Overview
The project started when a future founder of Redraft reached out to me with a simple idea: to create the best possible AI research tool for enterprise sellers, speeding up outreach and deal closure. We started the project with just two of us, me as a product designer and an engineer founder. From the beginning, my role included everything from the ideation and discovery stage to design implementation and development support.
Problem
Account executives (AEs) spend countless hours researching companies, decision-makers, and their plans to craft personalized outreach. Yet, existing tools offer only shallow and often inaccurate insights, forcing AEs to waste time piecing together information from multiple sources.
Role
Product Designer
Skills
User Research
Visual Design
Interaction Design
Product Strategy
Try Redraft
01
Market research
The first step in the process was to define our niche, to find out who our potential customers are, what they need, who our competitors are, and what their advantages and disadvantages might be.
I started by researching what types of web apps solve similar problems, how they solve them, and who their customers are. I collected all this information in a spreadsheet, where I also compared competitors' features, revenues, and costs to better understand their market position.
02
User research
The next step in my design process was understanding our potential customers’ pain points and validating the hypothesis. To do this, I partnered with 16 Account Executives (AEs) who served as our design partners, whom I found on LinkedIn.
During the interviews, I asked them to describe their daily workflow: how much time they spent on research, what they research, how they do it, and which tools they use. I also had them break down the process step by step. Their common challenges are:
AEs waste hours researching companies and decision-makers, slowing outreach
Existing tools provide shallow and misleading data, forcing AEs to cross-reference multiple sources, leading to errors
Many AI tools lack context, resulting in vague recommendations that miss potential account's needs
03
AEs research workflow
After the interviews, I realized that all those AEs had similar challenges and research processes. These user interviews provided key insights that shaped our focus and defined basic requirements for the future application. Existing research workflow:
04
From research to strategy
Redraft can stand out by focusing on speed, accuracy, and contextual insights, solving key pain points that slow AEs down. Instead of switching between multiple tools, AEs will have a single workspace that delivers high-quality, AI-powered research, cutting their research time from hours to minutes.
01
Ideate — Learn — Test
When I collected enough information and insights, I came up with some simple ideas that could potentially solve our customers' pain points. Then I returned to the AEs to validate whether these ideas could make their current process easier. It took at least a few iterations and a couple of user testing sessions to define the foundation of the future app. Here are first user workflows, which were refined and improved over time.
02
Testing prototypes
As a next step, I designed a working prototype in Figma and asked them to complete a few typical scenarios. To conduct and record usability tests, I used Lyssna and PostHog, which allowed me to analyze results and polish the user experience later.
03
Usability metrics
What I measured in usability testing:
System Usability Scale (SUS) — a survey to measure ease of use
Frequency of Use — are they continuing to use the product after the initial test, and if so, how often?
Feature Adoption — which features do they use most vs. ignore?
Drop-off Points — where do they disengage or stop using the product?
The solution
As a result, we created a web app called Redraft. The app helps enterprise sellers research big accounts and strategize their outreach in minutes instead of hours.
It provides custom, real-time research on potential accounts’ challenges and initiatives; identifies decision-makers, champions, and blockers; and helps sellers align their solutions with each account’s biggest problems.
01
Onboarding
The main goal of the onboarding flow is to show the user how Redraft works and personalize their experience from the start.
02
Draft
The Draft section is where Redraft truly shines as a research tool. We brought together Notion, ChatGPT, and Perplexity in one place, allowing users to gather insights, company overviews, and industry-specific data without the need to leave the workspace.
03
Templates
At least 2/3 of our design partners told us they always use templates to save time and cover key details. However, the real magic happens in customization. Top-performing salespeople treat templates as guides but tailor them heavily to fit the specific account.
04
Sharing
Sales teams work together, and account research is often shared with SDRs, managers, or customer success teams. We made this process easy by providing two sharing options: download a PDF or publish online.
Feedback
After soft-launching Redraft, we brought in over 300 enterprise sellers for beta testing. We got hundreds of insights that helped us improve the app before the official launch. We also received a lot of kind words from our customers, reinforcing that we were on the right path.
Reflections
For eight months, I worked as a founding designer and collaborated closely with a founder and engineers to design an app that would help enterprise sellers speed up outreach and deal closure.
But my role wasn't limited to design. I was responsible for analytics, which I configured together with an engineer. Also, I was one of those who made key decisions about product strategy, marketing, development, and technology.
The Redraft app was launched in December 2024.