Connected Investors

UX Research, Product Strategy, UX Design, Usability Testing
Project Overview
Connected Investors (CI) is a platform that empowers real estate investors to find, fund, and collaborate on investment opportunities. It brings together property data, private lending networks, and a thriving investor community—all in one place.

Despite its strong market position, the existing platform faced significant usability and engagement challenges. Users struggled to navigate its complex tools, locate deals relevant to their goals, and understand the product’s full value. Community participation was low, and inconsistent branding diluted trust and retention.

The CI redesign initiative aimed to transform Connected Investors into the most intuitive, data-rich, and collaborative SaaS experience in the real estate investment (REI) space. The north star: Make real estate investing easier, smarter, and more connected.
My Contributions
As the Lead UX Designer and Research Strategist, I guided the discovery, strategy, and early design phases of the CI transformation. My role bridged business objectives, user needs, and data-driven insights to define a clear UX vision and foundation for design execution.
Key areas of contribution included:
  • Discovery & Insight Development: Led stakeholder and user interviews, competitive analysis, and adjacent-industry research to uncover barriers and opportunities.
  • UX Strategy & Definition: Synthesized findings into experience principles, Jobs-to-Be-Done (JTBD), and structured opportunity areas aligned to business goals.
  • User Flows & Information Architecture: Designed intuitive flows and decision trees for critical user journeys (deal discovery, funding access, collaboration).
  • Wireframes & Prototypes: Created responsive prototypes exploring improved navigation, deal personalization, and community integration across web and mobile.
  • Testing & Iteration: Facilitated user walkthroughs and Maze-based usability tests to validate early concepts with both internal stakeholders and end users.

Deeper Dive: My Process

Understand
Empathize & Define
I began by mapping the landscape of real estate investment platforms and adjacent industries (such as financial tools and B2B marketplaces). This competitive and comparative research helped identify what “easy-to-use” and “data-driven” looked like in other contexts.

Through structured stakeholder interviews and user conversations, I discovered critical friction points:
  • Users felt overwhelmed by the data, but under-supported in making actionable sense of it.
  • We needed to focus on accurate, timely data and provide metadata for that data.
  • There was a huge gap in the service offerings for off-market deals and finding Cash Buyers
From these insights, I defined a UX strategy framework rooted in the following principles:
  • Clarity: simplify complex workflows through consistent patterns and visual hierarchy.
  • Confidence: empower investors with contextually relevant data and AI-assisted insights.
  • Connection: integrate collaboration into every stage of the investment journey.
Reference Site Analysis
Reference Site Analysis used to compare competitors and adjacent industry products.
Interview Findings & Card Sort Study Highlights
Ideate
Flows, Wireframes, & Prototypes
Translating research into tangible design direction, I:
  • Mapped decision trees and shorthand flows to reframe the platform around investor goals instead of features.
  • Designed wireframes and interactive prototypes exploring new Dashboard, Search, Lead Lists, and Property Details experiences that prioritized personalization and actionability.
  • Developed team and community interaction models that brought collaboration directly into deal discovery and evaluation. This turned isolated workflows into share, data-informed experiences.
  • Partnered with product and engineering teams to align on data requirements for personalization and insights (e.g. MLS data, life event data, and area overlays).
Proposed Site Map after Card Sort Study
Shorthand Flow
Validate
Testing & Refinement
I ran iterative testing sessions via Maze and stakeholder walkthroughs to evaluate navigation clarity, workflow comprehension, and perceived value. Feedback from those sessions helped refine the IA, simplify task flows, and ensure consistency across responsive breakpoints and native app considerations.
Portion of the Wireframes Created
Outcome
The work laid the foundation for a more intuitive, data-rich, and community-powered Connected Investors Platform. By reframing the experience around clarity, confidence, and connection, the redesign positioned Connected Investors to drive higher engagement, stronger retention, and deeper collaboration among its users.
The Final Product (UI designed by Angie May)
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