With 90% of startups failing, founders have to work hard to join the 10% that succeed. So, securing enough funding, launching the MVP with that one cool feature, and proving the product-market fit is usually at the forefront of their minds… All while UX design is missing from the list of priorities.
That’s the sad truth: too many startups either skip the UX design phase entirely or underinvest in it. Here’s why you might be tempted to do the same — and what price your startup would have to pay for this lapse in judgment in the long run.
4 Reasons You Might Be Tempted to Skip UX Design
In our experience, startups usually forego UX design for some combination of these four reasons.
It Requires Narrow Expertise
UX design is more than just creating visually appealing mockups out of thin air. It involves conducting thorough UX research, prototyping in multiple iterations, and validating every user flow and design decision. Besides the methodology, UX design requires a solid understanding of prevalent user expectations toward navigation, browsing, or even animations.
If you don’t have this expertise in-house, you may decide to have a non-professional create designs for your product or just forego UX design altogether, thinking it wouldn’t hurt.
Counterpoint: You don’t have to hire a UX designer in-house to create a good UX design for your product. Digital design agencies can give you access to that expertise, with the added bonus of having experience with similar products in your industry or domain. What’s more, you can hire only UX research services instead of full UX design services.
It Can Get Expensive
It’s not a secret that startups have limited resources at their disposal, and hiring a UX designer in-house can be one of those expenses deemed non-essential. Even the price tag for UX design services could be considered beyond the startup’s budget, especially when there are other expenses to cover, such as MVP development or marketing.
Counterpoint: Yes, UX design isn’t free, but consider it an investment. When done right, it’ll pay off in the form of higher user growth, conversion, engagement, and loyalty. To bring down costs, consider hiring an agency rather than an in-house UX designer and outsourcing offshore or nearshore.
It Takes Time
Startups may be pressed to launch their product as fast as possible to beat the competition, quickly validate the idea, and start showing results to investors. Skipping the UX design phase, which involves the somewhat time-consuming user interviews, ideation, and multiple design iterations, can speed up time-to-market. You can always fix UX later, right?
Counterpoint: Poor UX design can undermine your product’s performance in real-world conditions, making it harder to secure funding and prove the product-market fit. It’ll also make a negative first impression on your potential users, adding to the challenge of building trust in your brand and driving word-of-mouth marketing.
It’s Not as Important as Features, Right? (Wrong)
Some founders simply don’t realize how important UX design actually is. After all, if your product offers the one feature that solves a key pain point for users, what difference does the design make? Users would flock to your product even if it doesn’t look that appealing!
Counterpoint: UX design isn’t just about the looks. It determines how your product feels to its users and can make it convenient for them. Even the most helpful features will fail to win over users’ hearts if they’re not simple or convenient to navigate or if you don’t personalize UX.
The Cost of Skipping UX Design
In the long run, leaving UX design for later can lead to:
Subpar user adoption. Lack of thoughtful, user-centered UX design can destroy your chances at leveraging word of mouth to gain users. Some in your target audience may check out your product once and leave it because it’s cumbersome to use. So, you’ll struggle to grow your user base and validate the product-market fit.
Lack of user engagement. Poor UX design makes products frustrating to use, so users are unlikely to get glued to or return to them. That’s bad news if engagement is one of the key metrics for you and/or your investors.
High churn. If users find your product too confusing to use, they won’t stick around. The result? Low user retention and high churn, both of which harm your bottom line and can even generate negative word of mouth for your product.
Costly reworks later on. Your product might survive long enough to collect user feedback that would boil down to “Cool features, but fix the UI.” Acting on it will require a whole redesign, which could be even costlier since you’d also require UX audit services in addition to UX design. You’d also be effectively rebuilding your frontend and backend.
Negative brand perception. If your product requires trust to drive engagement and growth (it’s the case for FinTech products, for example), poor UX design will give off amateurish, unreliable vibes. Building brand trust and loyalty will be an uphill battle — one you’re not guaranteed to win.
Final Thoughts
May 26, 2025
By
Yurii Verkalets
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