Startup evolution: from Proformative to Illumeo
Proformative/Illumeo at a glance
- Guided transition from lead-gen business to training platform through multiple pivots
- Supported successful exit from Proformative to new Illumeo brand
- Advanced from senior designer to design director
- Built foundations for new learning platform serving finance, HR, marketing and sales
When Kevin Boyd joined Proformative in 2011 as senior designer, he walked into a dynamic startup environment ripe with opportunity. The company operated a lead-generation business in corporate finance, combining user-generated content with live webinars. Over the next five years, Boyd would help guide the company through multiple pivots, ultimately contributing to a successful exit and rebrand as Illumeo.
Early growth and transitions
Boyd initially brought UX, UI and print design expertise in-house, providing engineering support through Drupal theming that saved more than $10,000 annually. The company's first pivot added a B2B directory targeting CFO control of $2.5T in yearly corporate spending, complementing their existing content and webinar business. Success with CPE (Continuing Professional Education) events, for which Boyd provided comprehensive web and print design, led to another strategic shift toward an on-demand video training platform.
Conference mastery
Between 2012 and 2015, Boyd designed materials for five major corporate finance conferences. Each event required creating mobile-responsive microsites, HTML email campaigns, conference signage and detailed program booklets. His innovative designs included features like die-cut shapes revealing logos, contributing to consistently high attendance rates and positive feedback from conference participants.
The Illumeo transformation
Following the sale of Proformative's Q&A and lead-generation business in 2016, Boyd was promoted to design director of the new brand, Illumeo. In this role, he led a complete redesign of the platform, focusing on mobile responsiveness and enhanced user experience for the course product and other elements of this new finance learning management system (LMS).
Innovation in assessment
One of Boyd's most significant contributions was helping develop Illumeo's unique competency assessment tool. Working closely with CTO Greg Stout and CEO John Kogan, Boyd designed an interface that helped users evaluate their professional skills against industry benchmarks. The three-phase system - Assess, Analyze and Improve - provided a seamless experience for both individual users and corporate teams.
The assessment tool achieved several key objectives:
- Enabled users to rate competencies against job-specific benchmarks
- Visualized skill gaps through interactive charts and graphs
- Connected identified gaps to relevant training content
- Supported both individual and team-based assessment modes
- Delivered a fully mobile-responsive experience
Marketing innovation
Boyd developed marketing pages targeting dozens of different audience segments in finance, HR, marketing and sales. His mobile-first approach earned praise from board members and user representatives. The course platform design allowed users to:
- Track progress through course materials
- Access content across multiple devices
- Download supplemental materials
- Complete quizzes for CPE credit
- Engage with instructor Q&A
Impact and outcomes
Boyd's contributions helped transform Proformative from a content platform into Illumeo, a comprehensive professional development system. His work supported the founders' successful exit while establishing a foundation for the new brand's growth. User testing consistently showed high satisfaction rates, particularly with mobile accessibility and course completion experiences.
The transition exemplified Boyd's ability to adapt to rapidly changing business requirements while maintaining focus on user needs and business objectives. His experience at Proformative/Illumeo showcased his capacity to blend technical expertise with creative direction in a dynamic startup environment.
Building bridges to future success
Boyd's experience navigating Proformative's evolution into Illumeo proved valuable preparation for his next role at Signifyd. The startup-honed skills of adapting to change while building scalable systems, combined with his background in enterprise web systems at Stanford and creative leadership at the Mercury News, positioned him well for Signifyd's rapid growth from 150 to more than 500 employees. The foundation was set for his next chapter in e-commerce innovation.