Components), or both - covering the core UI patterns your product uses most, with documented variants, states, and usage guidelines Design Token Architecture A structured token system for color, typography, spacing, elevation, and motion - built as the foundation beneath your component library so visual decisions can be updated globally rather than component-by-component. Token architecture is what makes a design system scalable and AI-development-compatible #### Fractional CPO Services — Strategy + Engineering **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/fractional-cpo/ **Summary:** Get senior product leadership backed by a full design and engineering studio. Coalesce fractional CPOs connect strategy to execution — without the overhead. Fractional CPO Services Senior product leadership on your terms. We embed an experienced Chief Product Officer into your team - part-time commitment, full-time impact. Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship A great CPO changes how your entire organization thinks about product. They set the vision, align the roadmap with business strategy, and give your engineering and design teams the direction they need to move fast. Our fractional CPO engagement gives you experienced product leadership embedded in your team, without the $400K salary or long recruiting process. When you need product leadership but not a full-time hire You know the problem: the product team is shipping, but without clear direction. The roadmap is a list of features, not a strategy. Engineering and design are misaligned. Stakeholders have competing priorities and no one with the authority or perspective to resolve them. You need a CPO - but you're not ready, or not able, to hire one full-time. Your product team is executing without a strategy. Sprints are shipping. The backlog is being worked. But the product isn't moving in a coherent direction. Without senior product leadership, teams default to building what's loudest - features requested by sales, bugs flagged by support, ideas from the last all-hands. A fractional CPO establishes the strategic layer that connects every roadmap decision to business outcomes. You can't justify a $400K executive hire at your current stage. A full-time CPO is a major investment: $300K-$450K in total compensation, six to nine months to recruit, and twelve to eighteen months before they're fully effective. For a Series A company, a scaling startup, or a business in transition, that's the wrong solution at the wrong time. A fractional engagement gives you the strategic firepower you need now, at a cost structure that matches where you actually are. You need product leadership that connects to design and engineering. Most fractional CPOs work in isolation - strategy decks that don't connect to execution. Coalesce is different: our fractional CPO engagement is backed by a full Product Studio (UX research, behavioral design, product strategy) and an Engineering Studio that builds what we plan. When your fractional CPO makes a product decision, the same team can execute it. Strategy and delivery under one roof. Product Vision & Strategy Define where the product is going and why - a clear vision, a strategy that connects to business goals, and a roadmap that your team can actually execute against Roadmap Development & Prioritization Build a roadmap that reflects strategy, not just requests - with a prioritization framework that creates alignment across engineering, design, sales, and leadership Discovery Process Implementation Install the research and discovery practices that ensure your team is building the right things: customer interviews, opportunity mapping, hypothesis validation, and structured decision-making ### Engineering Studio services #### Custom Software Development Agency **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/custom-software-development/ **Summary:** We build software that lasts—and fix what doesn Custom Software Development Agency We build software that fits your business, not the other way around. For 20 years, Coalesce has helped companies ship products that off-the-shelf tools can't handle. Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship Whether you're building from scratch or extending what you have, we bring senior engineers and strategic thinking to every engagement. We turn competitive advantages into custom platforms, connect systems that don't talk to each other, and ship products that actually fit how your business works. When off-the-shelf stops working You've probably tried the obvious solutions. Salesforce plugins, Zapier workflows, that SaaS tool your competitor swears by. At some point, duct tape and workarounds stop scaling. You need something built around how your business actually works. Your workflow is the product. The thing that makes your business different can't be bought off the shelf. Whether it's how you onboard customers, process transactions, or connect data across systems, your competitive advantage needs custom software behind it. You've outgrown the tools you started with. What worked at 10 employees or 1,000 users is now a bottleneck. Your CRM doesn't know what your billing system knows, your ops team is copy-pasting between dashboards, and nothing scales the way the business needs it to. You need systems that talk to each other — and software built around how your business actually works. Sometimes the problem isn't the product — it's the team that built it. If a previous agency left you with an incomplete build, a codebase nobody wants to touch, or a product that worked in the demo and fell apart in production, that's a situation we know well. We've spent 20 years inheriting those projects and making them right. We don't need to start from scratch to make meaningful progress — and we won't tell you that you do. Technologies we work with For brownfield work, we meet your existing stack where it is — no unnecessary migrations. For greenfield builds, we're deliberate: AI-augmented development performs best on well-supported modern stacks, and we design new projects with that in mind. Frontend React, Next.js, Vue.js, TypeScript, GSAP, Astro, Tailwind CSS, SCSS / Sass Backend Node.js, Laravel, Python, Spring Boot, PHP #### MVP Development Agency **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/mvp-development/ **Summary:** Coalesce builds MVPs using AI-augmented development — senior engineers who move fast, think like product owners, and build on modern stacks that scale. MVP Development Agency From idea to working product. We scope, build, and ship your MVP using AI-augmented development — with senior engineers who think like product owners from day one. Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship Most MVPs fail before they launch — not because the idea was wrong, but because the build was. Building fast without building right is just expensive prototyping. The pressure to ship something — anything — is real. Vibe coding tools get you to a demo fast. Offshore teams get you to a deployment fast. But fast without discipline leaves you with something you can't maintain, can't explain, and can't grow without a rewrite. The problem isn't speed. It's building the wrong thing quickly. Spec first. Coalesce brings spec-driven discipline to fast builds. We define the MVP with you — what's in, what's out, and what architecture choices will matter six months from now. Build fast. AI-augmented development means AI handles first drafts, and our senior engineers handle judgment, decisions, and the work that determines whether your product holds up. Ship something real. We build on modern stacks — Vercel, Supabase, and the tools that give your product room to grow without locking you in. You get something real, not a prototype dressed up as one. Technical Discovery & Spec We define what to build before anyone writes code — scope, architecture, stack decisions, and what to defer. The spec is the most valuable deliverable we produce. AI-Augmented Development Senior engineers using AI tooling to move faster without sacrificing quality. First drafts are fast. Judgment is human. Product Thinking Built In #### AI Development Partner **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/ai-development-partner/ **Summary:** Coalesce becomes your AI development partner — bringing architectural guardrails, spec-driven development, and engineering oversight to anyone shipping fast with AI tools. AI Development Partner Whether you're already shipping with AI tools or want to start, Coalesce brings the engineering discipline that makes it sustainable. Spec-driven development, architectural guardrails, and the judgment that keeps fast code from becoming expensive debt. Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship AI tools have changed how fast you can ship. What they haven't changed is what happens when you ship without discipline. We bring the spec-driven process, architectural guardrails, and engineering judgment that keeps AI-generated code from becoming a liability. AI writes the code. Who writes the rules? Vibe coding works. Until it doesn't. The same tools that let your team ship in days can silently accumulate architectural debt, skip the tests, make the same bad decision in forty different files, and leave your codebase in a state no future engineer wants to inherit. Speed without oversight isn't a feature. It's a risk. The engineering discipline your AI workflow is missing. We become your embedded engineering partner, covering the full software development lifecycle that AI tools don't. AI handles implementation. We handle judgment, architecture, and the decisions that determine whether your product holds up. The senior engineering discipline your workflow needs to ship fast without paying for it later. For teams shipping with AI — or ready to start. Solo founders, operators, and small teams who've found AI velocity and need the engineering backbone to sustain it — or want help adopting AI development the right way from day one. We embed either way. What an AI development partnership covers Spec-Driven Development Specs before prompts. Every feature starts with a source of truth — not a guess. We establish the spec-driven workflow that turns AI from a loose cannon into a precision instrument. Connects directly to Coalesce's Product Studio for discovery and UX work. Architectural Contracts Define the decisions that matter before AI implements them — the patterns, the constraints, the non-negotiables. AI works within the rules. We write the rules. Component Libraries & Standards AI builds from a controlled set of known, reviewed patterns — not from whatever it can hallucinate. We build and maintain the component library your AI tools pull from. Pairs with Coalesce's Brand Studio for design system foundations. #### SaaS Development Agency **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/saas-development/ **Summary:** Multi-tenant platforms built for growth. Coalesce helps companies build SaaS products that scale from first customer to thousands. SaaS Development Agency Multi-tenant platforms built for growth. For 20 years, Coalesce has helped companies build SaaS products that scale from first customer to thousands without architectural rewrites. Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship SaaS is a business model and an architecture pattern. Get the architecture wrong and you'll hit walls. Tenant isolation, subscription billing, usage metering, onboarding flows. We've built these systems before and know where the complexity hides. When you're building software as a service SaaS products have different requirements than custom software. Multi-tenancy, subscription management, self-service onboarding, usage analytics. These patterns are well-established, but implementing them wrong creates technical debt that's expensive to fix later. Multi-tenancy is harder than it looks. How do you isolate customer data? How do you handle custom configurations per tenant? How do you price based on usage? These decisions affect everything downstream. We help you get them right from the start. Your billing system is part of your product. Subscription management, usage metering, invoicing, dunning. These aren't afterthoughts. They're core product features that affect customer experience and revenue recognition. We integrate billing that works. You need to ship features, not infrastructure. Every hour spent on deployment pipelines, monitoring, and scaling is an hour not spent on product. We set up infrastructure that gets out of your way so you can focus on what makes your product valuable. Multi-Tenant Architecture Database design, tenant isolation patterns, and configuration management that scales securely from one customer to thousands. Subscription & Billing Integration Stripe, Chargebee, or custom billing systems with metering, invoicing, and revenue recognition that actually works. Self-Service Onboarding Sign-up flows, trial experiences, and activation sequences that convert visitors to paying customers without sales intervention. #### Legacy System Modernization **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/legacy-modernization/ **Summary:** Your systems work—they just need to work better. Coalesce modernizes without starting over, reducing risk while shipping real improvements. Legacy System Modernization Your systems work. They just need to work better. For 20 years, Coalesce has helped companies modernize without starting over: reducing risk while shipping real improvements. Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship You don't need a rewrite. You need a team that can untangle what you have, identify what's worth keeping, and systematically improve the rest. We specialize in brownfield development: making existing systems faster, more maintainable, and ready for what's next. When "rebuild from scratch" isn't the answer Every agency wants to pitch you a greenfield rewrite. It's more billable hours, and they don't have to learn your codebase. But rewrites are risky, expensive, and often fail. There's a better way. Your system has years of business logic baked in. That "messy" codebase represents thousands of decisions about how your business actually works. A rewrite doesn't just replace code. It forces you to re-learn lessons you've already paid for. We'd rather build on what you know. You can't pause the business while you rebuild. Your team needs to keep shipping features. Customers need the system to stay up. A two-year rewrite means two years of maintaining parallel systems and delayed roadmaps. Incremental modernization lets you improve while you operate. Your developers are tired of fighting the codebase. Slow builds. Flaky tests. Fear of touching certain modules. Technical debt compounds until every change feels risky. We help you pay it down strategically, so your team can move fast again. Technical Assessment A focused audit of your codebase, infrastructure, and pain points. We identify what's working, what's blocking you, and where to start. Incremental Refactoring Systematic improvements to code quality, architecture, and maintainability without stopping feature development. Database Modernization Schema optimization, query performance, and migration to modern data infrastructure when needed. #### Technical Debt Assessment **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/technical-debt-assessment/ **Summary:** Honest codebase audit, no agenda. We identify what Technical Debt Assessment Understand what's slowing you down and what to fix first. We help companies diagnose technical debt and create practical plans to pay it down without stopping feature development. Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship Every codebase has technical debt. The question is whether it's manageable or crushing. We help you inventory your debt, prioritize what matters, and build a realistic plan to address it while your team keeps shipping. When technical debt is costing you more than you realize Technical debt is invisible to everyone except the developers fighting it daily. But the costs are real: slower velocity, more bugs, harder hiring, and mounting frustration. You can't fix what you haven't measured. Every change takes longer than it should. Simple features require complex workarounds. Developers spend more time understanding old code than writing new code. Estimates are consistently wrong because the codebase fights back. Sound familiar? Your best engineers are frustrated. Good developers want to build things, not wrestle with legacy decisions. When technical debt makes work painful, your best people leave. The ones who stay stop caring. Neither outcome is good for your business. You don't know where to start. The debt feels overwhelming. Everything is connected. Fixing one thing might break three others. You need a clear-eyed assessment of what matters most and a practical path forward. Codebase Analysis Automated and manual review of code quality, complexity hotspots, test coverage, and architectural patterns. Architecture Review Evaluating system design, dependency relationships, scalability constraints, and integration points. Developer Interviews Understanding the lived experience of your team. Where do they struggle? What do they wish they could change? #### Fractional CTO — Engineering Leadership + Studio **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/services/fractional-cto/ **Summary:** Senior technical leadership without the executive overhead. Backed by a full engineering studio — architecture, team direction, and hands-on execution. Fractional CTO Services Senior technical leadership without the full-time commitment. For 20 years, Coalesce has helped growing companies make better technology decisions, build stronger teams, and ship products that scale. Since 2006 $125M+ client revenue supported 4+ year avg. client relationship You need technical leadership, not just another developer. Whether you're a founder without a technical co-founder, a CEO navigating a digital transformation, or a growing company that's outpaced its current tech leadership, we provide the strategic guidance to get you where you need to go. When you need a CTO but not full-time Hiring a full-time CTO is expensive, time-consuming, and risky if you're not sure what you need. A fractional engagement gives you senior technical leadership on your terms, with the flexibility to scale up or down as your needs change. You're making technical decisions without technical expertise. Build vs. buy. Which framework. When to hire. These decisions have long-term consequences, and getting them wrong is expensive. You need someone who's made these calls before and knows what actually matters. Your dev team needs direction, not just management. Good developers want to build the right things the right way. But without technical leadership setting architecture standards, prioritizing technical debt, and making trade-off decisions, teams spin their wheels or build in the wrong direction. You're talking to investors, partners, or acquirers. Technical due diligence is coming. You need someone who can speak credibly about your architecture, your roadmap, and your team's capabilities. We've been on both sides of that table. Technical Strategy Roadmap development, build vs. buy decisions, and technology selection aligned with your business goals. Team Building & Hiring Defining roles, writing job descriptions, interviewing candidates, and building a technical culture that retains talent. Architecture Review Evaluating your current systems, identifying risks and bottlenecks, and planning for scale. --- ## Case Studies Selected client work. Coalesce has supported $125M+ in client revenue across these and similar engagements. ### Nursegrid Case Study **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/case-studies/nursegrid/ **Summary:** A year-end engagement campaign for the #1 nurse scheduling app. Brand support, product strategy, UX design, and data storytelling by Coalesce. Nursegrid Product Strategy / UX Design / Interaction Design A year-end engagement campaign for the #1 nurse scheduling app We designed and launched a Spotify Wrapped-style brand awareness campaign for over 600,000 nurses, surfacing each nurse's personal shift data in fun and surprising ways, driving app engagement and too many Tiktok reviews to count. Our custom micro experience displayed unique stats for each user including total shifts, hours worked, and standout moments like their list of worked holidays and full moons. That last stat was inspired directly by interviews with real ER nurses, who flagged full moons as chaotic (and a battlefield badge of honor). Mobile-first, brand-aligned, and intentionally delightful from start to finish, the Recap was designed to boost engagement with existing users. Our user insight-driven approach created an emotional connection between nurses and their data—and between nurses and Nursegrid. The success of the 2023 Nursegrid Recap campaign led to a fast greenlight for a 2024 version, which also acted as a stealth way to re-engage users and encourage them to take more actions in the app like updating their certifications and licenses, an area of the profile that was usually left ignored. The results spoke for themselves, with increased in-app activity and a boost in profile updates. Everyone loved the recap and couldn't stop talking about how great it looked, how fun it was, and how we all want to do and see more campaigns like it. Eric Carrol Director of Product, Nursegrid The Recap had 145K+ visits in 2024 and the project was proof that even without complex new feature development, it's still possible to meaningfully connect with users through smart design, tailored content, and creative storytelling. Next Case The Creative Factor Custom brand identity and digital design for a publication tailored for creative leaders ### The Creative Factor - Case Study **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/case-studies/the-creative-factor/ **Summary:** Custom brand identity and digital design for a publication tailored for creative leaders. A geometric design system with triangular brand elements. The Creative Factor Brand Strategy / Brand Development / Web Design / UX Design Custom brand identity and digital design for a publication tailored for creative leaders Based around an intricate geometric system, our brand identity for The Creative Factor illustrates the layered narrative that has become the core mission of the brand: A reminder that creativity is a skill we can hone, and it should be accessible to anyone willing to explore it. Bold designs, repeating brand elements, and expert photography unite to draw attention to the stories and artists highlighted in the publication. "Define and illustrate creativity?" Yep, that sounds like a fun way to spend a week. The project began like most of our brand development sprints–with an in-person brand workshop where storytelling and side notes are encouraged (and a few guided exercises are thrown in for good measure). Eventually, we aligned on the concept we couldn't stop thinking about: The triad of creativity. The three triangles representing Craft, Career, and Culture (the publication's focus) overlay at variable points, revealing new shapes and colors, representative of how a creative idea comes to life. Our work is always influenced by all the other great ideas that came before it. The Creative Factor began as an editorial publication but they needed a distinct way to market their content marketing studio services. Enter: The companion brand identity. We meshed the publication's triangle shapes with traditional newspaper design motifs to create a cohesive brand system that speaks to the creative community while maintaining the editorial integrity that The Creative Factor is known for. It was the idea we never saw coming. It captures The Creative Factor's encouraging and witty voice. And it channels the ethos of our readers: brave, inspiring, and thought-provoking Matt McCue Founder Next Case Andrena Internet A strategic re-brand for an internet service provider built to align vision, rally internal teams, and scale across cities ### Andrena Internet Case Study **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/case-studies/andrena-internet/ **Summary:** A strategic re-brand for an internet service provider built to align vision, rally teams, and scale across cities. Brand strategy by Coalesce. Andrena Internet Brand Strategy / Brand Development / Web Design / UX Design A strategic re-brand for an internet service provider built to align vision, rally internal teams, and scale across cities Andrena needed a rebrand that could lean on their strong origin story but attract new customers during their nationwide expansion. We delivered a bold, flexible system anchored by a hand-drawn typeface and a dynamic bracket animation that gave the team direction and delight. Andrena delivers high-speed internet in select U.S. cities. Their previous branding lacked cohesion and failed to reflect the unique energy of their team and product. We kicked off with a brand workshop that set the foundation for alignment. From there, we explored new conceptual directions and eventually landed on a fresh, expressive visual system that did more than just look good—it got the whole team on board (no easy feat). A fresh, expressive visual system that did more than just look good—it got the whole team on board. Our flexible bracket system was built to highlight, reveal, and connect ideas. This execution became the connective tissue of the Andrena brand, working across web, animation, print, and merch. We created an imagery system that blended AI and Photoshop presets to produce scalable, humanistic assets with a watercolor effect—bridging their technical edge with a personal touch. Lastly, we overhauled the onboarding experience for both customers and property owners, including a new dual marketing site and custom motion graphics that spotlight Andrena's unique infrastructure.From door hangers and brochures to sign-up flows and email coms, the new Andrena visual identity is live in cities across the country. What's nice was that everyone was on the same page. The Coalesce team was attentive and punctual. James Smits Co-Founder, Andrena Internet Andrena had early traction and passionate founders. We delivered a brand refresh that helped them stand out on the shelf and become a household name in neighborhoods across the country. Next Case Knopman Marks Strategic product design for a complex learning management system that grew revenue from $5M to $21M ### Knopman Marks Case Study **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/case-studies/knopman-marks/ **Summary:** Strategic product design for a complex learning management system. Product strategy, UX, full-stack development, and brand strategy by Coalesce. Knopman Marks Product Strategy / UX Design / Front-End Development / Back-End Development / Brand Strategy Strategic product design for a complex learning management system A rapidly aging tech stack was holding Knopman Marks back—so we built a future-ready platform that elevated their learning experience, streamlined operations, and ultimately helped them grow their revenue from $5M to $21M over five years. Knopman Marks trains over tens of thousands of finance professionals every year for the top 10 banks in the US. Most of these students are required to pass rigorous certification exams in order to work in their field or secure a promotion. It's a high-stress environment for the students and the content they need to learn is extremely technical and dare we say…dry. We became experts in learning experience design to ensure Knopman Marks had the best product possible–which shows in their industry-leading pass rates. But different users demanded different purchasing and training experiences. Our e-commerce update met their market-specific banking requirements all while keeping their famous approachable teaching philosophies intact. We learned how to effectively test new messaging and UI changes by treating each new feature as an MLP (minimum loveable product). The Practice Questions experience became our testing ground for motivational design elements. We implemented progress tracking, streak counters, and achievement systems that transformed the traditionally dry certification study process into an engaging, game-like experience. Through iterative testing and user feedback, we developed a system that not only improved pass rates but made the learning process genuinely enjoyable for finance professionals studying for high-stakes certifications. Our comprehensive platform approach addressed every aspect of the learning experience—from initial course selection to final certification success. The backend platform seamlessly integrated with the front-end experience, providing instructors and administrators with powerful tools to track student progress, customize learning paths, and analyze performance metrics. By understanding the complete user journey—from prospective students browsing courses to finance professionals achieving certification—we created a cohesive ecosystem that supports learning at every stage. In 2023, we launched the Practice Questions experience—a breakthrough quiz creation and practice tool that delivers industry-leading pass rates through motivational touchpoints and progress tracking that keeps students engaged. They're strategic and critical thinkers with a lot of experience, insights, and knowledge. They took their responsibilities beyond the scope of web development in everything they did. Liza Streiff CEO, Knopman Marks Next Case Operative Complete infrastructure transformation for a high-scale advertising technology platform ### Operative Case Study **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/case-studies/operative/ **Summary:** Engineering a scalable SaaS platform for election compliance from scratch. Product architecture, DevOps, and full-stack development by Coalesce. Operative Product Architecture / Engineering Engineering a scalable SaaS platform for election compliance from scratch Built a platform to simplify complex election finance requirements. Transformed a manual, error-prone process into a streamlined experience. Implemented modular microservices and automated data scrubbing pipelines. Created robust validation logic to process campaign finance data quickly. Election compliance isn't just complex—it's painful and often made worse by bad data. Building a full platform up to the task of simplifying that work is the kind of challenge we're drawn to. Building a new SaaS platform is inherently challenging. Ensuring FEC reporting data is accurate is even harder. And doing them both at the same time is, well, kind of bonkers. We architected a complex data management and reporting platform capable of scale. We implemented a flexible data ingestion system with FEC-compliant schema mapping, built custom reporting and auditing engines with real-time validation, and deployed a containerized architecture with CI/CD pipelines for scalability. With Operative, we didn't just move campaign and committee compliance into the modern era—we reimagined it all together. Product Director Next Case Inman Building a high-impact, membership-based revenue model for the premier real estate news publication. ### Inman News Case Study **URL:** https://www.coalesce.nyc/case-studies/inman-news/ **Summary:** Building a membership-based revenue model for the premier real estate news publication. Enterprise development and UX design by Coalesce. Inman Enterprise Software Development / Legacy System Re-Platforming / Product Strategy / UX Design Building a high-impact, membership-based revenue model for the premier real estate news publication. We helped Inman transform from a traditional news outlet into a modern, data-driven media business. In addition to engineering custom middleware and rolling out AI-powered editorial tools, our subscription work alone drove a 30% revenue increase within just 90 days of launch. Launching the flagship subscription offering, Inman Select, included the design and development of a fully custom CRM to power the new member experience. The result was more than retention—the new subscription model drove over 300,000 new paid memberships. Projects designed to optimize impact Optimized checkout We helped roll out a simplified, high-converting event-ticketing experience using Stripe Checkout. By leveraging Stripe's optimized, mobile-friendly flow and built-in trust signals, we helped increase checkout conversion rates while reducing friction for attendees. ‍ Bespoke middleware We engineered custom middleware to connect Inman's new enterprise CRM with their email marketing platform, data warehouse, and analytics tools. This unified data flow streamlined campaign operations, improved reporting accuracy, and empowered both marketing and editorial teams to move faster with better insights. AI tooling We utilized AI to accelerate editorial processes, including intelligent article tagging to improve content discoverability and internal search. We also incorporated revolutionary technology like AI-powered personalized content, developed new business units like a market data platform and a learning management system, and expanded their subscription services by creating new tiers with specific features. They are incredibly thoughtful and detail oriented. They really put a lot of value and emphasis on process and not skipping steps, not rushing. Morgan Brown VP of Marketing, Inman The ongoing partnership demonstrates sustained digital transformation success, with continuous innovation in media technology, audience engagement, and revenue optimization spanning over a decade of collaboration. Next Case Nursegrid A year-end engagement campaign for the #1 nurse scheduling app --- ## Contact Contact us Book a call with a studio lead Free 30-min call — no pitch, just conversation Want to talk engineering? Schedule with Justin Want to talk product? Schedule with Tucker Want to talk brand? Schedule with Naomi Ask a question (or report a space pigeon sighting) I'm interested in... (optional) Brand & Identity Product & UX Design Engineering & Development Not sure yet We typically respond within 1 business day. Transmission Complete Your message has safely docked in our inbox. We'll send a signal back to you shortly. Oops! 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