Addition Wealth • 2022–2025
Addition Wealth • 2022–2025
Addition Wealth • 2022–2025
Helping employees make smart, informed financial decisions
Helping employees make smart, informed financial decisions
Helping employees make smart, informed financial decisions
Problem
Problem
Problem
Millions of Americans face challenges with financial literacy and decision-making, often resulting in poor financial outcomes. Over 72% of employees report feeling stressed about money–yet most companies fall short in providing the support they need. This financial stress directly impacts workplace productivity, leading to preventable losses for employers.
Millions of Americans face challenges with financial literacy and decision-making, often resulting in poor financial outcomes. Over 72% of employees report feeling stressed about money–yet most companies fall short in providing the support they need. This financial stress directly impacts workplace productivity, leading to preventable losses for employers.
Millions of Americans face challenges with financial literacy and decision-making, often resulting in poor financial outcomes. Over 72% of employees report feeling stressed about money–yet most companies fall short in providing the support they need. This financial stress directly impacts workplace productivity, leading to preventable losses for employers.
Role
Role
Role
As the first design hire, I helped Addition Wealth grow from Seed to Series B ARR by designing its core user experience, design system, and enterprise products used by thousands of employees nationwide.
Wearing many hats, I drove UX/UI, customer research, design strategy, branding, and front-end development.
Thriving in the fast-paced startup environment meant embracing ambiguity, learning new skills on the fly, and consistently advocating for our users. It was a deeply rewarding experience that allowed me to contribute to the company's success from day one.
As the first design hire, I helped Addition Wealth grow from Seed to Series B ARR by designing its core user experience, design system, and enterprise products used by thousands of employees nationwide.
Wearing many hats, I drove UX/UI, customer research, design strategy, branding, and front-end development.
Thriving in the fast-paced startup environment meant embracing ambiguity, learning new skills on the fly, and consistently advocating for our users. It was a deeply rewarding experience that allowed me to contribute to the company's success from day one.
As the first design hire, I helped Addition Wealth grow from Seed to Series B ARR by designing its core user experience, design system, and enterprise products used by thousands of employees nationwide.
Wearing many hats, I drove UX/UI, customer research, design strategy, branding, and front-end development.
Thriving in the fast-paced startup environment meant embracing ambiguity, learning new skills on the fly, and consistently advocating for our users. It was a deeply rewarding experience that allowed me to contribute to the company's success from day one.
Outcomes
Outcomes
Outcomes
12+
12+
major feature launches
major feature launches
2M+
2M+
unique users onboarded
unique users onboarded
90%
90%
average monthly CSAT score
average monthly CSAT score
$5M+
$5M+
annual recurring revenue
annual recurring revenue
Part 1
Part 1
Part 1
Building a scalable design system
Building a scalable design system
Building a scalable design system
When I joined the team, the app lacked a modern and cohesive visual language, leading users to perceive the product as forgettable and untrustworthy.
I took the initiative to build our first design system in Figma. I maintained and evolved the system over time, scaling it to support multiple product ecosystems across the business.
When I joined the team, the app lacked a modern, cohesive visual language, resulting in a poor user experience.
To address this, I took initiative to build and scale our design system in Figma (including primitives, components, and usage guidelines).
When I joined the team, the app lacked a modern, cohesive visual language, resulting in high reports of a poor user experience.
To address this, I took initiative to build and scale our design system in Figma (including primitives, components, and usage guidelines).
Part 2
Part 2
Part 2
Learning from real-life employees
Learning from real-life employees
Learning from real-life employees
Each quarter, I led customer research interviews and metric discussions to uncover user motivations and pain points.
Each quarter, I led customer research interviews and metric discussions to uncover user motivations and pain points.
Each quarter, I led customer research interviews and metric discussions to uncover user motivations and pain points.
I translated these insights into clear, actionable steps that helped the team:
I translated these insights into clear, actionable steps that helped the team:
I translated these insights into clear, actionable steps that helped the team:
1.
1.
1.
Improve existing features
Improve existing features
Improve existing features
2.
2.
2.
Shape the product roadmap
Shape the product roadmap
Shape the product roadmap
3.
3.
3.
Deepen our understanding of users
Deepen our understanding of users
Deepen our understanding of users
Validating our product with real employees was critical to ensuring we were building something truly valuable and high-quality.
Validating our product with real employees was critical to ensuring we were building something truly valuable and high-quality.
Validating our product with real employees was critical to ensuring we were building something truly valuable and high-quality.
Part 3
Part 3
Part 3
Designing 0-to-1 products
Designing 0-to-1 products
Designing 0-to-1 products
My design process was far from linear; it involved gathering insights from stakeholders, researching competitors, iterating on designs, and adapting to shifting business priorities and technical constraints.
I led design projects end-to-end, often going beyond traditional design responsibilities by drafting PRDs, collaborating closely with cross-functional teams, and conducting QA testing to ensure we delivered on time and met client expectations.
My design process was far from linear; it involved gathering insights from stakeholders, researching competitors, iterating on designs, and adapting to shifting business priorities and technical constraints.
I led design projects end-to-end, often going beyond traditional design responsibilities by drafting PRDs, collaborating closely with cross-functional teams, and conducting QA testing to ensure we delivered on time and met client expectations.
My design process was far from linear; it involved gathering insights from stakeholders, researching competitors, iterating on designs, and adapting to shifting business priorities and technical constraints.
I led design projects end-to-end, often going beyond traditional design responsibilities by drafting PRDs, collaborating closely with cross-functional teams, and conducting QA testing to ensure we delivered on time and met client expectations.
User goals
User goals
1.
1.
1.
Users wanted to understand their individual financial situation.
Users wanted to understand their individual financial situation.
Users wanted to understand their individual financial situation.
2.
2.
2.
Users wanted to receive clear, personalized guidance.
Users wanted to receive clear, personalized guidance.
Users wanted to receive clear, personalized guidance.
3.
3.
3.
Users wanted to see their progress over time.
Users wanted to see their progress over time.
Users wanted to see their progress over time.
Business problem
Business problem
1.
1.
1.
Addition suffered from low employee engagement.
Addition suffered from low employee engagement.
Addition suffered from low employee engagement.
2.
2.
2.
Addition didn't offer personalized financial advice.
Addition didn't offer personalized financial advice.
Addition didn't offer personalized financial advice.
3.
3.
3.
Addition had an inconsistent UX across products.
Addition had an inconsistent UX across products.
Addition had an inconsistent UX across products.
Equity calculators
Equity calculators
Equity calculators
Equity is a key part of employee compensation, but many users struggled to grasp its true value, often underestimating its financial impact.
—
To solve this, I designed calculators that projected equity value based on user inputs like share price and company performance.
These tools became a key resource for our financial advisors and helped thousands of Addition users make confident, time-sensitive decisions.
Equity is a key part of employee compensation, but many users struggled to grasp its true value, often underestimating its financial impact.
—
To solve this, I designed calculators that projected equity value based on user inputs like share price and company performance.
These tools became a key resource for our financial advisors and helped thousands of Addition users make confident, time-sensitive decisions.
Equity is a key part of employee compensation, but many users struggled to grasp its true value, often underestimating its financial impact.
—
To solve this, I designed calculators that projected equity value based on user inputs like share price and company performance.
These tools became a key resource for our financial advisors and helped thousands of Addition users make confident, time-sensitive decisions.
Account integrations
Account integrations
Account integrations
One of our earliest business challenges was the lack of account integrations, a feature our competitors offered and clients frequently requested.
Surveys revealed that 80% of users wanted to make progress toward their financial goals but felt too overwhelmed to take action without a clear, real-time view of their finances.
—
To address this, I designed a financial account management system and overview that gave users clear visibility into their money.
My work included creating complex user flows that unified banking, investment, and retirement accounts into a single, streamlined experience.
Over 80% of our users expressed a desire to make progress towards meeting their financial goals, but failed to take initiative due to the overwhelming nature of the topic.
To combat this, I designed a holistic account overview that provide users clear visibility into their finances. I also designed user flows to integrate banking, investment, and retirement accounts.
The goal was to provide guidance and insights, but more importantly, unlock financial planning.
One of our earliest business challenges was the lack of account integrations, a feature our competitors offered and clients frequently requested.
Surveys revealed that 80% of users wanted to make progress toward their financial goals but felt too overwhelmed to take action without a clear, real-time view of their finances.
—
To address this, I designed a financial account management system and overview that gave users clear visibility into their money.
My work included creating complex user flows that unified banking, investment, and retirement accounts into a single, streamlined experience.
Financial planning
Financial planning
Financial planning
Drawing from our research insights, I identified opportunities to build high-impact features by focusing on what mattered most to users.
Since they typically tackled just 1-2 financial challenges at a time, we prioritized features that helped them go deep on the problems top of mind.
—
With this user behavior in mind, I designed tools that helped folks explore key financial moments like buying a home or having a child.
These became our highest-traffic features, enabling users to connect real-time finances, gain insights, and take actionable steps to improve them.
Drawing from our research insights, I identified opportunities to build high-impact features by focusing on what mattered most to users.
Since they typically tackled just 1-2 financial challenges at a time, we prioritized features that helped them go deep on the problems top of mind.
—
With this user behavior in mind, I designed tools that helped folks explore key financial moments like buying a home or having a child.
These became our highest-traffic features, enabling users to connect real-time finances, gain insights, and take actionable steps to improve them.
Drawing from our research insights, I identified opportunities to build high-impact features by focusing on what mattered most to users.
Since they typically tackled just 1-2 financial challenges at a time, we prioritized features that helped them go deep on the problems top of mind.
—
With this user behavior in mind, I designed tools that helped folks explore key financial moments like buying a home or having a child.
These became our highest-traffic features, enabling users to connect real-time finances, gain insights, and take actionable steps to improve them.
Self-guided learning
Self-guided learning
Self-guided learning
In addition to our financial calculators, we also offered users educational resources like articles, videos, courses, and webinars so that they could learn at their own pace.
I collaborated closely with our internal team of financial advisors to help design our content library, covering over 15+ financial topics.
As part of the offering, we provided articles, videos, courses and webinars on popular financial topics for our users to learn at their own pace.
I worked closely with financial experts to design dynamic content that would update based off the user’s profile and visualizations to help simplify complex financial concepts.
As part of the offering, we provided articles, videos, courses and webinars on popular financial topics for our users to learn at their own pace.
I worked closely with financial experts to design dynamic content that would update based off the user’s profile and visualizations to help simplify complex financial concepts.
Part 4
Part 4
Part 4
Working with our enterprise partners
Working with our enterprise partners
Working with our enterprise partners
Aside from building the core platform, I collaborated with enterprises to launch financial advisory platforms: Balance Wellbeing, Edward Jones at Work, and AARP to expand our reach to millions of new users. This partnership opened new channels for Addition and our client's businesses.
As the company continued to build enterprise products, I adapted our design system to accommodate customizations and accelerate each platform rollout. This strategy enabled rapid deployment with the engineering team, and I was responsible for navigating through each new technical and business challenge.
Aside from building the core platform, I collaborated with enterprises to launch financial advisory platforms: Balance Wellbeing, Edward Jones at Work, and AARP to expand our reach to millions of new users. This partnership opened new channels for Addition and our client's businesses.
As the company continued to build enterprise products, I adapted our design system to accommodate customizations and accelerate each platform rollout. This strategy enabled rapid deployment with the engineering team, and I was responsible for navigating through each new technical and business challenge.
Aside from building the core platform, I collaborated with enterprises to launch financial advisory platforms: Balance Wellbeing, Edward Jones at Work, and AARP to expand our reach to millions of new users. This partnership opened new channels for Addition and our client's businesses.
As the company continued to build enterprise products, I adapted our design system to accommodate customizations and accelerate each platform rollout. This strategy enabled rapid deployment with the engineering team, and I was responsible for navigating through each new technical and business challenge.
Interested in my work? Let’s chat.
Interested in my work? Let’s chat.
Interested in my work? Let’s chat.
Shoutouts from the team
Shoutouts from the team
Shoutouts from the team
“Tim has a great eye for design, and all his work leads to a product that is pleasant to use. He also understands the tradeoff between usability and aesthetics, so when engineers push back on certain design choices because it could cause inadvertent issues, he will go for whatever is best for the user.”
“Tim has a great eye for design, and all his work leads to a product that is pleasant to use. He also understands the tradeoff between usability and aesthetics, so when engineers push back on certain design choices because it could cause inadvertent issues, he will go for whatever is best for the user.”
“Tim has a great eye for design, and all his work leads to a product that is pleasant to use. He also understands the tradeoff between usability and aesthetics, so when engineers push back on certain design choices because it could cause inadvertent issues, he will go for whatever is best for the user.”
Staff Software Engineer
Staff Software Engineer
Staff Software Engineer
“Tim is a talented designer and is very responsive. Whenever I have a question or am looking for a resource he is always helpful. He has helped transform the app and it looks beautiful! It’s a great interface and our clients and anyone who sees the platform can appreciate all of the work he has done!”
“Tim is a talented designer and is very responsive. Whenever I have a question or am looking for a resource he is always helpful. He has helped transform the app and it looks beautiful! It’s a great interface and our clients and anyone who sees the platform can appreciate all of the work he has done!”
“Tim is a talented designer and is very responsive. Whenever I have a question or am looking for a resource he is always helpful. He has helped transform the app and it looks beautiful! It’s a great interface and our clients and anyone who sees the platform can appreciate all of the work he has done!”
VP of Marketing
VP of Marketing
VP of Marketing