Designing a Product to Help Teamshares Transition Thousands of Small Businesses to Employee Ownership

Spearheading design of a custom lead management platform that transformed deal sourcing, tracking, and management, driving strategic growth.

Background
Teamshares helps small businesses transition to employee ownership by acquiring businesses from retiring owners, supporting them with modern financial tools and resources, and enabling employees to become part-owners over time, fostering long-term stability and growth.

The Challenge
Teamshares needed an efficient way to source and manage leads to meet their bold acquisition goals of acquiring thousands of small businesses.

The Solution
As the founding product designer, I led the design of an internal tool that streamlined our acquisition pipeline. The tool automatically pulled data from small business listing sites, turning it into leads that were tracked through each stage of the pipeline. It stored data, including historical correspondence and deal terms, and fed this information to other systems after a deal closed. Over time, the tool also helped establish industry benchmarks, guiding more informed decisions.

The Outcome
The tool evaluated tens of thousands of businesses and became essential for our Transaction Team, facilitating millions of dollars in transactions.

My Role
I was responsible for the initial design vision and later managed a team of two designers who divided responsibilities across the acquisition funnel, collaborating with the C-suite, due diligence, and legal teams to ensure the tool addressed their needs.

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