Summary
Zain Ali, former designer at Instacart and current designer at Y Combinator, critiques the landing pages of startups from the winter 22 batch. The first startup reviewed is Hokali, an online booking platform for sports lessons. The website uses a pop-up for discounts, has clear headlines and visually appealing videos, but some videos may be confusing. The website allows scrolling to reveal different types of lessons and personal training options. The second startup, Requestly, is a dev tool that needs to simplify its design and focus on driving users to the main action of downloading the product. The website has excessive use of colors, unclear screenshots, and lacks a clear focus. The third startup, Verdn, aims to increase customer engagement by attaching environmental pledges to products and services. The website's headline and messaging need improvement to clearly convey the product's value. The website layout, typography, colors, and hierarchy are praised, but the messaging and headlines need to be cleaned up for better clarity. Overall, the video provides design tips and feedback for improvement of startup websites.
Introduction
- The video reviews the design of startup websites funded by Y Combinator
- The guest for this episode is Zayn Ali, the first designer at Instacart
Guest: Zain Ali
Zain Ali, former designer at Instacart and current designer at Y Combinator, provides valuable feedback on the landing pages of startups from the winter 22 batch. The critique covers layout, visual design, and user experience, aiming to enhance the startups' online presence. The first startup reviewed is Hokali.
- Zain Ali, former designer at Instacart and current designer at Y Combinator, critiques landing pages of startups from the winter 22 batch.
- Feedback focuses on layout, visual design, and user experience to improve online presence.
- First startup critiqued is Hokali.
Hokali
Hokali is a startup website that offers online booking for sports lessons. The website uses a pop-up to offer a discount, which can be effective but may also fatigue users. The headline on the website is clear and the videos are visually appealing, although some may be confusing. The website allows scrolling to reveal different types of lessons and personal training options.
- Hokali is a startup website for online booking of sports lessons
- The website uses a pop-up for discounts, which can be effective but may fatigue users
- Clear headline and visually appealing videos, although some may be confusing
- Scrolling reveals different types of lessons and personal training options
Requestly
Requestly is a dev tool that helps with intercepting and modifying HTTP requests, debugging, and other related tasks. The website design is criticized for having too much information above the fold and lacking a clear focus on the main action and key benefits. The suggestion is to use user feedback to determine the most important elements to highlight and to simplify the design.
- Critique of Requestly website design
- Remove unnecessary elements and simplify design
- Focus on driving users to main action (downloading the product)
- Excessive use of colors and unclear screenshot
- Emphasize benefits and problems solved by the product
- Reduce redundant information and organize features into separate pages
- Place main call to action in footer and focus on a single download link
Verdn
Verdn is a startup that aims to increase customer engagement by attaching environmental pledges to products and services. Customers can track their impact and receive updates from leading providers. The website's headline and messaging need improvement to clearly convey the product's value.
- Verdn is a startup that attaches environmental pledges to products and services to increase customer engagement.
- Customers can track their impact and receive updates from leading providers.
- The website's headline and messaging need improvement to clearly convey the product's value.
- The video discusses the confusion caused by the headlines and the need for clearer messaging.
- The website layout, typography, colors, and hierarchy are praised.
- Trusted brands and team information are included on the website.
- The suggestion is to clean up the messaging and headlines to improve clarity.
- Verdn aims to provide a no-code solution for implementing eco-friendly practices on websites.
- They focus on addressing the problem of climate change and offer a range of partners to help users make their websites more sustainable.
- The website aims to create an emotional attachment by showcasing the causes they support and making users feel like they can quickly and easily implement eco-friendly practices.
Wrap up
- Design review of startup websites
- Tips and feedback for improvement
- Encourages viewer comments and suggestions for future episodes