Payball

The Challenge

Most payment platforms assume a simple structure. One person sends money directly to another. That model breaks down immediately in organized sports.

Payball needed a different flow. A holds money. B earns money. C decides when money is released.

This required a three party payment structure where the platform itself acted as a holding entity. Payments had to be delayed, approved, and distributed correctly. The experience had to feel instant, even when the underlying logic was anything but simple.

The challenges were not cosmetic. They were structural.

• Conditional payouts instead of direct transfers

• Team based hierarchies instead of individual accounts

• Administrators instead of casual users

• Compliance with KYC requirements across multiple payment providers

• Handling onboarding without friction

• Maintaining trust while abstracting financial complexity

If this failed, the founders risked losing accounts, revenue, and credibility in a space built entirely on trust.

Discovery

Early discovery made one thing clear. Trying to force this complexity into a mobile only experience would not work.

Team administrators needed space. They needed visibility. They needed control. They needed a way to see rosters, schedules, payout logic, and compliance status all at once.

At the same time, coaches and staff did not want complexity. They wanted to get paid quickly and reliably.

This led to a fundamental insight.

Administration belongs on the web.
Payments belong on mobile.

Once this became clear, the product architecture began to take shape.

The Breakthrough

The breakthrough was the decision to split responsibility across platforms.

The web application became the administrative core. This is where teams were created, members were added, seasons were managed, and payout rules were defined.

The mobile experience became the execution layer. This is where payouts happened quickly, clearly, and with minimal friction.

This separation allowed each interface to do what it does best. It also dramatically reduced cognitive load for every user type involved.

Product Architecture and Technical Execution

Platforms

We designed a unified system spanning web, iOS, and Android. The experience was consistent across platforms, but responsibilities were clearly divided.

• Web application for team and payout management

• Mobile applications for fast and simple payouts

Payments and Integrations

The most complex aspect of the project was working with multiple financial institutions. Stripe, PayPal, and Clover were evaluated. Ultimately, WePay was selected due to its flexibility and API structure.

We integrated Stripe and WePay to support:

• Conditional payouts

• Platform held balances

• KYC onboarding flows

• Compliance with financial regulations

• Secure handling of sensitive data

A major obstacle was passing KYC information cleanly between systems. This required careful orchestration of API calls and thoughtful UX decisions to prevent users from feeling blocked or confused.

Core Features

• Team creation and management

• Staff onboarding and role assignment

• Season based payout logic

• Administrative dashboards

• Rapid payout execution

• Secure authentication and compliance flows

During testing, users were able to create a team and complete a payout in under twenty seconds. That speed became one of the platform’s defining advantages.

User Experience Design

Designing trust into a financial product requires restraint.

We avoided unnecessary playfulness where credibility mattered. Instead, we clearly communicated reliance on established payment partners like Stripe and WePay for security and compliance. Payball focused on what it owned best. Game management. Team workflows. Administrative clarity.

The interface prioritized:

• Clear hierarchy

• Fast onboarding

• Minimal steps

• Explicit feedback during payouts

• Predictable outcomes

This was not a consumer toy. It was infrastructure for real organizations.

Results

User response during testing was overwhelmingly positive. Team administrators immediately felt relief. Tasks that previously required manual work or delayed payments could now be completed in seconds.

Payball successfully launched and was later privately sold in 2023.

Beyond the outcome of the company itself, the project had a lasting impact on our team. It gave us deep hands on experience working with financial institutions, compliance constraints, and complex payment flows. It sharpened our understanding of how money actually moves behind the interface.

Legacy

Payball proved that niche products often require deeper thinking than broad platforms. By focusing on a specific use case, sports team payments, the product avoided the traps of generic fintech.

It showed that good product design is often about choosing where complexity lives. Not eliminating it, but placing it where it belongs.

For the users, Payball turned a painful administrative task into a near invisible one.

Why This Project Matters to Métisse

This project came at an important moment for our team. At the time, we were operating as BeCurious Studio, before the evolution into Métisse. Payball pushed us into unfamiliar territory. Financial systems. Compliance. Multi platform product architecture.

It forced us to grow.

Payball taught us that design does not stop at screens. It extends into systems, regulations, and human behavior. That lesson continues to shape how we approach product work today.