GoodFin is a YC fintech startup that gives HENRYs access to private companies like Anthropic & OpenAI. I designed the investment platform from 0-1.

Problem

HENRYs earn well, save seriously and were locked out of the best-performing asset class of their generation. The barriers were structural: minimums, relationships and accredited-investor rules. My job was to help eliminate those barriers.

Discovery

A hard truth surfaced early: no payment processor could handle compliance for us. There were no Stripe-like APIs for private markets, so I treated SEC/FINRA and KYC requirements as part of the design brief.

Principles

Match the weight of each step to the user’s readiness for it; nothing heavy before motivation, nothing casual near finances. Accreditation and KYC stopped feeling like obstacles because they arrived exactly when it made sense.

Constraints

Each expansion idea failed the same test: what would we learn and what would it cost to learn it? Some directions had real strategic logic but came with important trade-offs.

Banking

Banking-like features were considered early on. I made the case that more technical, regulatory and operational weight wasn’t worth it until the investment platform was proven. Deferring them protected the feedback loops we still needed.

Membership

Membership mechanics had clear appeal; the only real question was timing. An unproven product needs users, momentum and fast answers. So I suggested we sequence the club model and let the platform grow into it down the line.

Newsfeed

A newsfeed would have rewarded the wrong behaviour. Content layers train users to passively browse and GoodFin’s value depended on the opposite: active and intentional commitments. The newsfeed didn’t survive that framing.

Solution

I designed the investment journey end to end. It spans the dashboard members return to, the flow from deal page to funded position and the KYC checks in between. I also built HTML/CSS prototypes to keep trust-critical details intact through to implementation.

Dashboard

Most dashboards are engagement machines that are built to be checked daily. Ours is a ledger with a voice: what you own, what changed, what needs you.

Investment Flow

A multi-figure commitment is the most important click and the UX treats it that way. The amount is restated before anything moves and a unique reference number is generated. This matches the backend to the investor.

KYC/KYB

I took part in discussions with stakeholders and KYC/KYB vendors, questioning each provider about failure states. For example: what happens when a document is rejected, and how long does verification take? I used the answers to help design the flow.

Outcome

The first investment vehicle was fully subscribed before a dollar went to marketing; demand arrived through the product itself. Since then, GoodFin has grown into an agentic wealth platform, where AI agents can guide you throughout the investment process.