AI Founders Hub
Marketplace connecting AI startups with specialized talent and resources
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
5 months
Year
2026 – ongoing
Team
Team of 7
Overview
The Challenge
Early-stage AI founders struggle to find specialized talent, advisors, and resources. Existing platforms are too generic, leading to poor matches and wasted time.
My role: Product Designer — designed the matching system interface, founder profiles, and marketplace experience.
Strategy & Research
Systems Thinking
Built a multi-sided marketplace model with distinct user journeys for founders, talent, and advisors — each optimized for their specific matching criteria.
Key Insights
- AI founders value domain expertise over general skills
- Trust signals need to be earned through the platform, not imported
- Speed-to-first-match determines platform retention
Product Decisions
- Smart matching algorithm surfaced in a card-based discovery interface
- Structured founder profiles that communicate vision, not just requirements
- In-platform collaboration tools to reduce off-platform churn
Design Evolution
From Wireframe to Prototype
Each project evolves through deliberate stages — structure first, then fidelity, then interaction.
Interactive Prototype
Interaction Decisions
Why prototyping was applied
Clickable prototypes enabled user testing of the matching flow with real founders, surfacing critical trust and transparency issues before build.
Cognitive function it serves
Card sorting animations help founders mentally organize potential matches, supporting decision-making through spatial arrangement.
How it reduces friction
One-tap interest expression with animated confirmation reduces the social friction of cold outreach.
UX Engineering
Technical Awareness
Technical Considerations
- Designed real-time matching interface with optimistic UI updates
- Created responsive card system supporting various content densities
- Built accessibility-first component library with ARIA patterns
State Management
Designed for complex multi-entity state — conversations, matches, and profiles all with real-time sync requirements.
Performance
Lazy-loaded profile cards with skeleton screens maintain perceived performance during data-heavy browsing sessions.
Results
Impact & Reflection
45% faster time-to-first-match vs. competitor platforms
72% match acceptance rate
3.2x increase in platform engagement
$2.4M in funded collaborations facilitated
“Marketplace design is fundamentally about trust architecture. Every pixel either builds or erodes confidence in the matching process.”
Lessons Learned
- Two-sided marketplaces need distinct but harmonious design languages
- Empty states are the most critical screens in a new marketplace
- Social proof design must be authentic to be effective