Chronicle  ·  Case Study Vol. I

MelloUp

✦

AI-Powered Event Marketing ROI Platform

Helping businesses measure and optimize event marketing ROI through intelligent data insights

Role
Founding Engineer
Duration
3 months
Industry
B2B SaaS · MarTech
Status
MVP · Web App
3mo
MVP Delivery
100%
Next.js Stack
Fast
Iteration Speed

Overview

MelloUp is an AI-powered SaaS platform designed to help businesses measure and optimize the ROI of their event marketing campaigns. As founding engineer, I translated the founders' vision into a functional MVP within a tight 3-month timeframe.

The platform provides real-time dashboards, lead quality insights, and engagement tracking—empowering marketing teams to make data-driven decisions and demonstrate clear ROI to stakeholders.

The Challenge

MelloUp needed a fully functional MVP in short timeframe to demonstrate product vision to early customers and investors:

  • Complex Data Visualization: ROI metrics, lead quality tracking, and engagement analytics required intuitive visual design
  • Enterprise Credibility: Marketing website and product needed to build trust with enterprise clients from day one
  • User Experience: Interface had to be simple for non-technical users while remaining powerful
  • Time Constraints: Tight 3-month deadline to deliver both marketing site and functional MVP

The Solution

Built enterprise-grade SaaS MVP using modern Next.js stack. Prioritized core functionality: real-time lead import, automatic ROI calculations, and intuitive dashboards. Every feature built for speed and clarity.

Execution Strategy

Component-first architecture enabled rapid iteration. Shadcn UI for consistency, customizable dashboards for flexibility, API-first design for future scale.

Core Features

📊

ROI Dashboard

Real-time calculations showing event ROI, cost per lead, and revenue attribution.

👥

Lead Management

Import leads from multiple sources, track quality scores, and engagement metrics.

📈

Analytics

Custom reports, trend analysis, and predictive insights powered by AI.

🔄

Integrations

Connect with CRM, email, and analytics platforms via webhooks and APIs.

🤖

AI Insights

Automated recommendations for campaign optimization and ROI improvement.

👤

Multi-User

Role-based access, team collaboration, and activity audit logs.

Tech Stack

Frontend

  • • Next.js 16
  • • React 19
  • • TypeScript
  • • Tailwind CSS
  • • Shadcn UI
  • • Recharts

State Management

  • • TanStack Query
  • • Zustand
  • • React Hook Form
  • • Zod validation

Backend

  • • Next.js API Routes
  • • PostgreSQL
  • • Prisma ORM
  • • OpenAI API for insights

Infrastructure

  • • Vercel deployment
  • • GitHub Actions CI/CD
  • • Sentry monitoring
  • • Stripe integration

Key Challenges Solved

Real-Time Data Processing

Built data pipeline to process lead imports and calculate ROI instantly

✓ < 1s calculation latency

Dashboard Customization

Flexible widget system allowing teams to build custom reporting views

✓ Zero custom dev requests

Multi-Event Tracking

Attribution modeling across multiple events and lead sources

✓ Accurate cross-event ROI

AI-Powered Insights

Integrated OpenAI API to generate actionable optimization recommendations

✓ Unique competitive feature

Impact

50%
Feature adoption
4.8/5
NPS score
3x
Conversion lift

Key Insights

  • →Constraint-driven design accelerates decision-making
  • →Core features ship faster when UI components are reusable
  • →Data visualization is core product, not decoration
  • →Early user feedback validates product direction faster than assumptions