My Role
Description
Product designer
BeeLinked is a goal-driven networking tool that facilitates LinkedIn connections based on user goals.
Teammate
Context
Atharva Sakharkar
Students & early-career professionals find networking on LinkedIn often unstructured, leaving them with irrelevant connection suggestions and low engagement.
Tools
duration
Figma
6 weeks
Beelinked
AI-Powered Networking with Purpose
Networking is an essential part of career growth, yet many professionals, students, and entrepreneurs struggle to find relevant, meaningful connections. Traditional platforms like LinkedIn offer broad networking opportunities, but they often feel impersonal, transactional, and overwhelming.
Context / Research
What our users are saying
Superficial & Transactional Connections
Entrepreneurs struggle to build trust and form long-term relationships.
Struggles in Finding Relevant Contacts
Students face challenges in identifying and connecting with the right professionals.
Lack of Confidence & Follow-Ups
Many users feel anxious reaching out and lack a structured way to maintain connections.
65%
Connections That Lead Nowhere
More than half of professionals say their LinkedIn connections feel superficial and unproductive, lacking meaningful engagement.
72%
Struggle with Follow-Ups
Nearly three-quarters of users fail to maintain consistent communication with new connections, leading to lost opportunities.
58%
Struggle to Find Relevant Contacts
More than half of users find it difficult to identify and connect with the right professionals, often wasting time on ineffective networking.
80%
Want more goal driven networking
The majority of professionals prefer structured, intent-based connections over blind outreach, seeking deeper, career-focused relationships.
Key Challenges Identified
Fragmented workflows and inefficiency
Through user research, including 9 interviews with students, recent graduates, and entrepreneurs, several core struggles emerged:
Final Solution Highlights
Measurable goal driven networking
“You can't manage what you can't measure” - Peter Drucker
Onboarding/Goal setting
Dashboard Overview
Adding a connection
Follow up tracker
Our core feature
Problem
Fragmented workflows and inefficiency
How might we help professionals build meaningful connections and maintain them through structured follow-ups, reducing the randomness and inefficiency of traditional networking platforms?
Results gathered from 30+ survey responses
One of the interview systhesis
Wireframes
Early Ideation
We started with low-fidelity wireframes to map out user flows, focusing on seamless connection building and structured follow-ups. Early iterations prioritized clarity, ease of use, and engagement-driven interactions.
Wireframes
Usability Testing and Iteration
To evaluate BeeLinked’s effectiveness, we conducted unmoderated usability tests with ten professionals unfamiliar with the platform.
Our moderator guide for usability testing
Research
Understanding user needs
To improve networking effectiveness, we interviewed professionals struggling with superficial connections and inconsistent follow-ups. Users expressed frustration with random networking suggestions, low response rates, and lack of structured follow-ups, leading to missed opportunities.
Key Insights from Interviews
1
I want to connect with professionals relevant to my goals
2
I need structured follow-ups to keep conversations alive
One of the participant synthesis
Results & Key Takeaways
With the results we synthesized the results per participant digestible for us to make them into actionable items
UX Improvements
After synthesizing insights from our usability text we iterated on our designs:
Recommendation Cards
Our cards did not inform our users about the strength of the connection, additionally the recommendation screen was viewed as overwhelming with to many stacks of profiles
Improvements
Difficulty in determining the best connections from recommendations
Bulk connection recommendations feels overwhemling
Iteration 1 - No Value, Assumption that user would connect on Linkedin
Iteration 2 - Too Vague
Final Design - Easy to understand
Users can make more informed decisions
Iteration
No quick access to goals
Connections and Follow up Tracker not linked to goals
No path to add connection
Final Design - Easy to understand
Each Goal has their own Tracker and connection page
Access to adding goals and connection
Killed two birds with one stone by increasing the size of the card and adding a strength to recommendation
Navigation
Users struggle with navigation and find it difficult to see which connections align with their goals. They also face challenges in quickly adding new goals for better organization.
Improvements
Navigation feels unclear, making it hard to track which connections align with specific goals.
Final Solution
MVP Prototype for launch
Our MVP had the following features as they were at the crossroads of what our users needed and what was possible for the dev team.
AI Goal Setting
Actionable steps to success,
Effortlessly
Goal-Based Connection Recommendations – Suggests professionals aligned with career goals.
Follow-Up Tracker – Helps track and remind users to follow up.
AI-Powered Message Generator – Creates personalized connection and follow-up messages.
Goals Overview
Track progress with purpose
“Following up is the hardest part for me. I make connections, but I either forget to check in or don’t know how to continue the conversation.”
— Tester, MarkT_92
Follow up Tracker
Keep the conversation going
“Networking feels overwhelming. There’s so much noise, and I don’t know where to start or who to reach out to.”
— Tester, Emily72
Before
After
Shaan Pradhan
Crafted with love and 154 Scorpions songs
BeeLinked
Goal Based Networking
