I joined a stealth startup while I was a junior in college, entering a world where I had no experience. Yet in the ~3 years I spent with the team, I gained so much experience wearing a bunch of hats at a small startup.
Participated in product development team for two years
Collaborated with engineering to build out MVP concept and designs
Design
Worked as a team to understand what our potential users might want from our product, creating exhaustive lists, personalities, and journeys to explore
Contributed to design sprints, wireframes, product features that were reflected in each build of the product.
Took both a granular, and pie-in-the-sky view to our product, drilling down on specific moments and flows, as well as what we hoped we would build and show to the public.
Internal Testing
With a small team in a stealth startup, there was precious little user-testing outside of our group of 11
Took on the role of a super user of the product--constantly envisioning how different people might approach using it
Created target user personalities to work through the same journey with differing levels of care and interest, mimicking our users
Extensively researched competitive products, and the larger market
Research
Iterated and discussed different approaches of using and entering the product
Extensively researched competitive products, and the larger market
Participated in a Year 2 product & design revamp--going from MVP to fleshing out components and features
Stress tested/QA tested product constantly for speed metrics, actively reporting and reproducing bugs
Sprints and Deep Dives
During Year 2, our approach changed to focus more on 1-2 month deep dives into specific topics/parts of the product
By deep diving into a specific situation and evaluating the different approaches, we could make a more accessible product
Continued to create feature request sketches and prototypes and work through prioritization with Product and Engineering
Began working under a more robust design roadmap, reporting to PM
Full-Time
When I graduated in the Fall of 2023, I immediately began working full time. This period was quite different from the initial year and a half due to both my role, and the startups goals for the first half of 2023.
Collaborated between a robust Design and Content/Product team to develop a 2023 roadmap on which target users group we would focus on
Coordinated our initial private alpha, moderating and providing support to our initial users
Compiled, analyzed and summarized user interviews from our alpha as well as user research from UserTesting.com