Design in a Pre-Seed Startup

Product | Strategy | UX Research | UX/UI Design | Startup

I joined as the Founding Designer for this pre-seed company product team composed of a technical co-founder, 3 engineers, and a CS rep. We worked through a $40million valuation, eventually supporting a team of 8 engineers. I led both product and marketing design as we launched a new SaaS platform and multiple service lines. I was responsible for owning and leading the design efforts and driving the shift toward a human centered product.

A user journey map for the whole company to rally around

The company needed clarity on its true audience. I interviewed, shadowed, and studied our core persona, then documented and shared the results to align the team and guide the product roadmap.

A product and company vision guided entirely by the user journey. And aligned with our business goals.

One of the biggest business challenges that at the time was an extremely low NPS score.

PMF methodology

I Used the PMF Survey Methodology to gather and segment user feedback of the existing beta product and Affinity Mapping to identify and prioritize areas for meaningful product enhancements. The stand out concept?

Core takeaway: “Make the data easier to understand and trust. And make it easier to take action”

PMF survey responses, segmented and analyzed

I led the team through each iteration on the product with value derived from user feedback, paired with an updated design system that improved legibility and hierarchy.

NPS improved by 53 points

Seeing our customer results from using the product was the real proof of success.

Through all this, we continued to learn from our customers and found that one of their biggest pain-points was identifying and hiring good talent, quickly. The people that make up the teams has a greater impact than any process or structure that a company can put in place, and any delays in hiring has disastrous affects on revenue, so…
Pivot: How might we help great companies hire great people, fast?

We automated our founder’s proprietary Sales Character Assessment that he had developed. We made it into a tool that our new, growing recruiting team could use to place vetted talent 4x faster than traditional recruiters.

A recruiting experience serving Companies, Candidates, and our own internal recruiting team.

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Research | Strategy | UX/UI Design | Mentor