Retrospective
I’ve never really been ecstatic about wireframes — or at least the corporate process I’ve been accustomed to.
For one, much of the wireframing source files aren’t reusable. For two, truly great wireframes can take as much time to produce as their high-fidelity counterparts. Nested symbols, responsive tools, content control — creating mockups has gone a long way.
For one, much of the wireframing source files aren’t reusable. For two, truly great wireframes can take as much time to produce as their high-fidelity counterparts. Nested symbols, responsive tools, content control — creating mockups has gone a long way.
For this project, we worked the skeleton phase in a high-fidelity way — telling the same story of interface, navigation and information design that we normally would. What I found was what we expected; we reused most of our components, saved time on production-ready mockups and stakeholder conversations seemed more productive.
I feel by no means that this was a perfect or even scalable approach, but it gave me hints for the future. It made me think; as design systems become standard, will there be an argument for wireframes even though they will (probably) be slower to produce than mockups using the product's component library?
I feel by no means that this was a perfect or even scalable approach, but it gave me hints for the future. It made me think; as design systems become standard, will there be an argument for wireframes even though they will (probably) be slower to produce than mockups using the product's component library?
Cliché but true
To live outside the law, you must be honest.
Bob Dylan
During this project, I was reminded the power of sweat equity when releasing a new product or launching a startup.
I think its fair to say that without enthusiastic founders, a few of our must-have features wouldn’t have seen the light of day. Because of a drive to do things right, we were able to shift some of the computational weight to manual processes to uphold our scope.
Instead of building a product that was going to have a weak fighting spirit — negotiations, compromises and unorthodox solutions ensured a real shot at competing for Tolobi.
I think its fair to say that without enthusiastic founders, a few of our must-have features wouldn’t have seen the light of day. Because of a drive to do things right, we were able to shift some of the computational weight to manual processes to uphold our scope.
Instead of building a product that was going to have a weak fighting spirit — negotiations, compromises and unorthodox solutions ensured a real shot at competing for Tolobi.
…makes the dream work
Epilogue
It was rewarding to see our lean solutions come to life, particularly when it stemmed from a closer than usual work between design and engineering.
During development, we had to pivot multiple times because of changes in our monetisation strategy — it was gruelling but I was happy to see the product pushed further. After our last few merges, it was time to launch.
During development, we had to pivot multiple times because of changes in our monetisation strategy — it was gruelling but I was happy to see the product pushed further. After our last few merges, it was time to launch.
The launch
At the time of writing (2 months since launch), the company is in ferocious acquisition mode and should be going back to feature building when they outgrow their product. Still in its infancy, it is too early to say if they found their market fit, or if our product team was successful, but Tolobi has been growing nonetheless.
The results
✓ Launched in 6 cities & 1 metropolitan area
✓ 15 properties signed in the first month
Our Process
When Tenants browse the looking for a roommate section of a listing, users can explore public profiles and ultimately decide if they want to request to connect with a specific user. Upon request, an email is sent to the Tolobi admins to manually assist the users in their roommate search — currently free of charge.
Looking for roomates
When a user is looking for a roommate, we append their avatar to listings with 2+ bedrooms that the user has expressed interest for. In a testing spirit, Tolobi also reaches out to these users in order to gauge the value of an outbound style strategy.
The hunt for a roommate can be confusing for many. From our empathy study, Tenants think that they should be looking for one, as it widens their options, reduces cost and improves the projected square footage.
Looking at the tools available to Tenants to navigate the search, I was surprised to see that many companies were answering the call in Toronto alone. With the interest validated, I worked on a beta-style roommate system rooted in manual processes to de-risk its implementation.
My hypothesis was that a portion of Tenants on the Tolobi platform were going to be looking for a roommate outside of the platform. On the product side, the idea was to push other types of move-ins (e.g. 2, 3 and 4+ bedrooms) to drive our global conversion.
There are 3 ways for a Tenant to tell us if they are looking for a roommate. As this was the first version of the feature, I favoured redundancy over picking the wrong location.
1. At any moment when accessing your profile
2. During the onboarding flow
3. When completing a listing inquiry form
Looking at the tools available to Tenants to navigate the search, I was surprised to see that many companies were answering the call in Toronto alone. With the interest validated, I worked on a beta-style roommate system rooted in manual processes to de-risk its implementation.
My hypothesis was that a portion of Tenants on the Tolobi platform were going to be looking for a roommate outside of the platform. On the product side, the idea was to push other types of move-ins (e.g. 2, 3 and 4+ bedrooms) to drive our global conversion.
There are 3 ways for a Tenant to tell us if they are looking for a roommate. As this was the first version of the feature, I favoured redundancy over picking the wrong location.
1. At any moment when accessing your profile
2. During the onboarding flow
3. When completing a listing inquiry form
Looking for a roommate
The tenant screening process by Tolobi’s partner consisted of a background and credit check. Both were very useful to Landlords but did not replace the infamous tenancy interview.
From our empathy mapping, we observed that Landlords were after more personal information. On the other hand, we saw that Tenants did not have a good grasp on how they could stand out.
In order to assist Tenants in marketing themselves, we worked on a public profile system. The feature still in its early days, the idea is to remove weight from the interview and display a Tenant’s basic information, education and socials to foster trust between the two parties.
From our empathy mapping, we observed that Landlords were after more personal information. On the other hand, we saw that Tenants did not have a good grasp on how they could stand out.
In order to assist Tenants in marketing themselves, we worked on a public profile system. The feature still in its early days, the idea is to remove weight from the interview and display a Tenant’s basic information, education and socials to foster trust between the two parties.
Getting to know the other party
Most of our user aspirations were addressed by our core product since it was supporting listing shopping and the leasing process from negotiation to tenancy.
In order to look for opportunities, we focused on aspirations outside of our core product. We ultimately grouped them into 2 activities; getting to know the other party and looking for a roommate.
In order to look for opportunities, we focused on aspirations outside of our core product. We ultimately grouped them into 2 activities; getting to know the other party and looking for a roommate.
Since our early field studies, I was eager to start exploring ways to help Tenants in a tensed housing situation. We gathered our early insights and derived some aspirational statements;
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Trending Articles
Aside from over-designing for credibility, we thought Tolobi had an opportunity with content — as it is often neglected. Since most of their competitors were international, Ontario focused content could help establish themselves as the Ontario rentals expert.
With this in mind, the founding team decided to capitalise on their real estate experience and started writing useful articles for Tenants and Landlords (e.g. how to avoid rental scams) as well as a local article curation effort.
With this in mind, the founding team decided to capitalise on their real estate experience and started writing useful articles for Tenants and Landlords (e.g. how to avoid rental scams) as well as a local article curation effort.
Content is king
Option 1 was the style widely used by competitors — a geocoding dropdown to accept any location query. Option 2 was the simplest version, a headline and a CTA to open the most global state of the catalogue. Option 3 and 4 both had funnelling capabilities based on the 2 most important criteria — city and layout.
With credibility in mind, we rejected option 1 since the potential for user frustration was high — Tolobi was only going to launch in a handful of cities. Option 2 did not have the same issue, but was a problem for the marketing team as “We were missing a chance to say that we are in more than one city”.
Option 3 and 4 were more suitable as they were based on a limited set of options. In the same spirit, we thought it would be great to only show cities with a minimum of listings or at least inform the user of cities that had listings coming soon — those variants were rejected.
Option 4 was ultimately picked as Tolobi was confident in their space acquisition strategy and liked the idea of giving optional funnelling questions while enabling the show me rentals CTA at all times.
With credibility in mind, we rejected option 1 since the potential for user frustration was high — Tolobi was only going to launch in a handful of cities. Option 2 did not have the same issue, but was a problem for the marketing team as “We were missing a chance to say that we are in more than one city”.
Option 3 and 4 were more suitable as they were based on a limited set of options. In the same spirit, we thought it would be great to only show cities with a minimum of listings or at least inform the user of cities that had listings coming soon — those variants were rejected.
Option 4 was ultimately picked as Tolobi was confident in their space acquisition strategy and liked the idea of giving optional funnelling questions while enabling the show me rentals CTA at all times.
Rental made easy
Where do you want to live?
How many bedrooms?
Rental made easy
Where do you want to live?
Rental made easy
Where do you want to live?
Rental made easy
Thinking about how the user was navigating to the search page pointed us to new ideas — “Could we induce useful search page states from the home page?”. Since we had previously designed versions of the home page CTA component, we looked at them with this new perspective;
One of our assumptions pertaining credibility was that an empty listing catalogue was a bad look. I felt comfortable working around this assumption since it had both low risk and was almost certain. Looking at our (ethical) options though, we didn’t have much room. If we wanted to minimise the search page’s empty state occurrences, we could remove the location filter or include coming soon listings — both of which were working against the user.
Every moment we’re in a web site, we’re keeping a mental running tally: Do these guys know what they’re doing?
Steve Krug
Being the first release of the team, we foresaw a credibility issue with Tenants and Landlords that had no prior knowledge of Tolobi. It was important for me to design with this in mind as skepticism from users was going to be an ugly truth during early user acquisition.
Trust the small guys
To figure out how we should display our different categories of information, I ran an open card study with 6 Tenant participants. My aim was to unpack the mental model when assessing a listing but with an exploratory and flexible angle.
As always, design had to support fast and continuous growth. In terms of impact on the project and roadmap, the detailed listing page had the greatest risk for ripple effects. The listing page informed crucial aspects of engineering and design; our data schema, the catalogue search page, the home page call-to-action and many of the future iterations of the project.
Scalability is the name of the game
Differentiation was a tall order because it could guide the design process negatively. Questions like “How could we do this differently?” and “Let’s just do this in a new way” were unproductive and would not drive the wanted results.
Instead of taking a Porter strategy literally, we focused on what made Tolobi. A group of successful realtors, with an extensive knowledge of the Toronto market, a wide property owner network and a real appreciation for human-centered approaches. Amusingly, looking internally gave us more than enough to differentiate.
Instead of taking a Porter strategy literally, we focused on what made Tolobi. A group of successful realtors, with an extensive knowledge of the Toronto market, a wide property owner network and a real appreciation for human-centered approaches. Amusingly, looking internally gave us more than enough to differentiate.
Reconciling business and MVP strategies
Looking at when the LU (Landlord User) should pay the commission; it was important for Tolobi to ask for payment as far as possible in the flow but before the contract was signed by the last party. The idea was to protect Tolobi from creating legally binding leases without receiving payment from a LU.
Looking at which user role should sign first; we analyzed our two remaining flows (2 and 4). It was clear that a failure of signing from the last party meant that Tolobi had to reimburse the payment. I was confident going with flow 2 since it meant the integrity of the payment was dependant on the payer completing the flow and not the TU (Tenant User).
Looking at which user role should sign first; we analyzed our two remaining flows (2 and 4). It was clear that a failure of signing from the last party meant that Tolobi had to reimburse the payment. I was confident going with flow 2 since it meant the integrity of the payment was dependant on the payer completing the flow and not the TU (Tenant User).
TU approves?
Contract is available
LU pays fees
LU creates contract
LU edits contract
TU signs contract
LU signs contract
LU approves?
TU approves?
Contract is available
LU pays fees
LU creates contract
LU edits contract
TU signs contract
LU signs contract
LU approves?
TU approves?
Contract is available
LU pays fees
LU creates contract
LU edits contract
TU signs contract
LU signs contract
TU approves?
Contract is available
LU pays fees
LU creates contract
LU edits contract
TU signs contract
LU signs contract
I have intentionally simplified the flows to omit confidential data here.
Based on Tolobi’s business strategy, the fee structure had to be rooted in a results-based approach — upon a signed lease. This fair perspective presented challenges as it meant our contract and payment tool had to talk to each other. I worked with the engineering lead to expose our feasible flows;
Third party limitations
In the same spirit, we looked at other complex and resource intensive features that needed to make the cut — contract management, online payments and tenant screening.
We arranged a small cross-functional team and went on to look for third-party options that addressed all of our needs — product, design and engineering.
Like any popular problem, our chances of finding a solution were high (e.g. Wordpress for blog needs or Shopify for e-commerce needs), and so we did. On the other hand, the adverse effects meant more variable costs for Tolobi and some limitations from the tools that would need workarounds.
For example, our contract management tool had weak data validation when filling out a contract from the Tenant or Landlord side. In order to eliminate the issue, there were trade-offs on the administrative side — it was now possible, although objectively very unlikely, to crash the app through a series of steps in the tool’s dashboard. It wasn’t dramatic as these options were tucked away in a technical and obscure section of the dashboard, but the possibility of a crash can never feel good.
We comfortably moved forward knowing that we moved the burden away from Tenants and Landlords to the Tolobi executives — users that have a propensity to “not break stuff”.
We arranged a small cross-functional team and went on to look for third-party options that addressed all of our needs — product, design and engineering.
Like any popular problem, our chances of finding a solution were high (e.g. Wordpress for blog needs or Shopify for e-commerce needs), and so we did. On the other hand, the adverse effects meant more variable costs for Tolobi and some limitations from the tools that would need workarounds.
For example, our contract management tool had weak data validation when filling out a contract from the Tenant or Landlord side. In order to eliminate the issue, there were trade-offs on the administrative side — it was now possible, although objectively very unlikely, to crash the app through a series of steps in the tool’s dashboard. It wasn’t dramatic as these options were tucked away in a technical and obscure section of the dashboard, but the possibility of a crash can never feel good.
We comfortably moved forward knowing that we moved the burden away from Tenants and Landlords to the Tolobi executives — users that have a propensity to “not break stuff”.
Pushing for maximum value
As a Landlord, having the ability to upload your own listing is a feature that you expect. Our first hint was using an online form service (e.g. Typeform) in order to save us the trouble of building a wizard flow that would include complex state handling.
This seemed like a good option since a long MVP style single-step form was not going to be a match against a general form tool that was continuously polished. We designed wireframes to discuss our needs and then went on to find a form tool that would be right for the job.
Following a listing upload, we needed some custom form validation and ultimately a new database entry — this meant that our engineers would now have to work with a new API. This transformed our solution from great to average. Diving into the specifics of our stack, we found that our query language had a great IDE — safe, intuitive and accessible from any browser. This meant that we could simply create query templates and off-load the needed custom validation in a manual process.
“What about CRUD? Are we really going to build queries for every change?”. My rule at that time to consider a manual solution was that its execution had to be mindless — this meant that we were going to write 20+ queries to cover any possible changes before thinking of teaching how to build one. Luckily, our stack’s object-relational mapping tool could do a few unorthodox things like giving us a database editing tool out-of-the box. It was a prefect match with our query language since the tool was in beta and could not create new entries at this point in time.
This seemed like a good option since a long MVP style single-step form was not going to be a match against a general form tool that was continuously polished. We designed wireframes to discuss our needs and then went on to find a form tool that would be right for the job.
Following a listing upload, we needed some custom form validation and ultimately a new database entry — this meant that our engineers would now have to work with a new API. This transformed our solution from great to average. Diving into the specifics of our stack, we found that our query language had a great IDE — safe, intuitive and accessible from any browser. This meant that we could simply create query templates and off-load the needed custom validation in a manual process.
“What about CRUD? Are we really going to build queries for every change?”. My rule at that time to consider a manual solution was that its execution had to be mindless — this meant that we were going to write 20+ queries to cover any possible changes before thinking of teaching how to build one. Luckily, our stack’s object-relational mapping tool could do a few unorthodox things like giving us a database editing tool out-of-the box. It was a prefect match with our query language since the tool was in beta and could not create new entries at this point in time.
Help from the stack
Going forward with design, two questions helped me stay on track:
1. How can we design to leverage our situation?
2. How can we design for differentiation as early as the MVP?
Based on our feature prioritisation exercise, the ideal scope was simply too big for our resources. Instead of thinking catastrophically, we sat with our engineering lead to figure if we had any bootstrapping opportunities so that we could design around them. In a way, this meant limiting our design, but the idea of building the right scope seemed to have more value at this stage.
1. How can we design to leverage our situation?
2. How can we design for differentiation as early as the MVP?
Based on our feature prioritisation exercise, the ideal scope was simply too big for our resources. Instead of thinking catastrophically, we sat with our engineering lead to figure if we had any bootstrapping opportunities so that we could design around them. In a way, this meant limiting our design, but the idea of building the right scope seemed to have more value at this stage.
Empower with an improved rental experience
Our Solution
Landlords enjoy secure payments, contract management and tenant verification from trusted third parties.
With a roommate matching service, Tenants can feel confident in their journey to find a new home.
With a roommate matching service, Tenants can feel confident in their journey to find a new home.
Empowering users early
Starting out without a brand, we had the privilege to produce the first iteration of the design system.
Simple and scalable with future iterations in mind — inducing faster development and a consistent experience in a rapid changing landscape.
Simple and scalable with future iterations in mind — inducing faster development and a consistent experience in a rapid changing landscape.
Design system foundation
Landlord take control of their time thanks to Tolobi's inquiry form. Common lease information are asked to align conversations and simplify tenancy contract creation.
Simply choose and inquire
On the train or at home, Tolobi makes it easy to digest its catalogue of listings. Search, filter and examine to find your new place.
Apartment shopping, anywhere
In a tense leasing market, Tolobi is here to offer a rewarding experience for both Landlords and Tenants. Because leasing is naturally stressful, Tolobi looks to help you every step of the way.
The first release of Tolobi
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Stepping Back
The house you looked at today and wanted to think about until tomorrow may be the same house someone looked at yesterday and will buy today.
Koki Adasi
Because our users already have a lot on their minds, we aspired to make the slow and complex, fast and serene — all while empowering both sides of every lease.
Housing is a process that has large effects on people. It could mean progressing in your career, starting a family or securing your hard earned retirement… but it will always be a commitment. Adding to this, the nature of our target market contributed to the already tensed situation.
Mindfulness to drive move-ins
More Findings
Contracts, payment, tenant screening, tour scheduler and virtual tours are all features that require significant design and engineering efforts to implement. It was obvious compromises would have to be made.
Attractive features for LUs are complex
Attractive features for tenants, or at least their MVP versions, showed low risks and small engineering challenges.
Low-hanging fruits for TUs
Depth of catalogue was a driving factor for both landlords and tenants. Since the reality was that our catalogue was going to be small at launch, it was something that we needed to address.
Chicken and egg problem
Early stage ventures (e.g. Rentberry, Blueground) have an increased focus on tenants compared to market leaders (e.g. Zillow, Apartment List). It is noticeable in their feature offerings but also in their product voice and tone.
Signal from newer startups
Your firm could offer the best perks but if there’s no AC, I mean… I don’t need Spotify that bad.
A friend
We created 2 questionnaires, asking how the participant felt if they had the feature in question — choices were:
1. I like it
2. I expect it
3. I am neutral
4. I can tolerate it
5. I dislike it
After assigning numerical values to each answer, we categorized features into the 4 kano types — from must-be, performance, attractive to indifferent.
1. I like it
2. I expect it
3. I am neutral
4. I can tolerate it
5. I dislike it
After assigning numerical values to each answer, we categorized features into the 4 kano types — from must-be, performance, attractive to indifferent.
Since Tolobi executives had extensive knowledge of our target housing market, feature ideas were abundant. This was great since it kick-started our creativity, but also increased our chances of encountering HIPPO type problems.
To mitigate the effect, I worked on a Kano-style prioritisation study, based on the Folding Burrito method, with 6 participants per user role. The feature pool examined internal ideas and the competitive landscape (e.g. Zumper & Apartment List). Since our efforts were part of a market entry plan, the idea was to prioritise based on customer perception.
To mitigate the effect, I worked on a Kano-style prioritisation study, based on the Folding Burrito method, with 6 participants per user role. The feature pool examined internal ideas and the competitive landscape (e.g. Zumper & Apartment List). Since our efforts were part of a market entry plan, the idea was to prioritise based on customer perception.
Distilling for a first release
Our Discovery
Expert interviews revealed that demand was mostly driven by immigration, young professionals and students, with a focus for one bedroom apartments or studios — no surprise there. On the user side, the level of anxiety expressed by both Tenants and Landlords was telling.
The power dynamic was heavily skewed in favour of property owners. We noted the same issue when studying the competitive landscape — market leaders and their products were leaning towards Landlords.
While the situation felt normal for the majority of our sample, it meant a chance for our product to be an advocate for both parties. It quickly made us wonder how exactly could we try to reduce stress and fear for Tenants and Landlords.
The power dynamic was heavily skewed in favour of property owners. We noted the same issue when studying the competitive landscape — market leaders and their products were leaning towards Landlords.
While the situation felt normal for the majority of our sample, it meant a chance for our product to be an advocate for both parties. It quickly made us wonder how exactly could we try to reduce stress and fear for Tenants and Landlords.
Seller’s market equals tension
Project Kickoff
We had a clear business strategy but now needed to turn it into a product strategy and scope. To start, we wanted to know who were our users and how they experienced the current leasing process in Toronto.
Getting up to speed
Following our expert interviews with the founding team, we went on to gather data from the field. Since the product team was in Montreal, a gorgeous neighbor but with a different housing market and regulations, we leveraged the fact that leasing was a common situation for many and recruited our participants through cold calling and personal networks.
We interviewed 10 participants for both Tenant and Landlord user roles to create early insight for all stakeholders. To build on our personas, we ran an empathy map exercise for each user role — moving out for Tenants or renting out for Landlords.
We interviewed 10 participants for both Tenant and Landlord user roles to create early insight for all stakeholders. To build on our personas, we ran an empathy map exercise for each user role — moving out for Tenants or renting out for Landlords.
Early foundational research
Tenants often look for roommates in hopes to lower their dollar per square foot. Some tenants seem to think that it is a hard feat to accomplish because of obstacles like cultural fit, trust and aversion to awkward situations.
Finding a roommate is smart but hard
Because of excess demands, Tenants are inclined to accept abusive practices from landlords in order to secure a new home (e.g. large upfront payments). Other forces associated with moving contribute to the stressful climate (e.g. start of undergraduate studies).
Tenants need to stand out
With a “…but it works” attitude, landlords and property management agents see new tools as big commitments that might save them resources but also create headaches along the way.
Risk aversion from owners
Being in a metropolitan area, landlords often manage tens or hundreds of units. Landlords therefore have to rely on their employees or contractors — often creating confusing operations.
Operations are not unified
Paper processes are still engrained in the real estate market. Landlords are increasignly using cloud-based tools (e.g. Dropbox) to perform basic functions like digital filling or team coordination.
Suboptimal leasing process
Our Problem
I led the product team, design of the user interface and experience. I worked alongside a designer on the Home page and Conversion strategy.
During the project, I collaborated with the Founders, Head of Product and 2 Product Managers.
Through collaboration with founders, I defined the scope and translated business goals into product strategies, features and roadmap.
Following design, I led product management, working closely with the engineering team, founders and the rest of the product team until launch.
The app officially launched in December 2019.
During the project, I collaborated with the Founders, Head of Product and 2 Product Managers.
Through collaboration with founders, I defined the scope and translated business goals into product strategies, features and roadmap.
Following design, I led product management, working closely with the engineering team, founders and the rest of the product team until launch.
The app officially launched in December 2019.
My role
Starting from scratch, the premise of the project was to launch the first release of Tolobi’s digital product. The early strategy was straight forward — gain marketshare though product differentiation. For the product development team, this meant getting things right early on.
Our high level goals were to:
1. Build a fast and easy leasing experience
2. Give confidence to tenants and landlords
3. Build a scalable product
Our high level goals were to:
1. Build a fast and easy leasing experience
2. Give confidence to tenants and landlords
3. Build a scalable product
Fill the gap
Prologue
Founded in 2018, the team at Tolobi was going to compete with well established leasing marketplaces. Because of their realtor background in Ontario’s housing, the team had ears on the ground and noticed new problems faced by both tenants and landlords.
Because of the excess demand, it was increasingly hard for tenants to find a new home. On the other hand, Toronto landlords were in search of better tools to find the very best tenants possible.
Since market leaders seemed to focus on the depth of their listing catalogue, the founders at Tolobi wanted to focus on the traditional human approach of real estate.
Because of the excess demand, it was increasingly hard for tenants to find a new home. On the other hand, Toronto landlords were in search of better tools to find the very best tenants possible.
Since market leaders seemed to focus on the depth of their listing catalogue, the founders at Tolobi wanted to focus on the traditional human approach of real estate.
Looking for a fit
In recent years, the city of Toronto has seen the fastest real estate market growth in Canada. For the team at Tolobi, new inefficiencies meant new opportunities.
I was part of the first development efforts tackling the new leasing reality in Toronto.
I was part of the first development efforts tackling the new leasing reality in Toronto.
From idea to launch