Cohere: Designing a Digital Ecosystem for Early-Stage Founders and Administrators

A UX/UI case study focused on research-driven design, workflow clarity, and building meaningful connections within startup ecosystems.

At a Glance

Role: UX/UI Designer & Front-End Developer
Team: 3 UX/UI Designers, 4 Back-End Developers
Timeline: 5 weeks
Users: Ecosystem administrators, founders, mentors, investors
Outcome: Research-backed concept and responsive web platform

Context

4M Ecosystems supports regional startup communities by connecting entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, and resources. Administrators manage large, complex networks, but the existing platform struggled to support discovery, connection, and ecosystem management. Our team partnered with the client to rethink how a digital platform could better support both administrators and community members, resulting in Cohere—a concept for a more intuitive, connected ecosystem experience.

The Problem

Startup ecosystems rely on strong connections between founders, mentors, talent, and investors—but the existing platform struggled to support these relationships in a meaningful way.

While regional administrators managed large and diverse networks, the website was not fluent in organizing ecosystem data, surfacing relevant connections, or helping users understand how they fit into the community. As a result, users had difficulty discovering opportunities, evaluating value, and engaging with others in the network.

From an administrative perspective, the platform lacked the clarity and structure needed to analyze participants, facilitate introductions, and actively manage ecosystem growth. This created a gap between the platform’s intention—to foster collaboration—and the actual user experience.

My Role & Team

This project was completed as part of a senior capstone collaboration between UX/UI designers, media arts students, and computer information systems developers. We partnered with a real client to address an active business problem and deliver a fully functional web platform.

I worked as a UX/UI Designer and Front-End Developer, contributing across research, experience design, and interface implementation. My focus included:

• Translating business goals into user-centered requirements

• Conducting UX research and synthesizing insights

• Defining user roles, flows, and information architecture

• Designing wireframes and visual concepts

• Supporting front-end styling for a responsive, hand-coded website

This cross-functional structure closely mirrored real-world product teams, requiring constant collaboration between design and development.

Research & Discovery

To understand both the business needs and the experiences of different participants within the ecosystem, our team conducted a mix of platform analysis, user research, and secondary research.

We began by reviewing the existing beta platform to identify usability gaps and limitations in how users navigated and connected within the ecosystem. To better understand the needs and motivations of each user role, we conducted interviews and gathered feedback from professionals involved in startups, mentorship, and talent development, as well as administrators managing ecosystem networks.

Additional research focused on the startup lifecycle and how founders, mentors, talent, and investors evaluate value and engagement at different stages. This helped us design for not just individual users, but the relationships between them.

Research Methods

• Platform review and heuristic analysis

• User interviews and informal feedback

• Secondary research on startup ecosystems and roles

• Stakeholder conversations with ecosystem administrators

Understanding User Roles

In order to encourage meaningful participation in the ecosystem, it was critical to clearly define who the platform was for and the value each user brought to the network.

Through research and collaboration with the client, we reframed the original “4M” structure—Money, Mentors, Market, and Management—into clearer, role-based user groups that better reflected how people identified themselves and engaged within startup ecosystems.

The final user roles included:

• Ecosystem Administrators, responsible for managing and growing regional networks

• Startups, seeking resources, mentorship, talent, and funding

• Mentors, offering guidance and expertise

• Investors, evaluating opportunities and supporting growth

• Talent, looking to contribute skills and join emerging teams

This shift in language and structure was integral to aligning the platform with user expectations, clarifying value for each role, and supporting more intuitive navigation and discovery across the site.

Key Insights

1. Administrators needed clarity and visibility across their ecosystems.
Administrators were responsible for managing large, complex networks but lacked tools that helped them easily understand who was in their ecosystem, how participants were connected, and where opportunities for connection existed.

2. Different user roles evaluated value in fundamentally different ways.
Founders, mentors, talent, and investors each had distinct goals and criteria for engagement. Designing a single, uniform experience risked obscuring what mattered most to each group.

3. Users relied heavily on manual interpretation to understand relevance.
Without clear structure or filtering, users were required to mentally sort information to determine whether connections, opportunities, or profiles were relevant to them.

4. Credibility and trust were essential for meaningful participation.
Users needed confidence in the quality of profiles and connections before engaging, especially when considering mentorship, investment, or collaboration.

5. Autonomy and privacy needed to coexist.
Users wanted control over how they presented themselves and engaged with others, while still maintaining appropriate boundaries around sensitive information.

Information Architecture

Site Map and Content Inventory

Visual Design Concepts

Typography and Color Scheme

To create a bright and modern feel to the networking site, we chose a soft blue palette with vibrant accents and clean fonts for readability.

Logo Design

After initial discussion with the client about creating a place where each consumer has the ability to connect, we chose the final brand name "Cohere" - find company here and your bright ideas can meet their full potential.

Wireframes to Bootstrap Mockup

Final Solution

The final solution, Cohere, was a responsive web platform designed to support connection, discovery, and ecosystem management across multiple user roles.

The experience centered on role-based navigation, allowing administrators, startups, mentors, investors, and talent to quickly understand their place within the ecosystem and access relevant information. Clear information architecture and structured profiles helped reduce cognitive load and made it easier for users to assess value and relevance.

For administrators, the platform emphasized visibility and control, supporting the ability to analyze participants, manage ecosystems, and facilitate connections more intentionally. For community members, the design focused on credibility, autonomy, and discoverability, enabling users to present themselves clearly while maintaining appropriate privacy.

Visual design decisions prioritized clarity and approachability, supporting trust and usability while reinforcing the platform’s role as a professional yet collaborative space.