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overview
Designing a marketplace from scratch, iterating, and introducing systems to iterate even faster.
I led efforts to simplify and align Nearville's core user journeys, reducing friction in onboarding and creating a clearer, a more scalable product experience as the marketplace grew.
5 x
increase in sign-up completion
7 steps
fewer onboarding steps for a smoother experience
60 %
faster design workflows enabled by component reuse and clearer system structure.
PROBLEM SPACE
Speed introduced complexity before the product was ready for it.
Nearville is a peer-to-peer rental marketplace, with a small team building and iterating quickly over 6-8 months. As with many early-stage startups, we were balancing multiple priorities at once, such as responding to user feedback, exploring product direction, and preparing for investor conversations, all while continuing to ship.
🤩
Truth of an early-stage startup
Exciting new product
Speedy testing and validation
Small but strong team
🤔
… but also truth
Pivoting product to market fit
Competing priorities
Lack of product boundaries
😤
So we were motivated to…
Think through non-happy paths to build credibility
Introduce new features to keep users engaged
Build with scalability in mind for future growth
Quickly, the product became more complex than it needed to be.
DISCOVERY
Zooming out to understand the product end-to-end
To move forward, I stepped back from individual screens and focused on understanding the user experience end-to-end.
AUDIT
A bird’s-eye view to review the full user journey
Key gaps spotted
PROCESS
Simplifying the core flow for a smoother user experience
Following an end-to-end product audit, I mapped the full user journey and key actions. Combined with user research, this surfaced two primary opportunities to improve the experience: onboarding and in-person rental exchange.
Creating a shared language to speed up decision-making
I created an end-to-end user flow highlighting major user actions. This became a source of truth for the current experience and a foundation for team discussions moving forward.
Onboarding
Through in-person research, we consistently heard that users were excited about the idea of peer-to-peer rentals but hesitant to sign up.
Original onboarding flow consisted of 8 steps.
Originally intended to collect personal info upfront in order to estimate location and calculate accurate sales taxes for checkout.
However, this required a high level of commitment from the users before they had built trust in a new product.
Shifting onboarding from a barrier to a byproduct of intent
Instead of removing entirely, I restructured the flow to defer until users take meaningful actions such as listing an item/requesting a rental.
This repositioned sign-up as a natural consequence of user intent, rather than a requirement, allowing users to explore and build trust before committing.
In-person rental exchange
Something unique about Nearville is that the rental exchange happens in person between the renter and owner.
Original exchange consisted of a code exchange for security purposes.
Originally intended to verify renter/owner identities during handoff, in addition to other considerations like insurance.
However, this introduced additional friction and became another “to-do” during what should be a simple, real-world interaction.
Start small, ask the most important questions first before adding layers.
We simplified the flow to a click-to-confirm interaction, making the exchange as seamless as possible, especially at a stage where the priority is getting users through the full experience.
This allowed us to move faster and test with more users, focusing on adoption and end-to-end completion rather than optimizing for edge cases too early.
I also built an entire design system to bring consistency and mutual language for the designers and engineers. More of that in a separate case study here.
Challenge
Leveraging my systems thinking, I led the notifications logic also.
At this phase of the product (early, still seeing market product fit), notifications were an especially important factor for driving users and establishing engagement.
I created a shared structure for the team as a centralized notification system.
Starting with a strategy plan, where I established a framework:
STRATEGY
Goals
Implementation scope
Notification type
Prioritization framework
I then translated that to a working database where I cleaned up an event trigger, timing and frequency, message content and destination:
The problem existed between where we were headed vs. what we were prioritizing in the product.
Designed to drive early user action and establish engagement.
⚡️
No way for users to revisit notifications if they were dismissed or missed, as a notification center was not part of the early product roadmap.
If I were to re-do this part of the project again, I would be more specific about how and when notifications are introduced.
For example, this is a snapshot of notification types by purpose ranked by "must-know" and "good-to-know".
A solid starting point, but I would also consider:
When to introduce “must-know” notifications:
Not based on time (e.g. 30 days post-MVP),
but based on product maturity (e.g. once we reach a threshold of active users or completed rentals)
This ensures notifications align with product maturity and roadmap priorities, while avoiding premature investment and unnecessary complexity.
FINAL DELIVERY
A peer-to-peer marketplace for neighbors, available on iOS and Android.
Borrow what you need. Rent out what you don't.
Save money and space while building community. Rent tools, appliances and more from people nearby.
Rent and lend with your neighbors.
Find what you need in your neighborhood, easy and convenient.
Make friends in your community.
Connect with people in your area by sharing and exchanging.
Make use of items sitting in storaage.
Put unused items to work instead of letting them sit idle.
Earn extra cash on the side.
All while making some cash on the side, because, why not.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Navigating through fast moving 0→1 environment as a founding designer
WHAT I LEARNED
Balancing depth and perspective to build better product decisions
The ability to move between detail and big-picture thinking efficiently make informed product decisions.
Working in a 0→1 environment pushed me to take on different types of challenges, from product flows to design systems to notification logic. Growth comes from taking on new challenges!
This was a great opportunity to work as a founding designer in a small, tight-knit, fast-moving 0→1 environment. It was a wild but fun ride with the team.
WHAT'S NEXT
Continuing to build with intention
As of Feb 2026, the team made the decision to discontinue Nearville. Taking what I learned, I’ll continue building my skills with a stronger focus on clarity and decision-making.
Developing a clearer framework for prioritizing what matters now vs. later, especially in fast-moving 0→1 environments.
Actively trying new tools, not being afraid to experiment, and adopting what proves useful to improve how I design and collaborate.
