Node by Slush
The idea of merging Node by Slush with the Slush Platform brought quite a few benefits:
A unified place to manage your company profile and make changes in the future now does not require users to do double work
The same goes for the ticket application form — node users don't need to fill in the form all over again
More tools for investors that come to Slush, such as Investor Tool, which allows browsing all startups that come to Slush in one place
Subscribing feature for investors to stay in a loop of startup updates
A "Node" badge that brings more visibility for startups that come to Slush
A single place to do everything — match investors and startups together, view inspiring learning sessions from Slush stage talks and mentoring sessions, and a lot more!
It was a tricky and interesting task to design, merging Node with the platform meant a lot of redesign work and development of a new identity to Node, so it fits on the platform. I'm very excited to show you what we have created together with the Node and the development team!
✦ B2B ✦ UX/UI Design ✦ Digital Product Design ✦ Brand Identity ✦ Hi-Fi Prototyping
Sign–up always comes first and this one is very similar to the regular Platform sign–up process. However, some 3D blobs that are heavily associated with Node were added to the design as a significant part of their identity to make ensure the user knows that they are signing up for Node.
The company application process is the same as on the Platform side, so I'll skip it to avoid copy–pasting the same design. Feel free to check out the Slush Platform case for it!
The community events feature is a signature part of Node that brings benefits to the startup users to learn and match with investors. Investor Office Hours are available only by invite, so this feature is normally locked as can be seen on the design.
In order to apply for a matchmaking sprint to match investors, this page provides all the information on how and why to do so. The application is done only with one click, and on the right side, the user can see relevant topics and, most importantly, participating partners. This feature has been added just recently and it brought a lot of clarity to participants as many of them wanted to know what investors they can expect to connect with.
When the startups have been accepted, they can see the matched that they got on the same page. There are normally from 1 to 5 matches, so this design fits perfectly and allows one to view all important information about the meeting and provides the button to join the call. The invite link is also visible on their Google calendar.
The vault is a collection of all important materials recorded during Slush or Node sessions. Here the users can browse videos according to their interests and view the sessions directly on the platform.
The investor tool is also a new feature that has been added with the Platform merge. It was kinda existing before back in the day but got removed from the previous Node location due to not being user–friendly. I hope I managed to fix that in this version, but of course, some development to the interface is always on the way!
The idea behind the Investor Tool is to provide a single place where investors can quickly scan the startups. If the startup has recently joined, it will appear at the top and will be highlighted to bring attention. Here upon clicking on the startup, the investor can subscribe for their updates.
Another feature that has been added to the investor Tool is the possibility to save filtered searches. Applying various filters all over again can be time–consuming and exhausting, to avoid that, investors can save their filtered options, as many as they want, share with others, and receive updates on this view regularly upon preference.
© Ekaterina Povarenko 2023