2021 • Kikoff • Founding Product Designer
Consumer Credit-Building Mobile App
Role
Founding designer who built the product, the brand, and the design team. Defined the core credit-building experience, led the rebranding initiative with an external agency, hired and managed two junior designers (product and marketing), and created the collaborative process between PM, design, and engineering.
Outcome
MVP launched in 1.5 months
$1M revenue and 60K+ users within two months of launch
Team / Stakeholders
Co-founder / CTO
Head of Product
Product Manager
Engineering team
Marketing
A mobile app that helps underserved users — people with low, limited, or damaged credit — build their credit score through a first-of-its-kind charge account product, with a clear path from onboarding through ongoing credit-building actions.
The Challenge
Target users had limited credit history and deep distrust of financial products. The product needed to earn trust immediately and generate revenue quickly to prove viability — in a product category that didn't exist yet. There was no design team, no design system, and no established process for how product decisions got made.
Key Decisions
Redirected branding conversations from opinion to research
The co-founder had strong subjective opinions about brand direction. I led design education sessions and brought research insights into branding discussions — shifting conversations from personal preference to evidence-based decisions. That redirection shaped the overall rebrand.
Challenged assumptions about retention with data
When the team attributed drop-offs to surface-level UX issues, I dug into Amplitude data and conducted user interviews to find the real gap — users' comprehension of financial products and credit-building concepts. I refined research questions to get closer to the root cause, which led to a redesigned onboarding flow that drove the $1M revenue and 60K+ user outcomes.
Established design as a function, not just a role
I mentored two junior designers, owned the rebranding initiative with an external agency, and facilitated quarterly design education sessions to build design awareness across non-design teams. I also created the pre-work, review, and handoff process between PM, design, and engineering — which didn't exist before and directly impacted how fast and consistently the team shipped.
What informed my decisions
User research and interviews revealed that adoption hinged on transparency and stepwise guidance — users needed to feel in control at every step, especially around financial commitments.
Amplitude data showed where drop-offs were actually happening, and user interviews revealed the underlying cause: gaps in financial product comprehension, not UI friction. That distinction changed how we approached the onboarding redesign.
Results
MVP launched in 1.5 months, hitting $1M revenue and 60K+ users within two months
Established repeatable design processes that scaled with the organization
Consistent product and brand experience increased user trust and engagement
Operational dashboards drove data-informed decisions around adoption and retention
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