Keeping Tactic moving after their designer left
Maintaining momentum after funding
After TechCrunch recognition and a $4.5M seed round led by Index Ventures, Tactic's sales intelligence platform was gaining traction. Then their designer decided to leave.
User requests were stacking up. New features needed shipping. But with no design resource, the roadmap risked grinding to a halt.
They needed a design partner who could slot in quickly — someone who'd respect their existing system while helping them keep pace with growth.
What we delivered:
Became their design function overnight — no hiring delays, no onboarding lag
Shipped 20-30 features while working within their existing design system
Created a feature request format that streamlined handoffs between PM and design
Introduced UX patterns (card stacks, visual relevancy signals, grouped searches) that improved core workflows without requiring major dev rebuilds
Evolving the UX within the existing UI
Tactic lets users quickly find relevant data and build running summaries of potential companies and people. The challenge: improve core workflows without requiring a rebuild. We worked within their existing UI components wherever possible, keeping dev effort low while raising the experience.
Using visual metaphors to bring clarity
Users needed to filter large datasets without cluttering the interface. We introduced a card stack pattern that lets people rapidly narrow down results — each card representing a filter layer they can add or remove.
Grouping searches to speed up repeat tasks
With a cleaner keyword search, we grouped related searches together. This helped users scan their history and jump back into previous results without starting from scratch.
Surfacing prospect signals without the noise
Users needed to spot key moments (like new funding rounds) without wading through cluttered views. We added a simple badge and count within the results column, flagging signals on specific people without overwhelming the main interface.
Visuals over words
We added a faded bar chart showing relevancy at a glance. Users can hide or show it depending on whether they want a quick scan or deeper, more specific results.
Faster insight-to-design handoffs
One challenge for product teams: making sure designers have everything they need for each feature. We created a feature request format that covered all the essentials upfront, reducing back-and-forth and keeping releases on track.
Feedback on our approach
After 20-30 new feature releases, here's what Tom, Tactic's Product Manager, had to say:
