B2B2C SaaS · 2021–2023
Building Coherence from Zero
Bringing structural design leadership to a scaling company on its way to a $1.2B acquisition
$1.2B
Acquisition valuation
5 → 12
Design team growth
98%
Customer retention
9.3×
Task completion speed
The Challenge
SimpleNexus had grown from a basement startup to about 100 employees on the strength of its loan officer product, but the design function was still operating like it had at 20 people. Five designers served multiple product areas with no shared process, no research practice, and no structural connection to product strategy. Navigation was organized around database models instead of user mental models. Sales had lost multi-million-dollar deals because the product looked dated compared to competitors, and 30 to 50% of support calls stemmed from usability issues. Marketing had zero product screenshots on the website. The company didn't need a redesign. It needed coherence.
The company didn't need a redesign.
It needed coherence.
Coherence Stack
Five layers of structural infrastructure, built from zero in two years.
Decision Rights
Product trio model
PM + Designer + Eng Lead as equal partners
Shared Context
Multi-year product vision
Research-grounded, communicated through prototypes
Explicit Outcomes
Strategic roadmap
Each phase tied to lifecycle opportunity + clear ownership
Ownership Architecture
Embedded research + design system
Capabilities within trios, not siloed functions
Culture Infrastructure
Design Summit
Recurring ritual for alignment, not just team-building
The Approach
Introduced the product trio model (PM, Designer, Engineering Lead as equal partners), transforming design from downstream execution to upstream partnership. This was a Decision Rights change: designers gained the authority and obligation to shape outcomes, not just outputs.
Trio Model
PM + Designer + Eng Lead
Led a comprehensive product audit that surfaced the structural gap between what the company was building and what users actually needed. Presented findings company-wide to create the mandate for change.
Oversaw the development of a multi-year product vision grounded in extensive user research and full journey mapping. The vision was communicated through prototypes and storytelling rather than slide decks, building momentum across the company until the conversation shifted from 'Are we doing this?' to 'When can we start?'
“When can we start?”
Company-wide momentum shift
1 in 7 U.S. loans.
Guided the translation of that vision into a strategic roadmap that functioned as coherence architecture, not just a product plan. Each phase mapped to a major opportunity in the homeownership lifecycle, with explicit outcomes and clear ownership across teams.
Grew the design team from 5 to 12 designers, each placed into a product trio (not a design silo). Built the company's first unified design system spanning iOS, Android, and web in both Figma and code.
Established the team's first user research practice, not as a separate function, but as an integrated capability within each product trio.
Co-created the Design Summit, a multi-day offsite format combining skill-building with strategic alignment. Not a team-building retreat: coherence infrastructure that became a recurring ritual.
Before → After
Two years of structural investment.
Before
5 designers, no shared process
No design system
No product vision
No user research practice
Database-model navigation
0 product screenshots on website
After
12 designers in product trios
Unified system: iOS, Android, web
Multi-year vision, company-wide buy-in
Research embedded in every trio
User-mental-model navigation
$1.2B acquisition (UX cited as top factor)
The Outcome
The product went from a simple mobile app to a platform touching 1 in 7 U.S. mortgage loans. NPS hit 72 from 5.7 million homebuyers. Loan application conversion reached 80%. Task completion improved 9.3x. Customer retention hit 98%. The company made the Inc. 5000 list four years running. Then nCino acquired us for $1.2 billion. UX was cited as a top factor in the acquisition, not because the screens were pretty, but because the product's structural coherence was a competitive moat the acquirer couldn't replicate quickly.
“UX was cited as a top factor in the acquisition — not because the screens were pretty, but because the product's structural coherence was a competitive moat the acquirer couldn't replicate quickly.”