KADO

One tool for all your business relationships

Role: Solo UX/UI Designer

Year: 2022

Introduction

Overview

KADO is a mobile-first enterprise networking tool built to help professionals such as bankers, lawyers, realtors, and contractors manage and grow client relationships. Positioned between Salesforce, LinkedIn, and Twitter, it combines digital business cards with CRM capabilities in one intuitive platform.

KADO Networks

A graduate of Techstars 2022, KADO’s mission is to help professionals build meaningful relationships that drive real business opportunities.

The Problem

Digital Business Cards

Most digital business card platforms target freelancers or small businesses. Enterprise adoption remains low due to poor scalability and lack of admin controls for large organizations.

Customer Relationship Manager

Traditional CRMs are bloated and complex, often prioritizing features over usability. They fail to support personal relationship-building, leaving users overwhelmed and disengaged.

Research & Discovery

Approach

Given early-stage constraints, I began with competitive research to inform MVP1, then evolved to user testing, interviews, and analytics for iterative improvements post-launch.

Key Goals

Streamline onboarding: Improve early user experience and retention.
Understand lead generation: Identify user motivations and contexts.
Design for clarity: Help users find and act on relevant contact information.
Optimize workflows: Enable efficient, relationship-driven task management.

Competitive Analysis

KADO bridges two product categories: digital business cards and relationship managers, competing with leaders in both.

Digital Card Competitors

HiHello

Weak admin tools and
limited integrations.

Linq

Reliant on physical cards,
minimal scalability

Beaconstac

Treats digital cards as
a secondary product.

CRM Competitors

Salesforce

Powerful but bloated;
poor UX for smaller teams.

HubSpot

Focused on mid-market,
not optimized for enterprises.

Clay

Polished interface but
limited business functionality.

Opportunity

A clear gap exists for an enterprise-ready digital business card platform that integrates with a relationship hub designed around human connection.

Implementation Challenges

The Challenge

Early users created cards but rarely returned. Rapid feature rollouts meant users were unaware of the platform’s full capabilities.

The Solution

The roadmap shifted to prioritize engagement, education, and cohesive user journeys.

1. Bridge Cards and Relationships
Added a built-in lead generator linking business cards to contact management.

2. Strengthen Relationship Tools
Expanded contact features with tasks, notes, meetings, and micro-integrations.

3. Redesign the Home Screen
Created a central dashboard consolidating key actions and insights.

4. AI Smart Feed
Surfaced “hot leads” through an intelligent recommendation system.
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5. Notification Strategy
Turned notifications and newsletters into educational tools that re-engaged users and showcased new features.

Conclusion

Outcome

1000% organic growth with minimal marketing
Adopted by 100+ mid-to-large companies with 5,000+ paid users
13,000 freemium users and 380 daily active users by Q4 2022

KADO filled a major gap in the market by offering enterprise teams a smarter, scalable, and relationship-focused alternative to traditional CRMs.

Summary

KADO proved that business networking tools don’t need to be complicated. By merging a digital business card with a relationship hub, it helped enterprise teams focus on what truly matters: building better relationships, not managing software.