Linqto UX Success

Disclaimer: I do not have all of the key details of Linqto’s user base, and I am making assumptions, based on limited information. This article is simply me diving into a really unique company and exploring a UX enhancement that I think could be beneficial.

Who Is Linqto?

Linqto is a company on the journey to democratize investments in private companies. They allow accredited investors to invest in private companies at a small minimum. They allow investors to have control over what companies they are investing in and are challenging their competitors with no brokerage fee, no management fee, no administrative fee and no carried interest. They are a company pushing to make investing in private companies as easy and accessible as investing in the public stock market.

Who Uses Linqto?

Current Portfolio Section

The biggest thing I wanted to look into was how Linqto is displaying their users portfolio. This is a direct way to show users the ROI on all of their investments, based on my research, this screen is incredibly important to show users how Linqto is directly benefitting them. Below I have brought up some of the biggest places I feel could use improvements.

Portfolio Revamp Ideation

After dissecting the current portfolio Linqto provides, I decided to put pen to paper and ideate what an enhanced portfolio may look like. I began by creating a list of what this screen needed to include to show users the worth of Linqto, this list included:

After curating what I wanted this area to include I got to drawing some quick sketches on a few possible interfaces.

Once I got a few ideas scratched down on paper I made some final decisions and am ready to move these designs to lofi/midfid on Figma and watch my designs come to life a bit more.

**This is a lofi mock to represent my ideas, not perfect UI**

Upon doing research on private equity investments, I found that two of the biggest benefits to this type of investing are the high return and the ability to diversify one’s portfolio. Knowing this, I added a few key features to demonstrate the ROI to our users:

1. Portfolio Returns: I gave our users their portfolio return percentage right when they enter the portfolio screen. I also have added in an overall portfolio return graph, this illustrates how their portfolio has performed overtime. They can look at this graph by day, week, month, 3 months, year to date and one year.

*** One thing worth noting with this feature is that returns and share price may be more difficult to track day to day with private companies as opposed to public companies due to their illiquid nature. I still think the ability for an investor to visualize their return is important to an investor, however, this is something to consider for users invested in a small number of companies and/or those who’ve held investments for a short period of time.

1. Portfolio Diversifications: Another element that is emphasized when looking at private equity investing is diversity. Thijs is something I really wanted to point out to users with a bar chart. I included the three main ways investors like to diversify: by country, risk and industry. This allows users to quickly see how diversified their Linqto portfolio is.
2. Highest Performing Investments: Of course we want to highlight where Linqto users are performing well, thus, I added a highest performing section here. This will show the users highest performing investments and allow them to click into more details (here they will have the option to invest more money). This gives users a little feel good about their investments.

Next Steps

Since I have a solid low fidelity mock I would love to take this to our real users and be able to do some in depth user testing. The portfolio is where we can really showcase the importance of Linqto, I want to ensure we are showing real results that will hit home with our real customers. Once I get feedback from my design team and our users I would love to iterate and really clean-up the UI, that way users are ensured to have the most joy-fully crafted experience as possible.

Next Ideas

Moving forward, I also have a few ideas that I would love to be able to explore a bit more:

1. Making the graphs actionable. I would love to be able to make the graphs open up into a full details screen where users can dig deeper. For example, they could add new (recommended) investments to diversify their portfolio.
2. Most Volatile Investments. I believe adding the most volatile investments somewhere would be a great addition. Users want to see the good but they also what to see the bad, so they can change it. Adding in a “Most volatile” area would give our users the information they need in order to make smart investing decisions.