TideWeb app2022

Tide Startup Hub

One place to get a new business off the ground

A hub inside Tide's web app where founders see their company details, start the services they need, keep track of key dates and learn as they go.

View in Figma See it live

Company: Tide
Type: Web app, responsive
Year: 2022
Scope: Discovery research, information architecture, MVP and shipped web screens

Overview: company details and services on the left, learning and key dates beside them

Overview

Tide is an online business bank and platform aimed at, and popular with, start-ups and small businesses. Its ambition is to be the single online hub for a business's financial admin, whether or not the business banks with Tide.

New businesses have to go through certain steps to start up: company formation, a virtual office, a business account and many others. Tide offered many of these as independent journeys, and founders often used several providers at different times to complete them.

Startup Hub is a central place business owners can dip into, with a suite of products relevant to where their business is in its journey.

The problem

Founders of new startups often don't know what steps to take in their startup journey. It can take a long time to decide which services are relevant for their evolving needs.

It is also inconvenient and confusing to sign up for and manage separate services across multiple platforms. This distracts founders from their critical business tasks.

User needs

Make informed decisions about which services to buy as their needs change.

Reach relevant start-up services and information in one place they can dip into when needed.

How might we

-
Make it easier for founders to know what they need to do after company formation?
-
Make start-up admin easy to start and quick to get done?
-
Raise awareness of which tasks business owners need to do, and when?
-
Get business owners to come back to the hub regularly?

Research

Discovery started with moderated, semi-structured interviews about how business owners got new businesses off the ground. Each conversation became an empathy map and a journey from awareness to regular use: the tools they used, what they did, and where the opportunities were.

Summary empathy map for an early-stage business owner: what they hear, do, see, say, think and feel, with pains such as knowing what to do next and gains such as fewer logins — Summary empathy map: an early-stage owner who wants control over their admin

Combined user journey for starting a business across six phases from awareness to post-usage, with rows for tools, actions, opportunities and business goals — Combined journey: tools, actions and opportunities across six phases

Three themes

01
Forming a business structure and beyond. Once a structure was chosen, owners did not dwell on it. They moved on to the next thing: branding, a website, VAT, an accountant.
02
Time-saving software. If the time saved was significant and gave the owner a feeling of control, they were willing to pay for it even when funds were tight.
03
Many providers in different places. The idea of one platform with several services was widely wanted, though people did not agree on which services.

What it came down to

Owners went about things in many different ways. Whatever they did, the underlying theme was feeling in control. As a business grew, admin spread across more accounts, subscriptions and passwords, and research ate more time.

If Startup Hub could bring financial and admin jobs into one place, show important company information and teach the tasks alongside offering solutions, it would give that feeling of control.

70%

confirmed the need for a knowledge base

60%

found applying for a loan interesting

Personas

Persona: Olivia, 31, a retail seller who has just started, with her goals, pain points and a quote about founding her company — Just started: Olivia, retail seller

Persona: Michael, 36, who runs a three-person agency and is scaling, with his goals, pain points and a quote about the company he wants to build — Scalable: Michael, agency owner

Defining the first version

Decisions

-
Users enter the hub when they finish company formation with Tide.
-
The first version lets users discover and start new products, but not manage them fully.
-
Later versions add more self-management.
-
The hub itself is free. It showcases Tide's products, which carry their own fees.

From user stories to features

Each job a founder might bring to the hub was written as a story, then mapped to a feature and to the version it belongs in.

Table mapping user stories to motivations, features and release version, for company details, virtual office, credit builder, VAT, domain and bank account — User stories mapped to features and to MVP or a later version

Structure

The MVP has four parts: company details, active services, key dates and events, and learning. Company health, networking and a business checklist were set aside for later.

Information architecture: MVP groups for company details, active services, key dates and events, and learning, with post-MVP groups for company health, networking and a business checklist — What is in the MVP and what waits

The solution

01Services open beside the overview

Each service in the overview opens in a side sheet, so the founder keeps their place. Virtual office and domain show what is active and what it costs. VAT and Credit Builder explain what is needed before anything starts.

Four side sheets: virtual office address with subscription details, domain name with renewal date, VAT registration with what you need, and Credit Builder with a register interest button — Virtual office, domain, VAT and Credit Builder

02VAT registration, one question at a time

VAT registration asks one question per step, in plain language, with examples where HMRC is strict, such as the business description. The flat rate scheme is preselected with an explanation of who it suits.

Five steps of VAT registration: National Insurance number, taxable turnover, nature of the business with example descriptions, choice of VAT scheme, and a registration submitted confirmation — VAT registration: from National Insurance number to submitted

03Key dates and events

Tax deadlines sit in one calendar with colour for urgency and a way to mark each one done. Events from Tide sit below them. Opening a date explains what it means for the business.

Key dates and events tab: four deadline cards with dates, tax and VAT tags and a mark as done action, above a row of upcoming events — Key dates on top, events below

Two side sheets: a Self Assessment deadline with its due date and what to know, and an event with date, time, description and a register button — A deadline explained, and an event to register for

04Learning that fits the business

Four short questions about the stage of the business and where it needs support shape the articles a founder sees. The overview then shows resources chosen for them.

Three steps of the learning questionnaire: what stage is your business at, which areas would you like support in, and a confirmation of tailored resources — Four questions, then resources tailored to the answers

Learning tab: a row of articles chosen for the founder and a row of other articles, each with a category tag and a photo — Learning: articles for you, then everything else

05The same hub on a phone

Startup Hub on a phone: key dates as swipeable cards above events — key dates

Startup Hub on a phone: event details with date, time and a register button — event

Startup Hub on a phone: a learning article with reading time — article

Testing

What people asked for

-
More explanation of VAT before starting, and help estimating income.
-
Clearer wording on Credit Builder. Some did not know a company has its own credit score.
-
Key dates that can be added to a calendar, and a legend for the colours.
-
Video as well as articles in learning.

Synthesis

What it taught me

01
Founders did the same jobs in very different ways. What they shared was wanting to feel in control.
02
A first version can be useful by helping people discover and start services, before it lets them manage everything.
03
Deadlines and plain-language learning earn a place next to products, because knowing what to do next was the most common pain.

Next case studyHero WalletA crypto wallet built for spending, not just holding.