Building a 0–1 platform for SN Capital, replacing manual trading operations for unlisted stocks, ESOPs, and Pre-IPOs
Client
SN Capital
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
2.5 Months
Tools
Figma
Overview
This project involved designing a 0–1 digital platform for SN Capital to bring unlisted stock trading online. The existing process ran entirely through phone calls, WhatsApp, and manual coordination, making transactions slow, opaque, and hard to scale. I was the sole product designer, responsible for end-to-end design from workflow mapping to final product.
The problem
SN Capital's website was getting traffic, investors were visiting to check share prices, but only 2-5% ever reached out to initiate a trade. Each transaction took 7-10 days of manual back-and-forth, and investors had zero visibility into deal progress after committing money. The gap wasn't demand. It was trust and process.
Objective
Design a platform that converts passive price-checking into active transactions by giving investors structure, transparency, and confidence to act.
Final design
Let's explore the full story
I approached the project by
Exploring
Understanding the problem space, business needs, and market landscape.
Structuring
Mapping workflows, defining information architecture, and designing system logic.
Strategizing
Aligning user needs with business goals and defining the product direction.
Designing
Crafting high-fidelity interfaces, interactions, and scalable design systems.
#EXPLORING
Talking to the stakeholders
Before opening Figma, I spent time speaking with the founder to understand how the business currently operated and what problem they believed the platform needed to solve.
The initial framing was straightforward:
“We need a place where people can buy and sell unlisted shares online.”
While simple on the surface, it quickly became clear that building the platform would require structuring a complex transaction process, not just designing a trading interface.
The website was getting traffic, yet only 2-5% of visitors ever reached out. The reason: prices and stock details weren't shown upfront, users had to fill an enquiry form just to get basic information. Most bounced before even understanding what was available.
This reframed the problem. It wasn't just about digitizing transactions, it was about removing friction from the very first moment of interest.
Together with the stakeholders, we aligned on three outcomes for the platform:
• Increase investor conversion
• Improve trust signals for investors
• Reduce manual operational workload
Informal User Conversations
To supplement the founder's perspective, I spoke with 3 investors, 2 active stock market investors who hadn't tried unlisted shares, and 1 who has been trading unlisted stocks for 6 years.
These weren't formal usability tests, they were conversations to understand how investors think about trust, process, and information when dealing with investment platforms.
Key insights
Browse first, verify later - All three wanted to explore before completing KYC, but expected it before committing money.
Fees weren't transparent - The unlisted investor only discovered additional charges after committing.
Selling felt broken - Described as “tedious” and not as simple as buying.
Silence after payment = anxiety - All expected visible status updates during long transactions.
Trust = polish + proof - Users look for signals like testimonials, number of users, SEBI registration, and a clean, reliable experience. Hidden information or bugs break trust instantly.
What was actually happening before
To design the platform, I first needed to understand how transactions were being handled before any product existed. Through conversations with the team, I mapped the typical workflow of an unlisted stock trade.
The process relied heavily on manual coordination between investors, relationship managers, and operations teams. Communication happened across multiple channels, and the progress of a transaction was often tracked internally rather than through a structured system.
The journey had friction at multiple stages:
• Discovery - Prices weren't shown upfront. Users had to fill an enquiry form just to get basic stock details, causing most to drop off before exploring.
• Transaction - Every deal required manual back-and-forth across calls, messages, and documents with no structured process.
• Post-order - After committing money, investors had zero visibility into deal progress. No status updates, no timeline, just waiting.
These friction points became the foundation for the platform's core design decisions.
Competitive landscape
To understand the market, I reviewed four direct competitors, Planify, UnlistedZone, UnlistedKart, and Atum Capital, and used Groww and Zerodha as UX benchmarks for how modern investment platforms handle onboarding, transactions, and information hierarchy.
Here 3 key takeaways from the analysis
Every platform made buying digital, but selling still required contacting the company. Unlisted platforms operate as market makers, not exchanges, there's no centralized order matching. This meant any sell flow I designed would need to account for manual coordination behind the scenes while still feeling structured to the user.
Fee structures were buried or unclear. Most platforms either didn't show fees upfront or revealed them late in the flow. Zerodha's transparent pricing model stood out as a trust-builder. I applied the same principle, surfacing fees directly within the buy flow.
Information density vs. simplicity was an unsolved tension. Planify leaned heavily into research depth and data density. Groww prioritized extreme simplicity. No platform in the unlisted space combined both, structured information with progressive disclosure, where complexity reveals itself as the user goes deeper. That became a core design principle.
Opportunity
Design a platform that brings Groww-level simplicity to the unlisted shares space while giving investors the depth they need to make high-value decisions, with transaction transparency that no competitor currently offers.
Who I was designing for
The platform primarily serves two participants in the unlisted share marketplace: Buyers and Sellers.
Understanding their goals and interactions helped shape how the transaction flow and product structure were designed.
Buyers (Investors)
The primary audience is high-net-worth investors. Unlisted shares involve large minimum investments, which naturally filters the user base.
These are people who already invest actively and are looking for high-return opportunities in private markets before companies go public.
Their need enough transparency and confidence to commit significant capital to unregulated assets through a platform they've never used before.
Sellers
Primarily early investors looking to exit positions and individuals holding unlisted shares who need a structured way to find buyers
Their need is a reliable way to list shares, connect with verified buyers, and complete the transfer without chasing people manually.
With these roles defined, the next step was structuring how information and actions would be organized within the platform.
#STRUCTURING
Mapping the new flow
Before designing any screens, I mapped the new trade lifecycle, translating the manual process into structured stages the product could support. The goal wasn't to eliminate every operational step. Some verification and coordination genuinely needed human involvement. Instead, the design would contain those steps within the product so the experience felt continuous to the user, even when humans were working behind the scenes.
Information architecture
The platform handles a high-stakes financial transaction. Showing everything at once would overwhelm users at the moment they need clarity. The architecture was built around a simple principle: decisions unfold sequentially, not in parallel. The structure is organized into three layers:
• Discovery - Explore, Screener, and Watchlist help investors find and track opportunities.
• Transaction - The Stock Detail page and Order flow take users from evaluation to commitment, with the Wallet supporting payment.
• Ownership - Portfolio, My Orders, and IPO tracking give investors a clear view of their holdings and deal progress after the transaction.
Supporting sections - Notifications and Profile - sit outside the core journey so they don't crowd the path from discovery to investment.
User flows
With the lifecycle defined, I mapped how buyers and sellers would move through each stage of the platform.
Buyer flow
From discovery to settlement, the buyer journey is structured so that every commitment, evaluating a stock, confirming quantity, completing KYC, paying happens in sequence, with each stage building confidence for the next.
Seller flow
Sellers follow a parallel but distinct path, listing shares, matching with buyers, and completing the transfer. While parts of this flow still involve manual coordination behind the scenes, the product surfaces status clearly so sellers always know where their deal stands.
Account and compliance flows
Sign-up, Login, and KYC flows support the core journeys. KYC is intentionally decoupled from onboarding, users can sign up, explore the catalogue, and only complete KYC when they're ready to transact. This directly addresses the friction competitors create by front-loading verification.
# STRATEGIZING
Product direction
The research made one thing clear: the challenge wasn't designing a trading interface, it was structuring a process that had never existed digitally before. The platform needed to move beyond being a rate reference website and become a system where investors could discover opportunities, commit to transactions, and see exactly where their deal stood at every stage.
This direction shaped every product decision that followed.
Key product decisions
Progressive KYC
Rather than gating access behind verification, the platform uses progressive nudging, surfacing KYC reminders at key moments as user intent increases. The user is never blocked from browsing or evaluating. Verification becomes mandatory only when money is involved.
DigiLocker-Based KYC
Manual document uploads often lead to operational bottlenecks, incorrect formats, poor image quality, and repeated verification cycles that stretch onboarding across days.
Wallet-First Transactions
Wallet-first is a standard pattern across unlisted share platforms, transactions require confirmed funds before execution, and direct payment introduces too much risk with UPI delays, bank failures, and complex reversals for high-value trades.
Upfront Transaction Clarity
In high-value, unregulated transactions, hidden costs at the moment of commitment can break trust instantly. Fees on SN Capital are surfaced directly within the buy flow, every cost visible before the user confirms. Trust is built at the exact moment it matters most.
Contextual Buy/Sell Panel
Instead of sending users to a separate order page, the buy/sell panel lives directly on the stock detail page. The user evaluates and acts in the same view, price trends, fundamentals, and the transaction panel all visible without navigating away. Reducing the gap between decision and action.
Adaptive Explore Page
The explore page isn't one static view, it adapts based on where the user is in their journey. New users see onboarding cues and an open catalogue. Active investors see their portfolio, previously viewed stocks, and deeper tools. Same page, different experience based on context.
What I intentionally didn't build
No live negotiation
Avoid complex moderation and trust risks
No market sentiment signals
Prevent artificial FOMO in investment decisions
No AI recommendations (yet)
Meaningful recommendations need real data
No advanced trading analytics
Focus on clarity rather than complex tools
#DESIGNING
Iterations & decisions
The final screens didn't arrive fully formed. Here are three key moments where the design changed significantly — and why.
Onboarding questions → Removed
Explore page - From cluttered to focused
Stock detail - From information dump to structured depth
The Design system
The platform deals with dense financial data across multiple contexts browsing, comparing, evaluating, tracking. A consistent design system was essential to handle this complexity without one-off designs for every screen.
Foundation decisions
Color: The client's existing brand used a light blue that felt too soft for a platform handling high-value financial transactions. I shifted to a deeper blue, better contrast, stronger trust signal, and more appropriate authority for fintech. The full palette was built around semantic meaning: green for positive movement, red for negative, amber for caution, teal for security, gray for structure.
Typography: Inter, clean, neutral, and highly legible across all sizes. On data-heavy screens with prices, percentages, and table rows, readability at small sizes was critical. Inter handles this well and is free and widely supported, making developer handoff seamless.
Components
The platform required product-specific components built for different moments in the investor journey — not just generic UI elements.
Designing the product experience - Key screens
The following screens represent the core product experience - from discovering opportunities to completing and managing investments.
Screener - Compare opportunities
Investors evaluating unlisted shares often compare multiple companies across sector, valuation, and minimum investment. The screener provides structured filtering so users can narrow down opportunities quickly, moving from broad discovery to targeted evaluation.
Portfolio dashboard - Manage investments
After completing transactions, investors need a clear view of holdings and performance. The dashboard consolidates portfolio value, returns, and sector allocation, transforming the platform from a transaction tool into an investment management interface.
Order status - Track transaction progress
This is where the trust problem gets solved. The order status page surfaces the full transaction lifecycle, showing the current stage, expected timelines, and documents. Buyers and sellers see different stages reflecting their role. The process that used to be invisible is now trackable at every step.
Mobile responsive
Every screen was designed responsive, rethinking layouts for mobile where needed, not just scaling them down.
Edge cases
A product isn't complete until it handles what happens when things go wrong or when nothing has happened yet. Here are some of the edge cases I designed for.
Wallet & payment edge cases
When a user tries to buy with insufficient balance, the system doesn't just block them, it shows the gap between what they have and what they need, and shifts the CTA to guide them forward. Same principle for withdrawal limits.
Transaction outcomes
Unlisted share transactions can fail, get cancelled, or complete successfully. Each outcome shows the user exactly what happened, what it means for their money, and who to contact if they need help.
Empty states
Every section of the platform has a first-time state. Instead of showing blank screens, each empty state tells the user what belongs here and gives them a clear next step.
Expected impact
Reduced dependency on manual support
The previous system relied heavily on offline coordination. Now, with clear order statuses, timelines, and accessible details, users don’t need to contact support for basic updates.
Simplified system without hiding complexity
Instead of masking backend processes, the design exposes only what users need to feel confident. The buy flow is simplified to 3 clear stages, while the sell flow reflects real-world complexity with 5 stages, avoiding a black-box experience.
Improved post-transaction clarity and trust
After committing money, investors are no longer left waiting without visibility. Each order now includes a clear status, expected completion timeline, and a named point of contact.
Removed early-stage friction in exploration
The enquiry form was contributing to early drop-offs (2–5%). The redesign brings pricing and details upfront, allowing users to explore before committing.
Challenges
Learning a complex domain fast
Unlisted shares trading has its own rules, off-market transfers, demat coordination, manual settlement, regulatory grey areas. None of this works like listed stock trading. I had to get fluent quickly enough to make informed design decisions, not just surface-level ones.
Structuring a non-standard transaction flow
There's no "tap buy, money debits, shares appear" in unlisted trading. Each deal involves verification, document exchange, and delayed settlement. Designing a flow that felt structured and clear to the user while accommodating this complexity underneath was the core design challenge.
Balancing automation with operational reality
Not every step could be digitized. Verification, share availability checks, and transfer coordination still needed human involvement. The challenge was containing these manual steps within the product so users experience a seamless flow, even when humans are working behind the scenes.
What I learned
Designing within constraints
Not everything could be digitized. Not every flow could be simplified. This project taught me that good design isn't about having ideal conditions, it's about making the experience feel seamless even when the system underneath isn't.
Thank You!
