Nowadays, there is a digital SaaS platform called Elevate by Principal (for SMBs) which has taken years to build and millions have been spent to build it. I was there at the beginning, as the founding designer.  This is that story.

The opportunity had to do with baby boomers owning a lot of businesses, and also retiring near-term.  

To achieve momentum, a top four consultancy was hired.

Even though Principal is a large company, this project was run more like a 0-1 start-up, walled off to some degree and needing to meet goals to get funds.

To get started, we had a long term vision from the consultants.

But we needed something less complex that would get the ball rolling.

At this point, folks were looking to me to start framing out a structure and delivering mocks that they could ship.

So, I designed the following:

🔹 Marketing landing page
🔹 Onboarding quiz / registration
🔹 Account
🔹 Basic dashboard
🔹 Media library

But, we needed something more that could give prospects a reason to join.

Working closely with financial experts within the company, we designed a business valuation calculator.

Here is a mock of the first tool we built, the business valuation calculator:

The key thing about this tool is that the inputs are on the same page, below what's shown. This allows the business owner to change the numbers and play out different scenarios.

Designing and building this required coordination between the consultants, our own internal experts, and myself. My finance background was very helpful.

We had a few insights from interviews we had done with Business owners, and a mountain of data about their needs and painpoints.

One of the key insights was that owners aren't just looking to sell, they are trying to time the market and sell when their valuation is at a peak.

For this tool, we learned that owners would like to play out scenarios and change the numbers - to use it as a predictor and learning experience rather than just a calculator.

Because some of the tools had technical complexity, we needed a cross-functional team of SMEs, business analysts, and myself. We would meet regularly and I would share the latest prototypes or wireframes, we would discuss feasibility and whether or not the tool would product an accurate result.

Using the same process, we built additional tools to create a suite.

Here is the tools dashboard:

The drawdown calculator started as an excel spreadsheet that advisors would use to help clients understand the level of income they would be able to take per year after retirment, specifically after selling a business.

My financial knowledge was critical here; it enabled me to convert a complicated advisor-led process into something much easier.

The experience starts with a short onboarding wizard, which allows the user to easily get started.

After completing these initial questions, they arrive with the dash already partially filled out.

This is a suite of tools that helps the business owner guage their readiness to sell the business. Once they have taken both the Personal and Business assessments, they get a score as shown below.

Like the other tools shown, they can do it by themselves, but likely this will be done in coordination with some involvement from a financial advisor.

It's important to understand that these tools served a very specific purpose, which was to establish a platform which could later grow into an ecosystem, which it has.

Hopefully these tools will continue to be iterated on and maintain a foundation of value for the platform.

Here is a piece of feedback I received: