The Opportunity
Dartco aims to build a market-leading company of integrated B2B software products through acquisition and long term retention of sub-scale B2B software businesses. The startup needs a digital presence that serves as grounds to connect business owners, investors, and brokers and start the journey of growth.
My Role
Our group spanned coast-to-coast and comprised of Alex Nouaux, Elaine Phong, Kripa Buddhdew, and myself. I touched on the major steps through the HCD process — research, synthesis, personas, problem statements, brainstorm, prototyping, and testing. I also led client meetings and the brainstorm.
Our team worked closely with the client to craft a project plan that sets the stage on scope. The initial schedule seemed aggressive on weekly goals, which provided leeway in the latter part for unforseens. It’s important to see this plan as a live document and revise a stage if it isn’t making the cut to achieve our goals.
Research
Reviewing sitemaps from similar ventures provided insight on underlying structures and features. We used this data to assess requirements when structuring our sitemap.
We also conducted heuristics review for the top sites which gave us a view on what the competitors are lacking within their platforms. This also helped us develop a differentiation for Dartco within the market.
Synthesis
We amplified our secondary research on our demographic due to sparse feedback from interviews. Some factors that are important to our demographic are as follows:
+ Business owners are cautious when researching M&A options.
+ Third party testimonials and backgrounds are studied when vetting a company.
+ Owners tend to utilize references or have a strong brand pull when making a decision.
+ White papers, press releases, and case studies translate to brand legitimacy
Personas
We defined 3 types of users from which we crafted 4 personas. These personas guided forthcoming design decisions.
Problem Statements
Themes and insights from the research brought user pain points into light. We reframed them as the opportunities below:
+ How might we jump-start a conversation between business owners and Dartco?
+ How might we demystify the M&A process to business owners?
+ How might we instill trust during the decision making process?
Brainstorm
Since project collaboration was distributed, we leveraged the power of Figjam to hold a virtual brainstorm session. The client was included during the creative session to gain their input and immediate buy-in on wild-card ideas and next steps.
The brainstorm resulted with many ideas — we ran an affinity map exercise to garner findings and prioritize features that align with MVP goals and user’s main needs.
Information Architecture
A sitemap helps connect core features that are highlighted from the brainstorm. We studied ideation items and their placement on the sitemap — and ultimately defined an MVP.
User Flow
Red routes act as high-level structures highlighting users’ actions when executing tasks. These lay the grounds for what screens need to be developed for the MVP.
Lo-Fidelity
A wireflow designed and programmed into a prototype allows us to validate ideas through usability tests. This phase also highlighted accessibility issues and defined edge cases.
Usability Testing
Two rounds of unmoderated usability tests were conducted with 18 & 27 users respectively. Highlights are as follows:
Hi-Fidelity
Our team used Figma in concert when devising the hi-fi prototype. This was a chance to implement remedies mentioned above and explore branding techniques.
Final Prototype
We used key findings from research and usability testing to provide a web experience that meets Dartco’s goals and user needs.
Chatbot
This feature gives a chance to interact with Dartco from the get-go, improving brand authenticity and trust.
Qualification Quiz
A quick assessment allows both parties to be on the same page. It also provides buy-in and a feeling of product ownership as users invest time on the screener, ultimately leading to more conversions.
Responsive Screens
We implemented findings from the web experience to develop a responsive mobile layout.
Our scope ends here but we have established enough direction to understand next steps for the product. An investor portal would be interesting to chip at and implement in such a way for it to work in unison with the front facing program.
Since the startup is in infancy, it is exciting to see which features will be used most and to see how the brand will evolve from that data.
