Virgin StartUp
Empowering entrepreneurs by restructuring the startup loan application journey around how founders actually decide
Led UX strategy on the redesign of Virgin StartUp's loan application platform, with Goldfish Agency. The design system I built still runs the platform today.
Sector
Entrepreneur Finance Services
Services
UX Strategy
Website Design
Design System
LIVE SITE
Brief
A complicated loan platform Virgin's brand could not carry on its own.
Virgin StartUp lends to first-time UK founders at the riskiest point in building a business. The brief was a redesign of the site and the loan application: meet Virgin Group's brand bar, and fix a funnel that was not converting.
Insight
The brief said redesign. The data said restructure.
The application was built in Virgin's order, with not enough empathy to the founders. It asked for financial details before anyone had decided to apply. People were not leaving, not just because it looked wrong. They were leaving because it asked too much, too early, in too meandering a journey.
Build
A user journey resequenced, and a system built to last.
I rebuilt the application around how founders evaluate funding: staged, with each question held back until the point it is actually needed. Then a design system to meet Virgin Group standards, delivered as wireframes through prototypes, to the final detailed design for the Goldfish team’s developer to build straight from.
A design system still in service as they scale.
The design system remains the foundation Virgin continues to build on.
Testimonial
"Josh joined the Goldfish team and led the strategic redesign of the Virgin StartUp website - focused on user experience, conversion, and meeting Virgin's brand standards. He built the system that became the foundation for ongoing development. Quick, considered, and clear in his thinking. We've continued working with him on client projects since, which says most of it."
Joe Kenyon, Goldfish Agency / Virgin StartUp