Better financial tools for startup founders

Overview

The Coterie helps startup founds invest and borrow in ways that traditional financial institutions cannot do. Founders can have access to funds, but don't have the traditional salary income to pass some qualifications. The Coterie provides an alternative way that respects their means and what they've accomplished.

The Coterie is funded by A16Z, Initialized Capital, Gradient Ventures, and Stanley Tang (co-founder of DoorDash).

My Role

I was the Design Lead coordinating with a Principal Designer and Product Designer. I also coordinated with a Brand Designer for the tail end of the project to help coordinate their marketing site.

My core responsibility was in scoping the remaining design plan, leading client meetings and reviews, and in this case contributing directly as a prototyping specialist.

Sleek, modern, and exclusive

I came in several weeks later due to prior commitments, but the team had been doing some great work already. For my part I helped navigate some finalization of the design direction, and keep us moving forward through roadmapping our remaining timeline. We wanted to give enough iterations, while also balancing coverage as well.

Advanced prototypes to unlock progress

While the static designs felt good, there also seemed to be an experience gap. Some key moments in flow felt like they needed more impact, such as signing up, or making an investment.

To that end I decided to experiment more directly and coordinate with our Principal Designer in creating rich, on device prototypes using Origami Studio that took advantage of the gyroscope and haptic feedback.

These prototypes hit the mark in creating moments of delight for our stakeholders, and it helped propel us further along with more confidence in completing the overall experience.