Case Study - Advising a niche LMS on multi-tenant expansion
Scholae is a lightweight LMS for boutique training companies. I helped the founders evaluate their roadmap and architect the next phase of the product.
- Client
- Scholae
- Year
- Service
- Technical Consulting & Engineering
Overview
Scholae serves niche professional training businesses that need branded learning experiences without the overhead of heavyweight LMS suites. As demand grew, the founders wanted to open the platform to multi-brand operators, expand reporting, and connect to payment providers—all while keeping the product nimble.
What I delivered
- Architecture assessment – Audited the Rails monolith, React front end, and PostgreSQL schema to identify constraints around tenancy, content versioning, and reporting.
- Expansion blueprint – Produced a phased roadmap outlining authentication changes, organization-scoped permissions, SCORM/xAPI support, and a background job strategy for large course catalogs.
- Hiring & cost guidance – Recommended the mix of senior/principal engineers versus contractors and estimated the infrastructure spend required for the growth plan.
Outcome
The founders left with a concrete plan, a set of diagrams, and backlog-ready work packages. Within weeks they hired their first senior engineer using the plan as a playbook, and the roadmap is still in use as Scholae expands into regulated industries.