Overview

TradeExchange was an innovative investment marketplace I designed and managed from the ground up, connecting self-directed investors with unregistered investment advisors ("publishers") who provide subscription-based investment advice. Working directly with the founder, I led the complete product development process—from initial concept through MVP launch—including product strategy, design, marketing, and monetization systems.

The Challenge

The investment advisory space presents significant opportunities but comes with substantial trust and usability challenges:

Market Opportunity:

• 50 million self-directed investors in the US seeking independent advice

• Multi-billion dollar market with investors leaving traditional registered advisors

• Most publishers lack mobile strategies, creating a gap for mobile-first solutions

Core Challenges:

• Trust Crisis: Operating in a non-regulated space filled with fraudulent sources and mistrustful investors

• Information Overload: No independent, unbiased review sources for investment advice

• High Churn: Publishers experience significant subscriber turnover

• Mobile Gap: Existing solutions poorly served mobile-first investors who trade on-the-go

Design Challenge: How might we design from scratch a trustworthy, mobile-first platform that helps busy professionals make informed investment decisions while managing risk in an unregulated environment?

Process

Discovery & Research

Research Methods:

• Publisher interviews to understand advisor perspectives and pain points

• Beta user interviews and surveys to validate assumptions

• User flow and journey mapping to identify friction points

• Competitive analysis through direct signup with existing publishers

• Hands-on options trading simulation to understand user context

• Beta user recruitment through designed marketing campaigns

Key Persona - Marcel: 56-year-old orthopedic surgeon, married with 2 college-aged children

Research Insights:

• Users needed immediate, actionable alerts while mobile

• Trust indicators were critical for subscription decisions

• Performance analytics had to be clear and accessible

• Integration with existing major brokers was non-negotiable as people want to stay where they have been trading.

Monetization & Payment Flows

• Designed subscription offers and pricing strategy interfaces

• Created seamless billing and payment experiences

• Developed promotional campaign systems (Limited Time Offers)

• Built comprehensive checkout and payment processing flows

Final Product Ecosystem included:

• Mobile App: Alerts, dashboard, marketplace, and portfolio management

• Publisher Platform: Strategy creation and subscriber management tools

• Marketing & Monetization: Landing pages, email campaigns, and payment flows

• Design System: Comprehensive component library spanning all touchpoints

Collaboration & Execution

Product Management Leadership: For the first 6 months, I acted as both Lead Designer and Product Manager:

• Worked directly with Founder, CTO and engineers on UI implementation

• Co-Managed product roadmap and feature prioritization with Founder

• Coordinated cross-functional efforts across design, development, and marketing

• Transitioned responsibilities when VP of Product was hired

Cross-Functional Partnership:

• Used Jira and Confluence for comprehensive product documentation

• Maintained constant communication through Slack for rapid iteration

• Collaborated with engineering on technical feasibility and implementation

• Worked with founder on business strategy and market positioning

• Coordinated with compliance considerations given regulatory environment

Design System Approach: Established consistent patterns across the entire product ecosystem—mobile app, web platform, marketing site, and email communications—ensuring cohesive brand experience and efficient development.

Results

MVP Launch & Validation: Successfully launched the MVP and gathered real-world user data across multiple metrics:

Measured Success Metrics:

• User Feedback: 4.2/5 average rating from beta testers

• Beta Signups: 340+ beta users recruited through marketing campaigns

• Conversion Rate: 28% from app download to subscription signup

• Daily Active Users: 65% of subscribers used the app 3+ days/week

• Publisher Adoption: 12 investment advisors actively publishing strategies

Launch Learnings: While the product showed strong user engagement and positive feedback, the startup faced significant broker integration challenges that required enterprise partnerships beyond the company's current capabilities. This experience highlighted the critical importance of validating technical dependencies and partnership requirements early in the design process.

Key Design Achievements:

• Successfully designed and launched a complete investment ecosystem from scratch

• Created unified design system spanning mobile app, web platform, marketing site, and email campaigns

• Developed mobile-first approach in a traditionally desktop-heavy industry

• Built comprehensive monetization and payment systems

• Established trust-building design patterns for unregulated financial services

• Designed publisher platform enabling advisor content creation and subscriber management

• Created effective marketing campaigns that successfully recruited beta users for research

Reflection / What I Learned

• Designing from scratch taught me to validate technical dependencies as early as user needs

• Managing both design and product showed me how business constraints directly impact design decisions

• This experience shaped my approach to building trust through design in unregulated industries

• The broker integration challenge reinforced that great UX can't overcome fundamental business model gaps