From no playbook to 10× growth.
Zno Instant is a real-time photo delivery platform that helps professional photographers share event photos with clients and attendees while the event is still happening.
When I joined, there was no growth strategy for the year ahead, and the CEO had set a goal of 10× annual revenue. My job was to help make it happen.
Making professional photos available while the moment still matters.
Zno Instant is a mobile and desktop photo delivery platform built for professional event photographers.
Instead of waiting days to deliver photos after an event, photographers can connect their cameras to the app and automatically upload images to a live online gallery.
Guests simply scan a QR code to view, download, or purchase their photos while the event is still happening.
For photographers, it means faster delivery, less post-event work, and a better experience for clients and attendees.
Finding the customers who mattered most.
Through thousands of customer conversations, I identified event photographers as the strongest initial audience for Zno Instant. Their need for fast delivery, event-based workflows, and attendee engagement made them a better fit than traditional portrait or landscape photographers.
After scaling the business, I analyzed our highest-value customers to understand what drove repeat purchases. The biggest insight wasn’t what they photographed. It was how they operated. Our strongest customers had recurring demand, established event relationships, and workflows where Zno Instant delivered value again and again.
Photography genres
- Wedding photography
- Sports photography
- Corporate photography
- Photo booths
- Event photography
Business models & recurring demand
- Recurring event operators
- High-volume photo monetizers
- Workflow-driven agencies
- Premium service providers
- Organizations & associations
From what customers photograph to how their businesses operate. These are strategic segments, not formal internal labels.
A regional chamber of commerce
Predictable event calendars create repeat demand.
- Product opportunity
- Reusable workflows: gallery templates, saved branding, and faster event duplication.
An official stadium fan-photography program
Large events create opportunities to sell photos at scale.
- Product opportunity
- Better eStore analytics, reporting, and storefront management.
A corporate event photographer
Instant delivery can support premium pricing.
- Product opportunity
- Client-facing reporting that shows engagement and value.
This research informed my proposed H2 strategy: shift more of our acquisition, positioning, and product priorities toward high-volume businesses with recurring demand.
From awareness to activation.
I built a growth strategy that combined digital acquisition, field marketing, and direct selling. Each channel brought photographers into the same journey, from discovering Zno Instant to purchasing, activating, and coming back for future events.
Reaching photographers online.
Developed paid acquisition campaigns, customer collaborations, creative briefs, and educational content to reach professional photographers.
Improved website messaging, demo booking flows, and lifecycle communications to turn interest into product adoption.
Built product demonstrations and educational programs to help photographers understand the workflow and see its value.
Taking the product directly to customers.
I developed and executed field marketing programs across photography conferences, managing everything from event strategy and booth planning to live presentations, lead generation, and post-event follow-up.
These events created opportunities to demonstrate the product directly, learn from customers, and convert interest into sales.
Developing the sales strategy to scale Zno Instant.
I worked directly with thousands of prospective customers through sales conversations and product demonstrations. Their feedback informed our messaging, competitive positioning, objection handling, and sales enablement materials.
Bringing Zno Instant to enterprise customers.
For enterprise customers, including chambers of commerce, corporate marketing teams, and sports organizations, I helped develop tailored presentations and demonstrate how Zno Instant could support high-volume photography operations.
I also handled technical setup, camera compatibility, live training, and onboarding.
A representative enterprise pitch focused on high-volume event photography, centralized team workflows, competitive economics, and implementation.
Content across the growth funnel.
I created content across the customer journey, from short-form social videos and product demos to tutorials, blog posts, and webinars. Each format had a purpose: introducing photographers to Zno Instant, helping them get started, or giving them reasons to come back.
Together with our broader growth strategy, this work helped drive 10× revenue growth and nearly doubled activation.
Acquisition (Awareness)
Getting photographers interested.
ObjectiveShow photographers what instant photo delivery looks like and bring new users into the funnel.
I filmed photographers using Zno Instant at real events and turned that footage into short-form videos, product demos, and customer collaborations. I tested different hooks and creative approaches to show what instant photo delivery looked like in action.
What we measuredReach, engagement, website traffic, and signups.
Activation
Helping new users get started.
ObjectiveGet photographers through setup and into their first live gallery.
I created tutorials covering camera connection, gallery setup, and customization to help photographers get started without a one-on-one demo. Alongside improvements to the product and onboarding experience, activation increased from approximately 23% to 50%.
Use case8 Tips to Deliver Graduation Photos in Real-Time
Feature launchNew! AI Culling & Retouching in Zno InstantWhat we measuredSignup-to-activation conversion, successful gallery setup, and first use.
Activity (Retention)
Giving photographers reasons to come back.
ObjectiveEncourage repeat usage, deeper feature adoption, and long-term value.
I developed lifecycle email campaigns and educational content to bring photographers back, introduce new features, and encourage repeat purchases. The goal was to make Zno Instant part of their ongoing event workflow, not just something they tried once.
What we measuredRepeat usage, feature adoption, retention, and repeat purchases.
Webinars: supporting the entire customer journey.
Webinars gave me a way to introduce Zno Instant to new audiences, walk customers through the product, and show existing users what else they could do with it.
- Acquisition
- New audiences
- Activation
- Setup & workflows
- Activity (Retention)
- New features & use cases
Most of our content combined real footage of photographers using Zno Instant with an AI-assisted production workflow. I handled everything from scripting and filming to editing and distribution, using AI tools to experiment with creative ideas and move faster without a large production team.
- Ideation & scripting
- ChatGPT, Claude
- Editing & production
- CapCut, Canva
- AI video
- Runway, Creatify
- Voice & audio
- ElevenLabs
Improving the experience, not just acquisition.
Growing Zno Instant meant more than bringing in new customers. We also needed to help photographers get started, experience the product's value, and find reasons to keep using it.
From customer conversations and demos, I saw recurring friction in hardware setup, onboarding, and the mobile and desktop experiences. I worked with product and design to turn it into wireframes, UX improvements, onboarding recommendations, and feature priorities.
Onboarding & setup
- Problem
- Photographers needed to connect their cameras and understand the workflow before seeing value.
- My contribution
- Identified setup friction and recommended improvements to onboarding and education.
Mobile & desktop UX
- Problem
- Product workflows needed to be easier to understand and navigate.
- My contribution
- Contributed wireframes, design feedback, and UX recommendations.
Activation & adoption
- Problem
- New customers who never ran a live gallery didn’t stick around.
- My contribution
- Used customer feedback and activation data to identify opportunities to improve adoption.
Hitting the 10× growth goal.
YoY revenue growth
Subscriber growth
Activation improvement
No single channel drove the result. It came from customer research, positioning, digital acquisition, field marketing, sales enablement, direct selling, and product improvements working together.
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