Letwork
2025
Design Thinking UX Design Brand Identity & Iconography
Co-founder: Leah Lavoie
In an entrepreneurship course, my team identified a problem based on emerging customer needs and validated it through surveys and interviews. We then developed and tested an MVP using explainer videos, a website, and an app prototype.
We later pitched the concept to investors and industry professionals, receiving feedback that helped refine the direction of the product.
Following the course, my co-founder and I continued developing the product into a real web application, working with developers and iterating toward product-market fit.
Challenge
Subleasing remains a frustrating and unreliable process for students. Whether they're trying to find someone to take over their lease or looking for a short-term place to live, students are forced to navigate scattered housing opportunities across informal channels that lack trust and transparency.
User feedback revealed that students found the subleasing process unreliable, frustrating, and extremely time-consuming. Existing solutions also lacked a mobile-first experience, making it harder for students to manage housing opportunities on the go.
Approach
How might we create a more reliable and transparent subleasing experience for students seeking short-term housing or looking for someone to take over their lease?
To better understand the student subleasing experience, we conducted customer discovery and validation sessions with over 100 students. These conversations revealed recurring challenges around trust, fragmented housing channels, and communication inefficiencies, which informed our design decisions throughout the project.
Key Findings:
Trust & Safety
Students were hesitant to engage with listings due to concerns around scams and legitimacy.
Fragmented Search Process
Housing opportunities were spread across multiple platforms, making them difficult to discover and manage.
Communication Delays
Students often experienced slow responses and uncertainty when coordinating with potential subleasers.
Poor Listing Visibility
Listings frequently became buried in active threads, forcing students to repeatedly repost opportunities to stay visible.
Design
With a clear understanding of students' pain points uncovered through customer discovery, I translated these insights into a platform that makes subleasing easier to navigate. The project began with mobile wireframes and an MVP. Insights from later usability testing informed refinements to the experience before we designed and implemented full desktop and mobile application experiences. Testing helped us to identify friction points in the user journey and validate if the experience addressed challenges uncovered during customer discovery. Every design decision was guided by the goal of making housing opportunities easier to discover, evaluate, and trust.
Usability Testing Key Findings:
1. Unclear distinction between property and units
Users had difficulty differentiating between a full property and individual rooms/leases, leading to confusion in how listings were structured.
2. Expectations around contact information
Users questioned when contact information becomes available in the flow.
3. Privacy concerns around address visibility
Users expressed discomfort with viewing or sharing specific address information, citing safety and privacy concerns.
Outcome
Initially developed as part of a course-based incubator program, Letwork evolved from an MVP into a validated business concept. Feedback from venture capitalists in Denmark confirmed that the challenges surrounding student subleasing extend beyond the U.S., reinforcing the need for a dedicated solution.
Following this validation, the project was formalized into a registered LLC. We refined the web application experience, prepared the platform for developer handoff, and secured a University of Michigan grant to support continued development.
Since launch, we have partnered with SDSU and the University of Michigan initiatives to build awareness through campus activations and student outreach. Most recently, we released a low-fidelity version of the platform and have already attracted 11 active listings during the off-season, providing valuable feedback from early adopters.