RunDot
Launching a native adaptive training app for runners ready to train smarter.
At Predictive Fitness, I helped lead the product experience for RunDot, a native React Native app built to help runners move from static training plans to adaptive, data-informed coaching.
The work went beyond launching a new app. We brought research into the product process, created the company’s first real user personas, used analytics to find friction, shipped Apple Watch support, launched social features, and evolved the brand into a more motivating performance partner.
Between January 2026 and May 2026, RunDot trial-to-paid activation improved from 7% to 16%.
At a Glance
Role
Head of Design & User Experience
Scope
Native mobile app experience, onboarding, analytics, Apple Watch support, social features, brand evolution, website, marketing, and launch campaigns
PLATFORM
React Native mobile app, website, app store experience, and marketing campaigns
Primary User Focus
Chris — a goal-driven runner looking for structure, confidence, progress, and a smarter path to race-day performance
Partners
Product, engineering, marketing, support, coaching, research, and leadership
Outcomes
Improved trial-to-paid activation from 7% to 20% while strengthening RunDot’s mobile experience, engagement strategy, device support, and brand positioning.
Business Impact
7% to 20% Trial-to-Paid Activation Lift
Improved conversion from trial users to paid customers between January 2026 and May 2026.
~60% Adoption of New Social Features
Shipped social features in February 2026 to create stronger engagement loops and give runners more reasons to return between workouts.
Apple Watch Support Calls Reduced to Zero
Shipped Apple Watch support in March 2026. Prior to launch, support was receiving 4+ watch-related calls per week. After launch, calls dropped to zero, saving approximately 2–3 support call hours per issue.
First Real User Personas
Introduced user research and Jobs To Be Done persona development into the company’s product process.
Clearer Market Opportunity
Framed RunDot within a current worldwide running-app market of approximately $0.6B–$1.8B per year and a broader adaptive run training opportunity of approximately $2B–$5B per year.
The Challenge
RunDot had a powerful adaptive training engine, but the product experience needed to become easier to understand, more motivating, and more native to how runners actually train.
The company was also moving fast while still building the product discipline needed to support a modern mobile growth experience. UX and product ownership were often blurry, research practices were limited, analytics visibility was still maturing, and teams were making decisions across competing priorities without a consistent customer lens.
The challenge was not just to improve the app. It was to create enough clarity around the user, the product experience, and the decision-making process for the team to move faster with more confidence.
Runners needed a product that felt simple, trustworthy, connected, and motivating. The business needed stronger activation, clearer engagement signals, better device support, and a brand that felt less like a training calculator and more like a partner in their progress.
My Role
I led UX strategy and product design direction for the RunDot mobile experience, working across product, engineering, marketing, support, coaching, research, and leadership.
My role included shaping the app experience, improving onboarding, defining product analytics, supporting React Native event tracking, guiding new feature concepts, and using AI tools to accelerate product exploration.
I also helped lead the brand evolution around the new app launch, shifting RunDot from a Sage archetype focused on knowledge and expertise toward a Hero archetype centered on progress, effort, confidence, and achievement. That shift influenced the updated website, marketing materials, ad campaigns, launch messaging, and Trailblazer campaign direction.
How I Created Clarity
In a fast-moving product environment, my focus was to bring more structure to the work without slowing the team down.
I helped introduce user research, Jobs To Be Done personas, PostHog analysis, React Native event tracking, clearer UX handoffs, and stronger cross-functional feedback loops. These practices gave product, engineering, marketing, support, coaching, and leadership a shared way to understand users, evaluate trade-offs, and connect product decisions to measurable outcomes.
That clarity helped the team move beyond opinion-driven decisions and toward a more grounded product process, one shaped by customer insight, behavioral data, product constraints, and business goals.
What We Changed
We gave the team a real customer lens.
Using surveys, Maze research, and a Jobs To Be Done framework, we helped create the company’s first real personas. Chris became the primary lens for the RunDot experience: a goal-driven, data-aware runner who wanted structure, confidence, progress, and a smarter path to race-day performance.
This gave product, design, marketing, support, and leadership a shared way to evaluate decisions around onboarding, workout guidance, connected devices, social features, messaging, and brand voice.
We used analytics to improve onboarding and activation.
The early RunDot experience needed to help runners understand the value of adaptive training faster. We used PostHog analysis and React Native event tracking to see how users moved through onboarding, where they stalled, and which actions signaled meaningful engagement.
That visibility helped the team reduce confusion, clarify setup, and guide more trial users toward paid conversion.
We used AI-assisted workflows to ship better connected-device support.
AI tools helped accelerate product exploration, edge-case mapping, UX flows, and implementation conversations for complex feature work.
This was especially valuable for Apple Watch support, where the experience needed to account for compatibility, connection states, setup guidance, troubleshooting, and fallback paths. After Apple Watch support shipped in March 2026, watch-related support calls dropped from 4+ per week to zero.
We launched social features to increase daily active use.
Run training is not only about workouts. It is also about motivation, accountability, identity, and progress.
We shipped social features in February 2026 to give runners more reasons to return between workouts, connect with others, and stay engaged. These features reached approximately 60% adoption.
We evolved the brand from Sage to Hero.
RunDot had deep training expertise, but the brand needed to feel more motivating and emotionally aligned with runners chasing goals.
I helped shift the brand from Sage, focused on knowledge and expertise toward Hero, centered on effort, progress, resilience, and achievement. That shift came through in the app launch, website direction, marketing materials, ad campaigns, and Trailblazer campaign thinking.
Why it Mattered
~$0.6B–$1.8B/year
Current worldwide running-app market
~$2B–$5B/year
Adaptive run training opportunity
RunDot had the ingredients of a powerful adaptive training product: coaching intelligence, data, personalization, and a strong training methodology.
But runners needed more than a smart engine. They needed an experience that felt clear, motivating, trustworthy, connected, and built for the way they actually train.
This case study shows how I help growth-stage product teams connect research, analytics, AI-assisted workflows, product design, and brand strategy into a stronger customer experience, from first touch to daily use.