Commonstock
Social investing platform, $34M raised, acquired by Yahoo Finance
The Company
Commonstock was a social investing platform with a genuinely interesting premise: users could link their real brokerage accounts and share actual portfolio performance, not just opinions. That accountability layer made it meaningfully different from the noise on Reddit or Twitter. The platform raised $34M from Coatue, QED, Floodgate, and investors including Bill Ackman, and was ultimately acquired by Yahoo Finance. As design team lead, I grew the team, overhauled the design system, and helped bring the product to the polished state that made the acquisition happen.
The Work
Grew the design team from a single inherited designer to a three-person function. Worked directly with the CEO and Director of Product on roadmap and design direction.
Overhauled the design system across hundreds of components. Played a direct role in preparing the product for acquisition by Yahoo Finance, a platform with 150 million monthly users.
Key Contributions
- Grew and structured the design team from one to three, hiring junior and senior designers
- Overhauled design system spanning hundreds of components consumed by dozens of engineers
- Key role in preparing the product for acquisition by Yahoo Finance (150M monthly users)