My Role — Lead Product Designer (end-to-end: research, IA, flows, pricing & plan cards, marketplace/profile UX, design ops)
Team — CEO/PM, Engineering, Customer Success, Marketing/Growth
Duration — Multi-release program (2 years; iterative launches)
Key Outcome:
+28% trial to paid conversion
-45% time to first board creation process
+35% advisor profile completion rate
+2.1x boardroom engagement
-22% on "how-to" support tickets
AdvisoryCloud is the leading platform for building advisory boards and turning executive experience into professional growth. It is recognized multiple times by Inc. Magazine as one of America’s fastest-growing private companies.
The Business Context
AdvisoryCloud is positioned as “the #1 platform for advisors,” helping companies build and operate advisory boards and collaborate in a Digital Boardroom (posts, messaging, polls, meetings). The go-to-market promise is “start an advisory board in minutes, not months.” The product also leverages a large advisor network to seed boards (10,000+ / 25,000+ executives referenced across site copy). Our redesign needed to make that promise credible in product and measurable in funnels.
The Problem
Before the restructure, value was there but dispersed: pricing/plan pages didn’t make the offer legible, advisor and company flows felt like separate products, and the Digital Boardroom’s engagement tools sat behind friction (unclear affordances and weak onboarding). Result: hesitation at signup, drop-off during board creation, and under-utilized engagement features.
My Role & Responsibilities
Reframe IA around the company journey (Evaluate → Create Boardroom → Invite/Match Advisors → Engage & Operate).
Redesign pricing & plan cards for comprehension.
Unify advisor marketplace / profiles with board creation logic.
Clarify and surface Digital Boardroom engagement primitives (post, poll, meet) and notifications.
Establish a design system for speed and consistency; set up experimentation & instrumentation.
The Approach
I kicked off with funnel analysis and live-session reviews, then ran interviews with companies (founders, ops leads) and advisors (executives exploring roles). We mapped the dual flywheels: how companies spin up a board; how advisors discover meaningful roles. We also audited Help Center guidance to ensure product mirrors what marketing promises (e.g., “recruit, build, and manage advisory boards” centrally, in one place).
Key Insight / Turning Point
Immediate value > exhaustive setup. If companies can create a Digital Boardroom first, they’re far more likely to invite and engage—so we moved board creation ahead of advisor selection. (You can invite your own advisors or tap the network.)
Plan clarity converts. Pricing must clearly answer: Who is this for? What do I get now? How do I grow later? (We aligned names/benefits with the site’s tiering and advisor network claims.)
Engagement primitives win adoption. Expose Post / Message / Poll / Meet at the top of the Boardroom; make the first post guided to remove blank-state anxiety.
Collaboration in Action
I facilitated cross-functional workshops to work backwards from a healthy, active boardroom (recurring posts, meetings, polls) to the first session. Engineering flagged constraints around advisor search; we added progressive search (start with invites, then network browse), and CS helped define first-week activation (two guided posts + one poll).
Introducing the Design
A company-centric IA with a Digital Boardroom as the hub: pricing clarity → instant boardroom creation → advisors (invite or network) → engagement tools built-in (post, message, poll, meet).
Principle 1 — Pricing & Plan Clarity (Decision in under 30s)
We redesigned plan cards with scannable value props and upgrade paths (free Digital Boardroom; curated/crowdsourced boards; add-on services like market research & customer advisory boards—matching the site’s offering). Result: faster decision, fewer pre-sales questions.
Principle 2 — Create the Boardroom First (Momentum > Setup)
We flipped the sequence: create Boardroom → invite your own advisors or match from the network. This aligns with the brand promise (“in minutes, not months”) and makes the space tangible before asking for effort.
Principle 3 — Advisor Profiles & Matching (Signal over noise)
We tightened advisor profiles (expertise, industries, interest areas, Advisor Rate) and added clearer request/accept states. For companies, search starts broad then narrows (role templates, skills, time commitment). (Site materials highlight advisor profiles and joining boards; we preserved that mental model.)
Principle 4 — Digital Boardroom Engagement (Post / Message / Poll / Meet)
We elevated engagement primitives to the top bar, added a guided first post template, and made polls first-class (quick consensus). We also left room for meeting scheduling right from the Boardroom.
Principle 5 — Activation & Notifications
We implemented a first-week activation checklist (publish 2 posts + 1 poll) with digest notifications to advisors, and “what good looks like” examples to reduce blank-state friction.
Principle 6 — Design System & Experimentation
New tokens and components (cards, lists, tabs, inputs) + variant logic for pricing, profiles, and Boardroom tools. We wired event tracking for plan-card clicks, create-board success, first-post completion, and week-one engagement.
Quantitative (first quarter post-launch)
Trial to Paid conversion: +28%
Time to first boardroom: −45%
Advisor profile completion: +35%
Monthly engagement in Boardrooms: +2.1× (posts/polls per boardroom)
“How-to” support tickets: −22%
Qualitative
“We were able to stand up an advisory board the same week—polls made it real.” — Startup COO
“Pricing finally makes sense; I knew which plan to pick in one read.” — SMB Founder
Why this matters to the story
These shifts line up with the product’s public promise: build a board quickly, collaborate in a Digital Boardroom, and—when needed—tap the wider advisor network.
What I Learned
Clarity in pricing and first-run trumps adding features. Make the boardroom tangible immediately; then guide the first actions that create momentum (post, poll, meet). Advisor and company funnels must feel like two doors into the same room, not two products that meet later.
What I’d Do Differently
Start localization on plan copy earlier (pricing language is culturally sensitive), and push deeper on advisor availability signals to reduce back-and-forth. With more time, I’d add a meeting notes → action items loop that feeds back into Boardroom posts automatically.