Boris Klaydman
Worktopi

The founding designer playbook, run at a Berlin fintech

First design hire at a B2B hardware-as-a-service startup. Brand strategy with the founders, the first product and design teams, and the MVP and roadmap that helped raise a $45M Series A.

Client
topi
Role
Head of Product Design
Year
2021 to 2022
$4.5Mseed round supported
$45MSeries A secured on the MVP and roadmap

In brief

topi lets retailers sell hardware as a subscription. As the first design leader I partnered on vision, mission and brand strategy with the founders, collaborated with venture capital on the seed raise, and built the first product and design teams. The MVP and roadmap those teams delivered secured a $45M Series A.

This is the founding designer role, run end to end: strategy, brand, hiring, and shipped product.

The merchant account home: available limit, purchase approvals and recent purchases for the whole company

The account experience in context: approvals, enrollment and the employee storefront, designed as one system

Inside a retailer’s product page: topi financing embedded at the point of decision, lease terms selectable in the modal

Telesales flow: an agent configures the cart and terms with the customer on the phone, offer valid for 14 days

The mobile enrollment flow for in-store sales: recent customers, one-tap re-enrollment, and a new customer path measured in minutes

From zero to a product organization

The screens above came out of a mapped system, not a stack of mockups. Every flow, from merchant portal to checkout to enrollment, was diagrammed end to end before high fidelity, so the small team always knew what it was building and why.

The management portal mapped screen by screen: navigation, enrollment, payments and approvals as one connected system

The full flow map: every user path through enrollment, purchase and account management, before high fidelity design

Enrollment in high fidelity: company profile verification on desktop with the mobile companion beside it