Merchant Onboarding for an AI-Driven Fintech Platform.
pAIwares is a fintech startup building AI-driven tools and transaction processing technology for merchant banking. As the platform expanded, the team needed an onboarding experience that could guide merchants through service setup, equipment configuration, and processing requirements without overwhelming them.
This case study walks through how operational requirements scattered across spreadsheets and sketches were translated into a structured, step-based merchant activation flow inside a one-week sprint.
Translating fragmented operational requirements into a usable onboarding journey.
The challenge wasn’t defining what information needed to be collected. That already existed.
The real challenge was organizing those requirements into a flow merchants could realistically complete.
Most onboarding information lived across spreadsheets and stakeholder sketches. Stakeholders understood the system internally, but the onboarding experience itself lacked structure, hierarchy, and progression.
pAIwares onboarding landing page screen showing the merchant setup entry point
This project moved quickly and operated within tight constraints:
Because much of the system behavior was already defined, the focus wasn’t open-ended exploration.
It was clarity.
Diagram showing four project constraints converging on a single goal tile — Reduce friction without removing complexity
Shaping flow structure and screen hierarchy from stakeholder artifacts.
Stakeholders provided several artifacts during the project:
These documents explained what the system needed, but not how users should experience it.
I worked closely with stakeholders to identify:
pAIwares onboarding flow screen carousel showing the structured setup stages
Before designing interfaces, I focused on organizing the onboarding architecture itself.
One of the biggest risks in enterprise onboarding is cognitive overload — especially when users are asked to complete long forms without understanding why information is grouped together.
To simplify the experience, I introduced a step-based flow that separated onboarding into clear stages:
Five numbered onboarding stage tiles arranged left to right: Business Details, Processing Setup, Equipment Selection, Documentation, Confirmation
Aligning a new onboarding flow with an active product ecosystem.
Because pAIwares already had an active product ecosystem, consistency became an important part of the design process.
Before expanding the onboarding experience, I analyzed:
Using tools like Figma and Lovable, I gathered visual references, mapped recurring UI patterns, and explored ways to align onboarding with the broader product environment.
This helped ensure the new flow felt connected to the existing platform rather than designed in isolation.
The fast-paced timeline also required rapid iteration. Using these tools, I was able to:
Live pAIwares onboarding prototype showing the merchant setup interface aligned with the existing product UI
With the core flow established, I iterated on screen hierarchy, interaction clarity, and progression between steps to ensure the experience remained easy to follow despite the amount of required information.
This included refining:
Because onboarding requirements and backend logic were still evolving, designs were updated continuously alongside stakeholder feedback and technical discussions.
Refined pAIwares onboarding prototype showing improved field grouping, step transitions, and confirmation states
How stakeholder collaboration shaped the onboarding system into an implementation reference.
Because some backend behaviors and dependencies were still evolving, collaboration became a core part of the design process.
Rather than designing independently and validating later, I worked iteratively with stakeholders to:
Funnel diagram showing scattered inputs distilled through synthesis into three key design decisions
Given the project timeline and technical limitations, several decisions prioritized clarity and implementation speed:
The goal wasn’t to create the most flexible onboarding system possible.
It was to create one merchants could successfully complete.
Four labeled slider scales each showing a deliberate tradeoff position between competing priorities
The prototype delivered:
Final pAIwares onboarding flow shown as a cohesive end-to-end merchant activation experience
This project reinforced that enterprise UX often isn’t about simplifying systems completely.
It’s about making complex systems understandable.
Success came from balancing user clarity, stakeholder requirements, and implementation realities — while moving quickly inside a constrained environment.
The result was an onboarding framework designed not just around screens, but around the operational realities behind them.