Validating a New Acquisition Channel Through a Product-Led MVP
Client
Loft
Industry
Real Estate
Role
Product Designer
Duration
3 months
Context
Over a three-month engagement, I worked as a UX/UI Designer alongside Loft’s product and marketing teams to design and validate an MVP mobile app that connected building doormens to Loft’s sales funnel, testing a new customer acquisition channel in a real-world environment.
The Challenge
As a fast-growing proptech unicorn, Loft continuously experiments with new acquisition strategies to reduce dependency on traditional digital channels. One strategic hypothesis was that building staff, who interact daily with buyers, sellers, and visitors, could become a valuable extension of Loft’s acquisition ecosystem.
The challenge was validating this hypothesis quickly, with limited time and engineering resources, and without disrupting existing internal operations. Loft needed to understand whether this audience would adopt a digital product, actively engage with it, and generate qualified leads, before committing to full internal development.
From a product perspective, this required balancing speed, usability, and business impact, while integrating seamlessly with the tools already used by Loft’s marketing and sales teams.
The Solution
I played a key role in shaping and designing a functional MVP mobile app that connected building staff directly to Loft’s internal database, enabling them to validate visitor access, register apartments for sale, and generate structured leads in real time. Working alongside Loft’s product and marketing teams, I was responsible for:
Designing the app’s interface and interaction flows
Translating business requirements into clear, usable screens
Ensuring the product was intuitive for non-technical, operational users
The MVP was intentionally lightweight and product-focused, designed to validate behavior and adoption rather than deliver a fully scalable technical solution.
The Process
Stage 1: Discovery & Product Alignment
The project began with a joint alignment session with Loft’s product and marketing teams. We reviewed the core business hypothesis, constraints, and success criteria, and analyzed an initial low-fidelity wireframe provided by the marketing team. From this starting point, I helped refine requirements and define the MVP scope, ensuring that:
The product integrated with Google Sheets used as Loft’s operational database
Core user actions could be completed with minimal friction
The app supported real-world workflows in fast-paced building environments
Stage 2: Product Design & Iteration
I was responsible for designing the app’s screens and interaction flows, working collaboratively with Loft’s internal teams. Starting from the initial wireframe, I created detailed UI designs and iterated continuously based on feedback and evolving requirements.
Design decisions focused on:
Clear visual hierarchy and accessibility
Fast task completion for daily, repetitive actions
Strong feedback loops tied to incentives and outcomes
The design evolved through multiple iterations to ensure alignment between user needs, business goals, and technical constraints.
Stage 3: MVP Development & Usability Test
The app was developed using Fabapp, enabling rapid prototyping and deployment. I collaborated closely with the team throughout development to ensure design intent was preserved and usability issues were addressed early.
Core MVP features included:
Access validation, allowing users to confirm authorized visitors via CPF and internal data
Push notifications, triggered directly from Google Sheets to avoid reliance on platform logins
Property referrals, enabling photo uploads and structured data capture
Incentive mechanics, rewarding successful referrals and encouraging continued usage
Before launch, we conducted usability testing focused on clarity, error prevention, and confidence during task execution in real-world scenarios.
Outcomes
The MVP was designed, built, and launched in just three months and tested over a one-year period with real users. More than 60% of Loft’s registered building staff actively adopted the app, validating the core hypothesis and confirming the channel’s potential.
From a business and product standpoint, the MVP:
Converted offline interactions into structured, trackable leads
Enabled Loft to test a new acquisition strategy with minimal risk
Provided clear evidence to justify internal investment
Based on these results, Loft allocated internal resources to build and scale the full product. This project reinforced the value of design-led MVPs as a strategic tool to de-risk innovation, accelerate learning, and align product decisions with real user behavior.
