Most climate and deep-tech startups have the technology. What slows them down is a product experience that has not caught up. Flows built fast, onboarding that confuses rather than converts, and interfaces that make investors and partners work harder than they should. We bring research-backed UX strategy and execution to Seed through Series B companies, helping you reduce friction, accelerate user adoption, and build the kind of product credibility that closes deals.
From early research through developer handoff, every service is built around one goal: making your product easier to adopt, easier to use, and easier to sell.
Your website loses visitors before they understand what you do. We audit and redesign the navigation structure, information hierarchy, and conversion flows that determine whether a visitor becomes a lead. That means identifying where people drop off, where the messaging creates confusion, and where a simpler path gets more of the right visitors to take the next step. Deliverables include site journey maps, information architecture, wireframes, and usability findings.
If your team already has a build process in place, we focus on the visual design layer: the component library, typography system, color language, and interaction states that make your website feel considered and trustworthy. We deliver production-ready Figma files and design documentation your developers can implement without gaps. This is the design-only engagement for teams who need the design system, not the full build.
Poorly timed transitions and ambiguous feedback states are small problems that compound quickly into user confusion. We define the micro-interactions, animations, and transition logic that make your product feel coherent and predictable, then prototype them so your development team has no ambiguity at handoff.
Before you build, we prototype. We run structured research sprints to understand how users actually move through your product, build testable prototypes, and validate assumptions with real users. The goal is to surface UX problems before they become code, reducing the engineering rework that tends to follow when those decisions get made late.
Enterprise buyers, investors, and technical partners all land on your website with different questions and different reasons to leave. We design and build the full experience, from audience-specific messaging architecture through high-fidelity visual design to a production Webflow or Framer build. Everything is structured around the specific mix of decision-makers you are trying to reach, not a generic template.
When you have one shot, a conference launch, a partnership announcement, a funding round, the landing page needs to do real work. We structure content hierarchies, sequence trust signals, and design calls to action for the specific audience you are driving traffic toward.
Climate and deep-tech companies typically build their product experience the same way they build the technology: fast, function-first, and shaped by what the engineering team can ship. That gets you to market. It rarely gets you to adoption. Our work covers the full design stack. We start with research and strategy, finding where users lose confidence, where flows create friction, and where your interface is doing the opposite of what your sales team is promising in conversations. Then we move through visual design, interaction design, and developer handoff. The strategy and the execution are not separate workstreams; they inform each other at every stage. The result is a product experience that moves users to value faster, gives enterprise buyers more confidence, and builds a design foundation that scales as your product grows.
From Seed-stage climate tech startups to Series B deep-tech companies, we have helped product teams close the gap between where their UX is and where it needs to be to win pilots, enterprise buyers, and investor confidence.
"Working with What if Design has been transformative — faster feature roll outs, reduced development costs, and a fantastic user experience. They quickly understood our vision and offered proactive ideas"
"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!"
"The extremely high quality of outputs with fast turn around times and availability of team at short notice has been perfect for our requirements"
"Working with What if Design has been transformative — faster feature roll outs, reduced development costs, and a fantastic user experience. They quickly understood our vision and offered proactive ideas"
"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!"
"The extremely high quality of outputs with fast turn around times and availability of team at short notice has been perfect for our requirements"
"Working with What if Design has been transformative — faster feature roll outs, reduced development costs, and a fantastic user experience. They quickly understood our vision and offered proactive ideas"
"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!"
"The extremely high quality of outputs with fast turn around times and availability of team at short notice has been perfect for our requirements"
Strategic design that moves at startup speed, grounded in user evidence, and built to scale with your product.
Every design decision starts with evidence. We run user research, analyze behavioral data, and align with your stakeholders before a single screen is designed.
We work in structured sprints with clear deliverable windows. For time-sensitive moments like a conference launch or an investor presentation, we can turn around individual deliverables within a single business day.
We build component libraries and design systems your team can own, extend, and build on as the product grows. Documented components and consistent patterns mean new features get added cleanly, without the kind of visual inconsistency that compounds over time and becomes expensive to fix.
You get senior design strategy and full execution without the overhead of an in-house team. Our engagements are structured for startups moving fast, so you are investing in outcomes, not organizational overhead.
The founders of What If Design bring together strategic design and business growth expertise, with hands-on experience in climate tech, architecture, and market expansion.
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.
UI/UX design covers the full process of shaping how people experience a digital product. That includes user research, information architecture, wireframing, prototyping, visual interface design, interaction design, usability testing, and design system creation. The goal at every stage is the same: make the product easier to understand, easier to use, and easier to act on.
Tell us where your product experience is falling short, and we'll share a clear view of what's creating friction and how to fix it.
Share what is not working in your product experience, and we will respond within 24 hours with a clear perspective on what is creating friction and how we would approach it.
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