Virgin StartUp
Empowering entrepreneurs by simplifying the startup loan journey
Strategic UX redesign of Virgin StartUp's loan application platform - reordering the founder journey around how entrepreneurs actually evaluate funding, and establishing a design system built to Virgin Group standards that has carried the platform's development since launch.
Brief
A complex loan platform Virgin's brand authority couldn't carry
Virgin StartUp is the Virgin Group's funding and support initiative for early-stage UK founders, delivering loans, mentorship, and resources at the riskiest stage of building a business. The audience is first-time entrepreneurs evaluating funding under pressure, and the brief - delivered as lead UX strategist with Goldfish Agency - was a full redesign of the website and loan application platform: meeting the visual quality Virgin's brand authority commands, and converting at a rate the existing funnel wasn't hitting.
Strategic Insight
The brief said redesign. The research said restructure
The brief described a redesign; the research told a different story. Drop-off analysis, user journey mapping, and entrepreneur interviews revealed the actual problem wasn't visual but structural - the platform was organised around Virgin's internal logic rather than the entrepreneur's mental model, asking for too much information too early, before applicants had committed to the process, and presenting a visual register beneath Virgin Group brand quality at exactly the points trust mattered most. The strategic move was a restructure, not a redesign - rebuilding the application journey around how entrepreneurs actually evaluate funding decisions.
Testimonial
"Joshua joined the Goldfish team to lead the strategic redesign of the Virgin StartUp website, focused on user experience, conversion, and meeting Virgin's brand standards. He shaped the design strategy, built the system that became the foundation for ongoing site development, and delivered work the Virgin team were genuinely satisfied with. Quick, considered, and clear in his thinking, he's the kind of strategic creative partner who makes a complex project feel manageable."
Joe Kenyon, Goldfish Agency / Virgin StartUp