Nova AI
Turning a research demo into a product enterprises could buy.
- Product Strategy
- Interface Design
- Design System
- Brand Identity
- Marketing Site
Nova AI had strong technology and a demo that impressed engineers but confused buyers. We rebuilt the product surface, the brand and the go-to-market site in one nine-week engagement ahead of their Series A.
The team had signed six design partners on the strength of the model, but conversion from trial to paid sat at 6%. Onboarding assumed the user already understood embeddings, pricing was buried, and the marketing site read like documentation. Nothing in the experience signalled that this was software an enterprise could safely standardise on.
- 01
Ran nine interviews with design partners and three lost-deal calls to separate what buyers value from what engineers demo.
- 02
Rewrote the product narrative around outcomes — 'answers your team can cite' — and carried it from the first ad through to the empty states.
- 03
Designed a workspace-first information architecture: projects, sources, evaluations. Removed 21 screens and two entire settings surfaces.
- 04
Shipped a 68-component design system in Figma and code so the in-house team could keep building at the same standard after we left.
- 05
Built the marketing site in React with a live interactive demo and page loads under 1.1s on 4G.
What changedafter launch.
“Ibtikar rebuilt our product surface from first principles. Six weeks in, activation was up 41% and our investor conversations changed completely. They think like founders and design like a studio.”
