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How designing a visionary feature that never made it to production can bring business results?

I knew the product. I also knew the market needs. So, I pitched a solution for the management. They loved it.

It didn't make to production. Instead, we acquired another company with a similar solution.

Business Wins

Shifted the product and company's strategy towards video solutions

Significant competitive advantage in value proposition

Immediate increase in ACV due to acquisition

"I spot a trend in the client's feedbacks.

I have an idea that will meet their need while expanding our product.
Hear me out…"

Me, in conversation with Asaf Shalom, Chief of Product

TLDR

  • The market was buzzing about videos integration for a while

  • The videos needed to be personalized to have a extra value

  • I came up with an idea of creating a personalized video platform and pitched to management

  • I started an internal side-project with Product VP to create a finalized prototype

  • Reactions were very supportive, but cost was high.

  • Instead, the company searched for a player on the market with similar solution and purchased it

  • Results showed a huge supportive sales candy

A new mentoring solution was needed to level up with competition.

Suggested solutions included structured programs for enhanced mentoring opportunities.

With >150,000 mentors and >20,000 completed mentorships, this approach has empowered mentors and supporters to give back effectively, while increasing engagement and commitment to the organization.


  • A new mentoring solution was needed to level up with competition.

  • Suggested solutions included structured programs for enhanced mentoring opportunities.

  • With >150,000 mentors and >20,000 completed mentorships, this approach has empowered mentors and supporters to give back effectively, while increasing engagement and commitment to the organization.

The Story

  • Personalization is a key element for our clients in a relationship with donors

  • Spending time with clients on calls had me realize the power of videos and lack of personalization we offer in our product

  • Emails are still the no. 1 tool for nurturing relationships with donors

  • I came up with "Graditude" - a platform for managing personalized videos by demand which a user can share individually or request a personalized video from others

Defining the Business Goal

Build an intuitive and easy-to-use video management platform prototype to use as a differentiator value prop to drive sales.

User Types

There are 3 types of users for this specific project:

  1. Client user: Digital Gift Officer
    Facilitates and manages the Admin side.
    Main goal: Easily manage fundraisers to deepen relationships with their donors

  2. End user: Frontline Fundraiser
    Main goal: Deepening relationships with donors with less effort

  3. End user: Major Donors
    Main goal: Set foot in the industry with the help and connection of a mentor

There are 3 types of users for this specific project:

  1. Client user: Digital Gift Officer
    Facilitates and manages the Admin side.
    Main goal: Easily manage fundraisers to deepen relationships with their donors

  2. End user: Frontline Fundraiser
    Main goal: Deepening relationships with donors with less effort

  3. End user: Major Donors
    Main goal: Set foot in the industry with the help and connection of a mentor

My Role

  • Design lead and hands-on

  • Collaborated with VP Product

  • Set process, flow and architecture hierarchy 

  • Pitched idea to Management

  • Conducted client interviews figuring true needs and opportunities

Discovery Findings & Insights:

We made few discovery calls with clients to understand how they currently use mentorship and figuring out their needs. We found that:

  1. Managers are currently using Sheets and Excel for matching mentors to mentees

  2. They would love to automate this process for bulk matches, but appreciate the control they have for individual matching

  3. Mentoring sessions have seasons (spring, autumn etc.)

  4. They separate mentoring sheets by subjects (Sports, Finance, Career Etc.)

  5. They lose track of mentoring relationships and can’t tell when it’s “real”

  6. There’s a need for their specific CRM integration

It took 3 iterations between Design, Product, clients and Business to come up with a comprehensive solution that got an overwhelmingly positive feedback from clients and got us to push towards hi-fi wireframes

The Solution

Say hello to Gratavid - a place where Digital Gift Officers can manage and distribute personalized videos to potential major donors

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