Cadre

Cadre was a financial technology startup. We were acquired by Yieldstreet in 2023. Yieldstreet is now known as Willow Wealth.

The founding premise was simple – what if you could invest in any property you see? Commercial real estate opportunities are generally thought of as a great way to diversify an investment portfolio. Think of it as the next thing to consider after covering the basics like a retirement account and investing in an index fund of stocks.

As a product designer at Cadre, I spent over four years leading design for the core investment browsing experience — the area of the product where users discover and evaluate available offerings. I worked cross-functionally with sales, marketing, legal, and business operations to understand both user needs and business priorities, using that input to define problems, scope project milestones, and maintain a long-term product vision.

A major focus of my work was making the browsing experience more intuitive and effective for a wide range of investors — from first-timers who needed more education about unfamiliar financial concepts, to experienced investors who wanted to quickly find specific types of offerings. I validated design decisions through user testing, prototyping, and analytics, and co-created a new design system that improved visual consistency and the team's overall speed of iteration. This work contributed to measurable improvements in how users understood and navigated the product, as well as increased efficiency for the internal teams managing and promoting investment content.

Cadre brought many talented and experienced finance and investment professionals from prestigious institutions. The idea was to build a product that empowered more people to invest in opportunities that traditionally required having an investment advisor at Goldman Sachs (and a large account with the bank, aka a lot of money).

Similar products include Titan and Fundrise.