Building the myTpen EdTech SaaS Suite: 9 Apps in under 2 Years

Overview

Over a period of just under two years, I led the architecture and development of a complete educational-technology SaaS suite for myTpen. The suite now spans around 18 interconnected applications, from the main marketing and onboarding platform to secure exam systems, AI survey tools, OCR/vision products, and mobile AI-integrated utilities.

All these products share one unified mission: empower educators and learners through AI-driven workflows, vision-based tools, and seamless experiences across web and mobile.

This was far beyond a single app build or redesign, it was the creation of a multi-product ecosystem that together forms the foundation of a modern “education operating system.”

My Role

• End-to-end full-stack development: frontend, backend, integrations, deployment, product architecture.
• Collaboration with designers (UX/UI) and product managers — design was provided; I handled the implementation.
• Mobile app leadership: for the mobile OMR scanner and exams mobile app, I led the mobile team and defined the backend services.
• AI & vision integrations: leveraging open-source/third-party libraries (e.g., OCR, vision tools, embeddings) rather than building custom models.
• Multi-tenant SaaS architecture: web apps, APIs, admin/credits management, public API exposure for one of the tools.

I worked as a lead full-stack and platform developer, responsible for driving architecture, development, and delivery across multiple streams. My responsibilities spanned:

• End-to-end product engineering: from frontend to backend, integrations, and deployment.
• Technical leadership: defining architecture and leading small internal and contracted dev teams for specific apps.
• Collaboration with designers and PMs: implementing provided UX/UI designs with pixel accuracy and technical feasibility.
• Mobile app leadership: designing backend services and leading the build for the OMR scanner and exams mobile applications.
• AI & vision integrations: integrating OCR, embeddings, and AI-assisted tools using open APIs and libraries.
• SaaS and multi-tenancy design: implementing shared auth, credits, admin panels, and public API layers across the ecosystem.

In short, I acted as both architect and hands-on engineer, ensuring that every component of the platform fit together into one coherent, scalable SaaS framework.

Product Suite at a Glance

The myTpen suite encompasses over 18 applications (delivered and in-progress). Below are nine key products that I personally built or directly led development for:

The Challenge

Building a cohesive ed-tech ecosystem — not just one app — posed a range of interlocking challenges:

Diverse Product Set

Each application had distinct requirements: AI/OCR integrations, mobile scanning, or SaaS API design. Yet all had to maintain visual and architectural consistency under the myTpen platform identity.

AI Integrations

Several apps relied on OCR and AI workflows (e.g., OMR grading, handwriting conversion, survey/question generation). The challenge wasn’t only integrating APIs but engineering efficient data flows, handling latency, and ensuring reliable UX around these external dependencies.

Full-Stack & Multi-Tenant Scope

The platform needed shared authentication, credit-based billing, public APIs, and admin dashboards, all while supporting web, mobile, and external API users. Balancing modularity with central control required deliberate architectural design.

Parallel Development & Speed

Delivering multiple production-ready apps in under two years meant managing overlapping timelines, quick iteration cycles, and continuous integration — often leading development while coordinating with designers and part-time engineers.

Design Translation

With designs provided by the product team, I ensured technical fidelity — translating complex Figma assets into responsive, performant interfaces consistent across the entire suite.

Solution & Architecture

To unify such a diverse ecosystem, I developed a modular SaaS architecture emphasizing shared services, reusable logic, and scalable infrastructure.

Platform Architecture

The architecture combined micro-apps under a unified platform with common backend services, single sign-on, and shared data stores.

• Authentication & SSO: unified user identity across all myTpen apps.
• Shared core services: accounts, subscriptions, credits, API keys, and analytics.
• API gateway: micro-services exposing AI and OCR capabilities to different apps.
• Frontend system: hybrid stack — static marketing pages (Next.js SSR) + dynamic SPAs.
• Mobile integration: React Native (Expo) with dedicated endpoints for camera and scanning features.
• Third-party AI integrations: OpenAI embeddings and vision APIs, OCR frameworks, and handwriting engines.

Example: OMR + Exam Flow

Example: OCR Document Scanner

Example: Survey AI

Tech Stack

A robust modern stack was chosen to balance rapid iteration, AI integration, and scalability.

This combination enabled rapid deployment cycles, efficient resource management, and straightforward AI feature integration across products.

Key Features Delivered

Across the suite, I led or built core modules delivering the following capabilities:

• Unified landing and onboarding website for the entire product ecosystem.
• Secure exam creation, grading, and analytics (web + mobile).
• Mobile OMR scanner with backend OCR pipelines.
• Document OCR platform with public API, credits, and admin controls.
• AI-powered MCQ answering and survey generation tools.
• Collaborative note-taking app with semantic search and conversational querying.
• Vision-based text extraction utilities and handwriting conversion apps.
• Shared admin dashboards, billing, and API management systems.
• Integrations with Google Drive, OneDrive, and institutional accounts for seamless workflows.

Impact

Building this ecosystem transformed myTpen from a set of ideas into a cohesive SaaS platform for educators. The measurable outcomes include:

• 9 core micro-SaaS applications built and deployed within ~2 years.
• 18+ total applications planned or in development across the platform.
• Substantial productivity gains for educators through automated scanning, AI survey design, and intelligent note retrieval.
• Scalable SaaS foundation enabling future products and public APIs.
• Enhanced brand identity as a modern, AI-driven educational suite.

Lessons Learned

Every phase of the project reinforced key engineering and leadership principles:

• Consistency matters: a multi-product suite demands unified design systems, auth layers, and deployment workflows.
• AI ≠ reliability: always design for fallback states, latency, and error recovery when integrating AI or vision tools.
• Architect for scale early: credits, limits, and billing logic should exist from day one.
• Parallel delivery thrives on MVP clarity: defining core deliverables for each app avoided scope creep.
• Mobile adds real-world complexity: handling permissions, connectivity, and camera performance across devices is crucial.
• Invisible tools matter: internal dashboards, logs, and usage analytics are as critical as customer-facing features.
• Collaboration over isolation: coordinating with designers, PMs, and part-time developers made cross-functional delivery possible.

“In under two years, I helped design and lead the build of not just one app but a connected ecosystem — combining web, mobile, and AI to power a new generation of educational tools.”