The Business Club
- Jan 28
- 4 min read
Designing a trusted marketplace between small businesses and banks (0→1)
TL:DR
--- Recruiter Skim ---
Role: Sole Product Designer
Stage: Idea → pre–Seed
What I did: Led branding, UX, and mobile design; shaped product scope; partnered directly with founder
Problem: Small businesses lack transparency, access, and speed when finding the right banks
Outcome: Designed core mobile flows and brand system used in pitch decks, investor conversations, and early website development
Overview
The Business Club is an early-stage platform designed to help qualified small businesses connect with banks that best match their industry and funding needs—bringing transparency and efficiency to a process currently driven by word-of-mouth and closed networks.
I joined at the idea phase, working directly with the founder as the sole designer to define the product vision, establish brand direction, and design the core mobile experience ahead of the company’s first seed round.
The Problem
Small businesses don’t fail to secure funding because options don’t exist—but because information and access are fragmented.
Common pain points:
No single place to understand which banks serve which industries
Time wasted applying to banks that aren’t a fit
Rejection without clarity, leading to frustration and mistrust
Heavy reliance on informal networks and insider knowledge
Banks, on the other hand, struggle to efficiently connect with verified, relevant businesses.
Product Goals (Phase 1)
The initial goal was to secure funding to build a qualified portal where:
Small businesses can sign up, get vetted, and build a credible profile
Banks can surface their offerings and connect with businesses aligned to their criteria
From a design standpoint, this translated into three priorities:
Trust and credibility for both sides
Clear qualification gates to create an exclusive “club” effect
Simple, role-based experiences that reduce overwhelm
My Role
Product Designer (Sole Designer)
I owned:
Brand identity, color system, and typography
Mobile UX flows and screen design
Early product scope definition
Translating founder ideas into tangible, MVP-ready designs
Advising on engineering needs and development feasibility
The designs I created are actively used in pitch decks, investor discussions, and as the foundation for future development.
Users & Mental Models
Primary Users
Small business owners
Across industries (not startups, not enterprise)
Often overwhelmed or frustrated by opaque lending processes
Banks
Account executives, branch managers, relationship managers
Looking for qualified leads and industry-aligned businesses
Small businesses often arrive feeling confused, rejected, or unsure where to start, which heavily influenced tone, layout, and information hierarchy decisions.
Trust as a Core Design Constraint
Verification was a non-negotiable and a key differentiator.
All small businesses are vetted (EIN lookup, admin approval)
All banks meet internal qualification standards
Profiles are gated—users control what information is shared and when
Rather than treating verification as friction, the onboarding experience frames it as membership into an exclusive, serious network.
Core Product Flows
Priority Flows
Signup & QualificationThe gateway into the ecosystem—designed to balance thoroughness with approachability.
Profile & Portfolio CreationWhere businesses establish credibility and banks control their public presence, similar to a social profile model.
A recurring design challenge was navigating the ethical tension between monetizing bank profiles and maintaining transparency for small businesses—especially around visibility, reviews, and contact access.
Community Design & Risk
The platform includes a community chat space—similar to Reddit—where only qualified members can share experiences and advice.
Key considerations:
Exclusivity reduces spam and low-quality content
Open discussion builds trust through shared experience
Community sentiment is intentionally separated from bank profile presentation
This allowed for honest conversation without turning profiles into unmoderated review pages.
Visual System & Brand Direction
The brand needed to bridge two worlds:
Credibility and security expected from banks
Warmth and approachability needed by small businesses
Design decisions included:
Dark backgrounds with restrained pops of color
Iterative exploration between bold and minimal palettes
Mobile-first layouts with aggressive text reduction to avoid clutter
The result sits intentionally between traditional banking and modern fintech—signaling partnership, not disruption.
Constraints & Tradeoffs
No engineering team yet → MVP-focused design decisions
Wix used for early investor-facing website
Manual verification assumed for early launch
Ongoing learning about loan workflows informed iterative updates
These constraints reinforced the need for flexible, evolvable design choices rather than over-engineered solutions.
Current State & Outcomes
Core mobile screens designed: home, login, signup, profiles, bank views
Designs actively used in:
Pitch decks
Investor conversations
Website development
Established a strong design foundation for future engineering handoff
What I’d Improve Next
With more time or data:
Expand business and bank profile depth
Refine privacy and visibility controls
Better surface comparative signals between banks
Measure engagement between banks and businesses to inform iteration
Founder Collaboration (Highlight)
I worked closely with the founder through bi-weekly, often in-person sessions where ideas were brought to the table and shaped collaboratively. My role was to translate abstract concepts into concrete product decisions, challenge assumptions, and help visualize what it would take—across design, engineering, and operations—to bring the platform to life. This partnership was central to shaping both the product and the early company narrative for investors.
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