Before a single screen was designed, they brought us in. Together, we shaped the entire product from zero to one—every feature, every flow, every interaction. This wasn’t just a SaaS build. It was a bet on the future of independent HR. And we were there to make sure it paid off.
Market & Context
The HR world was splintering. As more companies outsourced their people ops, independent HR consultants stepped in to fill the gap—but the tools didn’t follow. Most were duct-taping their workflows together with a Frankenstein stack of CRMs, time trackers, calendar tools, and invoicing software. And that was just to run their own business. Each new client brought another layer of complexity—new payroll platforms, new calendars, new systems to learn and maintain. It wasn’t just inefficient. It was unsustainable.
Shrlock entered at a tipping point: a wave of skilled professionals ready to work independently, but stuck fighting their own tech stack just to stay afloat.
Brand & Product Limitations
There was no product to critique—only a blank canvas. No screens, no logo, no system, no strategy. Just a powerful idea and a deep well of industry knowledge from the founders. That meant everything was up for definition: What does an HR client profile look like? How do you visualize PTO synced from a third-party HRIS? What’s the right way to structure task workflows across multiple clients?
We built it all—naming, brand identity, UX patterns, the entire feature set. The challenge wasn’t just execution. It was deciding what this product should even be.
Strategic & Technical Barriers
The ground was shifting under our feet. AI was evolving weekly, and part of the mandate was to figure out how to embed it meaningfully—not just as a feature, but as a foundational capability. That meant constant rethinking. What should be manual vs. automated? Where does a co-pilot belong in an HR workflow? The possibilities kept expanding. So did the complexity.
We grounded the interface in familiar CRM patterns to reduce friction, but this wasn’t plug-and-play. We were designing net-new UX paradigms for consultants who manage many clients—not one employer. And with a non-technical founder who had strong opinions about unfamiliar territory, we had to strike a careful balance: educate, align, and still move fast.
Human & Organizational Challenges
Startups are messy. This one was no exception. Bandwidth was tight. The vision kept shifting. And at times, it felt like we were pushing the product uphill with a founder pulling sideways. He wasn’t technical but had strong takes on technical topics, which led to friction and rework. It wasn’t malicious—it was just the reality of a first-time founder trying to build fast in unfamiliar territory.
We stayed focused. We kept the work moving. And we did what experienced partners do best: we held the center, even when the edges got loud.
Discovery & Strategy
We kicked things off the way we always do—by listening. We interviewed real HR consultants to understand how they actually work: the tools they cobble together, the pains they’ve normalized, the cracks in their day-to-day. We ran a competitor audit, but there wasn’t much to steal—no one was building for this niche. So we mapped the workflows from scratch, zoomed in on the moments of highest friction, and zoomed out to architect a system around them.
What emerged was sharp and specific: an AI-first CRM designed from the ground up for HR consultants juggling multiple clients, calendars, and compliance needs. A back office they could actually trust—and scale with.
Concept Development
The big unlock was this: if we could embed real-time compliance data directly into the system, we could turn every task, project, or message into a moment of leverage. HR consultants wouldn’t have to Google labor laws or reference outdated PDFs—they’d get a live pulse on regulations as they worked. Not to replace their expertise, but to amplify it. Get the right answer fast, sanity check it, and pass it on with confidence.
That’s where AI came in—not as a gimmick, but as a quiet engine of clarity. We weren’t building a dashboard. We were building an extension of the HR brain.
Design Execution
We built Shrlock’s design system to feel as confident and composable as the consultants who’d rely on it. The layout leans into vertical simplicity—clean side nav, clear hierarchy, generous padding—so users never feel boxed in or buried. Navigation is anchored by role-relevant actions: Clients, Projects, Scheduling, Time, and Finance. No fluff. No wandering. Everything a working HR pro needs, nothing they don’t.
Visually, the brand walks a smart line: bold enough to feel memorable (see the vibrant violet), restrained enough to let the work shine. Typography is crisp, with just enough weight to feel trustworthy. Icons are friendly but precise. Every screen is systematized—whether you’re assigning tasks, sending an invoice, or browsing Insight HQ. The goal? Make complex, multi-client operations feel effortless, even elegant.
And crucially, it’s not just beautiful—it’s built to scale. The design system extends across modules, allowing new features like AI-powered forms or community tools to slot in without redesigning the wheel. Shrlock looks polished because it is. But under the hood, it’s working just as hard as the people using it.
Build & Integration
Everything started in Figma—but we didn’t stop at handoff. Shrlock’s engineering team was external and overseas, so precision was non-negotiable. We worked shoulder to shoulder across time zones, turning product specs into engineering decisions, UI into real logic. We didn’t just deliver mockups—we guided technical architecture, data flow, and feature sequencing.
From component libraries to API behavior, we made sure what got built matched the intent behind it. No slippage. No compromises. Just a clean translation from design thinking to functional product.
Collaboration & Workflow
This wasn’t a “review and revise” relationship—we were the product leadership. Working milestone by milestone, we set the direction, defined the deliverables, and kept momentum high. The founders leaned on us to make the right calls. The engineers looked to us for clarity and cohesion.
Everything ran through structured documentation, tight design files, and clearly sequenced goals. We weren’t just collaborating—we were steering. And that made all the difference in a fast-moving build like this.
Shrlock didn’t just launch a product—they unlocked a category. With a clear vision, a system built to scale, and a brand that finally matched its ambition, they gained traction fast. New features dropped. User love rolled in. A funding round closed. And suddenly, what was once a blurry idea became a market-ready platform with momentum.
But the real win was upstream. We helped crystallize the story, the structure, and the strategy. The product worked because the thinking behind it was right—and that alignment carried through every part of the business. From investor decks to onboarding flows, Shrlock finally had a pulse. And people noticed.
From concept to category, we helped Shrlock own its space.
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(2010-2025)
