Introduction

FounderWay is an AI-driven platform designed to assist entrepreneurs in transforming their ideas into successful businesses. It offers personalized guidance and tools that support founders from the initial concept stage through to acquiring their first customers.

I led the design and research for FounderMatch, defining key workflows, creating sitemaps, and developing high-fidelity designs

Additionally, I was responsible for building the frontend of the application using Next.js and Tailwind CSS

Timeline

Jan 2024 ~ May 2024

Team

2 Designer
3 Developers
1 AI Engineer

Tools

Figma
FigJam
Mural

Disciplines

MVP
Business Plan
UX Design
Pitch

Summary

Founder Match is an AI-powered app that connects entrepreneurs with their ideal co-founders to help startups grow

Our internship kicked off with a 3-day hackathon! We tackled a challenging problem statement by brainstorming ideas, researching solutions, and building a prototype.

Problem Statement

It's hard for startup founders to find the right cofounder. They struggle because there aren't enough good ways to meet potential cofounders with the skills they need and share their vision for the business.

This problem can make it take longer to start a business, lead to teams that don't work well together, and sometimes even cause startups to fail. Solving this issue is essential for helping more startups succeed.

Goal

To create a platform that connects startup founders with potential cofounders based on complementary skills, shared values, and mutual business goals

Solution

Meet David, here is how he is going to use Foundermatch to find his ideal co-founder.

David goes to an event and logs into FounderMatch with a code. After logging in, he answers some profile questions to help find the best matches for him

Step 2: David needs to share details about his startup—its industry, stage, idea, funds raised, and vision—to attract co-founders who genuinely connect with the concept

Step 3: David answers a few questions about the qualities and traits he wants in a cofounder. Once he’s done, the app shows him a list of potential matches

How are we planning to tackle this problem?

We worked together on a mural to outline the process of our MVP to get our project started, beginning with user research to ideate and test solutions

Research ( SWOT Analysis)

We conducted SWOT Analysis to strategically assess our platform and identify areas for improvement/growth, and prepare for potential challenges, helping us make better design decisions

Research Insights: User Survey

We ran user surveys in our design sprint because it's efficient in a relatively short amount of time.

Top Insights from Survey

Skill Preferences

60%

founders were finding difficulties in
commitment & skill set areas

Vision

11/15

founders termed vision as " Extremely Important”

Networking

33%

founders were either university
alumni or met in networking events

Connectivity

Communication over Location

they preferred clear communication
it’s the most valuable trait in the industry

HMW Statement

How might we develop an effective matchmaking filtering system that allows founders to easily specify and find potential co-founders with the desired skills, values, and goals, enhancing the precision and relevance of the matchmaking process?

Ideate

We kicked off with a whiteboard brainstorming session, plotting out a co-founder matching platform that's intuitive and meets founders' specific needs.

For our Low MVP, we didn't want to overload ourselves with too much. We started with a parking lot and prioritized which features to work on first

User Flow & Sitemap

User Flow of Login/ Signup

We crafted a detailed path/scenerio for matching founders together.

Site Map

Some sketches we did

Hi- Fidelity Designs

Learnings

Adaptability and Collaboration

Our first day's success in the hackathon taught us the vital importance of adaptability and collaboration in achieving end-to-end product development as a team.

Let’s Chat

Made with love and caffeine beyond 1 AM

Panth Shah

Product Designer

Panth Shah

Product Designer