Introduction
App functions
The project examines how universities can better support students launching their own businesses or student-led organizations. Research and student feedback show that many aspiring entrepreneurs struggle to turn ideas into reality due to early obstacles such as limited funding, lack of experience, and insufficient mentorship. To address these challenges, we developed an app offering structured guidance and a platform where students can connect, communicate, and chat.
I used figma for all of our prototype, and badges were drawn on procreate.
Our high-fidelity prototype brings clarity, structure, and support by unifying key ideas from each member. Our main focus is in user insights, and gives students a clear and collaborative path to get started with their own business.
Our functions includes task check list, this page helps students track daily goals and addresses the key user challenge of understanding where to start and helps students manage their workload effectively.
Community connection - This page allows users to join communities, share posts and threads, and connect with other student entrepreneurs. It also highlights the importance of collaboration and peer support for entrepreseneurial success, this communities page provides a way to grow engagement with peers.
AI Mentors - This feature provides free personalized guidance, answers basic questions, and recommeneds resources. As students exoressed the need for fast, interactive support without feeling intimidated (gathered this data through interviews), this AI mentor bot - Supporty allows tailored free guidance, helping users clarify goals and reduce uncertainty.
Real Mentors - Users can pay to connect with experienced mentors for guidance, suggestions, and support. This feature enables more targeted mentorship access. Interviews showed that beginner entrepreneurs often feel lost without direction, so real mentor support provides deeper, personalized learning over time. Our pricing is designed to be student-friendly by offering monthly and annual plans at more affordable rates.
Learn & Explore - This page offers a curated selection of videos and lessons covering essential startup skills. It simplifies complex topics by presenting them in a structured way, helping students build foundational knowledge and confidence before launching their business or student club.
Gamified Badges: Badges represent unlockable milestones within the “Learn & Explore” section. This feature was added after student interviews showed that gamified rewards can strengthen motivation, engagement, and follow-through.
Chatting With Partners: This feature enables users to communicate with collaborators to share updates and ask questions. It was implemented because interviewees emphasized that having a partner helps reduce feelings of isolation and provides a dependable support system throughout the startup process.
Set up your project: this page is there for users to create a project, this project will later be shown on their user profile
Summary
By the end of this project, we learned that developing an app is not only about creating features, but also about understanding user needs and translating them into clear and meaningful design solutions. This app aims to support students in starting their own businesses or organizations by providing structured guidance, mentorship, and community support. Through research, we gained insight into students’ concerns, such as limited budgets, which informed our decision to make features like real mentorship more accessible and affordable.
Throughout the process, I strengthened my skills in Figma and explored more advanced functions while also developing a deeper understanding of user-centered design. One of the biggest challenges was the limited time we had due to team scheduling conflicts, which required us to complete most of the work within a very short period. Additionally, implementing interactions in Figma became difficult under time pressure, especially as we continuously added new ideas and features that increased the complexity of the prototype.
To overcome these challenges, I relied on external resources such as YouTube tutorials to quickly learn more advanced Figma techniques, while maintaining constant communication with my team to coordinate progress and align on priorities. I also focused on completing my assigned tasks independently while ensuring they fit within the overall project direction.
If I were to revisit this project, I would aim to further refine the details and improve the overall quality of the prototype. With more time, we could develop more polished interactions and incorporate more advanced features to create a more engaging and visually refined user experience. This project has highlighted the importance of time management, adaptability, and user-focused thinking, which I will carry forward into future design work.
