You're building something genuinely new, but your product needs to feel instantly understandable to a pilot partner, a Series B investor, and an enterprise buyer, often at the same time. That's the design problem we work on. We help climate tech companies and purpose-driven startups turn complex products into experiences that move users forward, reduce rework between design and development, and give your team the materials to close partnerships and funding rounds faster.
From research and strategy through interface design and development, all connected under one roof.
Your users decide whether your product makes sense within the first few interactions. We map those journeys carefully, design the information architecture, build wireframes, and run usability checks to surface and remove friction before it reaches your development team. The result is a clearer product, fewer revision cycles, and users who actually understand what they're supposed to do.
Good interface design isn't just about how things look. It's about building a scalable component library your team can extend, meeting accessibility standards your product actually needs to comply with, and producing developer-ready specifications detailed enough that what gets built matches what was designed. That's what we deliver.
The small moments matter more than most teams realize. We design the micro-interactions, transitions, and motion patterns that make your product feel considered rather than assembled. Done well, they reduce cognitive load and make the experience feel responsive and intentional.
Your website is speaking to investors, partners, and buyers at the same time, each with different questions and a different threshold for leaving. We design and build around that reality: clear hierarchy, purposeful conversion flows, and responsive builds in Webflow or Framer that you can update and scale without a developer on call.
Your visual identity does more work than most people account for. We build comprehensive systems covering logo, color, typography, and iconography with clear usage guidelines so your brand stays recognizable whether it's on a pitch deck, a product interface, or a conference booth.
How you describe what you do shapes every design decision downstream. We work through the positioning questions before touching visual design, helping you land on a clear market position, a value proposition your team can actually use, and messaging that holds up under scrutiny from investors and buyers alike.
When your product is doing something the world hasn't seen before, explaining it clearly is half the work. We move through structured discovery, user research, and rapid prototyping to find the clearest path through your product and the strongest way to communicate what it does. The goal isn't a polished handoff file. It's a product that pilots faster, a website that earns investor trust, and a design system your developers can build from without second-guessing the intent.
From early-stage climate tech startups to teams backed by firms like Accel Partners, we've helped organizations across the spectrum turn complex products into clear, compelling digital experiences.
"They very quickly understood the kind of messaging that was important to us and how to translate that into a compelling visual experience. I can't recommend them enough!"
"Working with What If has been transformative — faster feature roll outs, reduced development costs, and a fantastic user experience. They quickly understood our vision and offered proactive ideas"
"The extremely high quality of outputs with fast turn around times and availability of team at short notice has been perfect for our requirements"
"They very quickly understood the kind of messaging that was important to us and how to translate that into a compelling visual experience. I can't recommend them enough!"
"Working with What If has been transformative — faster feature roll outs, reduced development costs, and a fantastic user experience. They quickly understood our vision and offered proactive ideas"
"The extremely high quality of outputs with fast turn around times and availability of team at short notice has been perfect for our requirements"
"They very quickly understood the kind of messaging that was important to us and how to translate that into a compelling visual experience. I can't recommend them enough!"
"Working with What If has been transformative — faster feature roll outs, reduced development costs, and a fantastic user experience. They quickly understood our vision and offered proactive ideas"
"The extremely high quality of outputs with fast turn around times and availability of team at short notice has been perfect for our requirements"
We work with companies building things that matter, and we take that seriously in how we work.
We're signatories of Design Declares, a global initiative where designers pledge to treat the climate and ecological emergency as the defining priority of their work. Climate tech and sustainability is our focus by choice, not a category we stumbled into.
We work across brand, product, and web, which means design decisions at one layer don't create problems at another. Strategy and execution stay connected throughout the project, not siloed into separate engagements.
Our process is built to move quickly without cutting corners on the work that matters. Most projects move from discovery to first designs within two weeks, with structured milestones that keep things on track and your team informed.
You get senior-level design thinking without the overhead of an in-house hire. Our remote-first global team is structured to be lean and effective, with retainer options starting at $2,999/month for teams that need ongoing support.
Experienced founders with a track record of designing for millions.
Co-Founder, Lead Design Strategist
Akhila is the co-founder and lead strategist at What if Design. She helps climate tech companies turn complex science into brands and websites that close funding and partnerships. She has worked with teams backed by the US Department of Energy, ARPA-E, leading climate VCs across carbon capture, grid interconnection, and green hydrogen, contributing to over $105M raised. Founders trust her because she learns the science and market before designing, and translates what they build visually for effective communication.
Co-Founder, UX Design Lead
Tejas is the co-founder and product UX lead at What if Design. He leads product and UX for software companies, designing for adoption, retention, and the metrics that drive growth. His work spans battery management systems, fleet platforms, and ESG tools, plus enterprise software for the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia. Founders trust him because he treats every screen as a business decision, not just a design problem.
UX (user experience) design covers the full user journey: research, information architecture, wireframing, and usability testing to make sure your product is intuitive and achieves what users came to do. UI (user interface) design handles the visual and interactive layer, the components, typography, color, motion, and interactive states that users directly see and engage with. Both disciplines work together on every project we take on, not as separate phases but as one connected process.
Tell us about your product and where you're stuck. We'll come back within 24 hours with a clear point of view on how to help.
Share your project details and we'll respond within 24 hours with a clear perspective on how we can help and what working together would look like.
For immediate assistance, feel free to send us a quick email at team@whatifdesign.in
For immediate assistance, feel free to send us a quick email at team@whatifdesign.in