From concept to market: Product consultancy and UX design for innovative marketplace MVP
TalentUnlocked
Impact
Robust product experience: We partnered with TalentUnlocked to transform an early AI prototype into a robust product experience. An initial version of the recruitment platform evolved into a professionally designed, strategically considered MVP ready for market.
Strong product proposition: We refined business rules, user journeys, and marketplace mechanics in close collaboration with TalentUnlocked, ensuring both employers and recruiters benefit from an experience that works for everyone.
Strategic product approach: Our strategic product thinking was embedded throughout delivery, becoming integral to product decision-making, enabling faster decision-making and clear solutions that drove the project forward.
High-quality product through trusted relationship: Our trusted relationship with TalentUnlocked enabled a true strategic partnership, providing ongoing product strategy, UX and design advice, resulting in a high-quality final product.
"AI got us a prototype. Fruto helped us work out how the product should actually behave. They pressure-tested our marketplace rules, helped shape how key features work in practice, and worked as part of our team rather than as a supplier."
About TalentUnlocked
TalentUnlocked is an innovative digital recruitment marketplace designed to raise industry standards while significantly reducing hiring costs and time to hire. The platform creates a specialised, high-quality network where employers gain transparent access to a broader pool of recruiter talent without sacrificing service quality.
What they needed
TalentUnlocked had created an early concept using vibe coding AI to help demonstrate the proposition and support investment conversations. Like many early-stage products, the initial version helped get the idea off the ground, but bringing it to market required much more than a visual layer. It demanded intentional design and solid technology so the platform could scale with the business, operate reliably and securely, and deliver real value to users at every level of engagement.
The product needed to balance a complex set of business rules and marketplace mechanics with a clear, intuitive experience for two different audiences: employers and recruiters.
TalentUnlocked engaged Fruto alongside 67 Bricks (Technology experts) to take the product forward. With development already underway and a tight timeframe, we needed to quickly understand the current platform, the business objectives and where the experience needed to evolve.
What we did for them
Product strategy and consultancy
We worked closely with TalentUnlocked’s co-founder and Chief Product Officer to understand the vision for the business and platform and translate their recruitment expertise into an attractive digital offering.
We challenged assumptions, explored how the marketplace rules would work in practice, and considered how different users might interpret, use, or potentially bypass intended system rules.
We also helped pressure-test how TalentUnlocked would work alongside employers' existing recruitment agency relationships. The founders knew employers wouldn't abandon established providers, and we helped think through how that would work in practice, giving employers a route to bring existing providers onto the platform while gaining greater choice and visibility of the wider market.
UX and product design
We designed early wireframes and page flows to explore key journeys and create a shared understanding of how the product could work.
With development already in progress, we concentrated our efforts where they would deliver the greatest impact. Rather than investing time in exhaustive wireframes, we prioritised fast-paced collaboration, focused reviews, and agile design iterations, enabling us to quickly identify and solve critical UX questions and maintain momentum.
We focused on creating a seamless user experience that made complex workflows feel intuitive and accessible. Building on this foundation, we defined the visual direction and user interface (UI), turning a basic brand foundation into a professional and cohesive experience that could support the product's ambitions.
Branding identity
We designed a professional visual identity for TalentUnlocked, translating its proposition into a cohesive brand that could stand out in a competitive recruitment market, carry consistently through the digital product experience, and evolve as the business grows.
Working as an embedded product team
Fruto worked closely with TalentUnlocked and the 67 Bricks development team throughout delivery.
We joined development stand-ups, held regular checkpoints and worked directly with the team to discuss requirements, resolve questions and iterate on solutions.
This created a close partnership between TalentUnlocked, Fruto, and 67 Bricks. The TalentUnlocked founders brought deep recruitment expertise, extensive sector experience, and a clear vision for the business. Fruto contributed product strategy and user experience design, while 67 Bricks brought deep experience implementing complex software. Together, we translated that combined expertise and vision into practical requirements and solutions for development.
Strategic design for a two-sided marketplace
A key challenge was in designing a platform that simultaneously delivered value to both sides of the marketplace ecosystem.
For employers, the user journey had to enable flexibility and informed choice, while effectively articulating the unique value proposition of TalentUnlocked to drive adoption. For recruiters, it was critical to establish compelling incentives for participation and to instil confidence in the platform’s ability to generate meaningful, high-quality opportunities.
Our approach involved close collaboration with the TalentUnlocked team to define business goals, anticipate user expectations, and understand marketplace dynamics, ensuring the solution met the needs and priorities of both customer groups.
Why expert product strategy and design mattered
AI tools can help create an early concept quickly, but launching a market-ready product requires deeper consideration and approach.
The challenge was not simply making TalentUnlocked look professional. It was understanding how the product should work, how its business rules would affect the experience, what different customers would expect and how all of this fitted into the wider proposition.
That meant bringing together business strategy, product thinking, UX, design and technical implementation thinking from the very beginning. Having Fruto as an experienced Product and UX partner who could work alongside TalentUnlocked was essential for navigating decisions across business vision, user experience, and technical delivery.
For TalentUnlocked, this turned an initial concept into a more robust, thoughtfully designed MVP, ready to move toward the market with confidence.
Results
A professionally designed MVP: TalentUnlocked moved from an early concept to a robust product experience designed to support its market launch and product growth.
A clearer and more considered proposition: Business rules, marketplace mechanics, and user journeys were challenged and refined through close strategic collaboration.
Product thinking embedded in delivery: Fruto became an integral part of the decision-making process, working alongside the founders and development team rather than operating as a separate design supplier.
A stronger foundation for future growth: We also identified opportunities and considerations beyond the immediate MVP, helping the team think about how the platform could evolve as the marketplace grows.
"When we brought Fruto in, we had a vibe-coded prototype that had done its job. It showed the idea and supported our early investment conversations. But a prototype only shows what a product looks like. It doesn't tell you how the product should behave, and for a two-sided marketplace, behaviour is everything.
Fruto filled the gap between the vision and the screens. They tested our marketplace rules the way real users would: where an employer might get lost, where a recruiter might look for a workaround, and what would make both sides trust the platform enough to come back. They didn't just design what we asked for. They asked whether it was the right thing to build.
A good example is how we handle employers' existing agencies. We knew from the start that employers wouldn't walk away from providers they already trust. Fruto helped us shape how that would work in practice, so employers can bring those agencies onto the platform while still getting access to the wider market. That became our Preferred Supplier feature, and it makes trying TalentUnlocked a much easier decision for employers.
They worked as part of the team, not as a supplier. They joined stand-ups with 67 Bricks, worked through problems in real time and turned complex rules into journeys that feel simple. On top of that, they gave us a brand and interface that look like the business we're building. We're now live, with our first roles running on the platform.
To any founder holding an early version: AI will get you a prototype fast. It won't tell you which questions you haven't asked yet."
