Vilda
The startup
Making energy renovations easy and accessible
Vilda was conceived as a response to systemic problem of energy inefficiency in the built environment; around 28% of global CO2 emissions are generated from buildings, primarily due to the energy consumption for heating, cooling, and powering buildings (World Economic Forum). Within the EU, heating and cooling alone account for about half of the total energy consumption, with much of this energy still derived from fossil fuels—in-particular old buildings use five times as much energy as new builds. However, energy renovations still remain complex and expensive.
Vilda began as direct response to this—offering a platform that simplifies green home improvements for homeowners, lenders and installers.
As Design Lead, I was responsible for all design strategy, delivery, and effectiveness from day one, until stepping away from the company in August 2024.
What we did
Pilots in Bergen and Stavanger
Research
From day one, as with all startups, when you have limited information, user, or observation data, you have no choice but to make your best guess about what will work for the user (as Tom Greever puts it — make an informed assumption). Just start, create the simplest experience and the easiest solution you can think of, do what makes sense, and move on.
Therein, this is what we did, we began by testing the concept of a homeowner facing end to end service, that encompassed three modules, in effect an 'integrated market place'. That was, Vilda as an app that helps you to find sustainable energy solutions for your home, so that you (the homeowner) can save energy, money and emissions.
Initial incubators and Bate campaign
Post the StartupLab incubator, in Q4 of 2021 (before I joined formally Vilda) we were a participant in DnB Nxt Accelerator through which we released our MVP with DNB and local partners. Following which we ran our first installation campaign with Bate, and explored 'video befarings' as a way to optimise the inspection and energy advice process in Q2 of 2022.
Findings
Our findings, as a result of things seen and heard, showed that homeowners needed tools and resources to answer key questions like:
- What can and should I do?
- How can I finance it?
- Who can help me get it done?
Additionally, other pilots, reports and research conducted with industry leaders pointed to a need for a digital energy advisor service; that could:
- Shortening the sales cycle for installers
- Align with behaviour change heuristics (That being, the classic—"Don't tell me about the environment, tell me i can save money.")
This meant Vilda as a platform had to be desirable, technically feasible and financially viable.
Unlocking Green Upgrades with a Virtual Energy Advisor
We launched a virtual energy advisor that uses an energy simulator combined with user input to recommend specific measures. This approach provides neutral and trustworthy advice, essential for building consumer confidence. Our research pointed to the fact that a digital solution could replace traditional energy consultations, potentially saving homeowners a minimum of 2500 kr. However, to succeed, the tool had to feel conversational and keep users engaged throughout the process.
'If you're not regularly using or watching other use the product your designing…you’re not really designing it.'
I tested with friends, family, at events, in the pub, at the climbing wall. I put it in front of everyone I could. Though, not normally with a beer in my hand.
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What we did
Powering the transition toward sustainable homes, today.
Vilda 2.0
The initial vision for Vilda was to unlock value for homeowners, banks, and installers by making energy advice accessible and easy to understand, with the product mission being; to facilitate green upgrades through a virtual energy advisor, recommending measures based on energy simulation and user input data.
However, as is often the case in early startup phases, post-launch and pilot trials led us to a pivot. After engaging with several banks, we saw inbound interest from them, as their banking advisors had been using our tool to prequalify customers for green home improvement loans.
Pivot: Unlocking Green Loans for lenders
In partnership with Sparebanken Vest (SPV), we launched beta.vilda.no on their site as the primary tool to qualify customers for the Grønt Oppgraderingslån product in early February 2023.
Working closely with SPV’s internal Green Room project team, we iterated on the question flow, improving efficiency and conversion rates to provide personalised, actionable energy advice in minutes—rather than hours.
By collaborating directly with SPV’s customer advisor teams, we sought to ensure that Vilda empowered bank advisors during customer meetings to help customers understand their home’s energy needs, identify improvements to lift their EPC (Energy Performance Certificate), and qualify for green financing. Through our tool, customers were able to see the “before and after” of the measures in terms of kWh, CO2, and NOK savings. This received very positive feedback, and we sought to explore how we could improve our financial modelling to better show the investment’s break-even point, or ROI.
Early findings were further validated through our work with SPV, where we further found both low awareness of 'Green Loans' and a higher willingness to pay for major upgrades, if it resulted in savings over time.
Testing and iterating on different permutations of the flow and result pages
I tested multiple product flows and conversion pages to optimise user engagement, and explored new ways to represent and engage users in the return on investment of green upgrades. This period of intense iterations led me to sharpen my design hand-offs and develop the handoff model of C.L.E.A.R.L.Y. I also got better at presenting work under the structure of: 'What problem does it solve? How does it affect the user? Why it is better than the alternative?'.
Alongside focusing on the functional requirements, I also sought to meet their emotional needs through design—helping them feel a personal connection to Vilda through their home. To achieve this, I explored ways to make 'their home' a central element of the report page, with use of maps, imagery, 3d models and their home address.
Replacing all questions with an LLM interface?
I also explored how to collect user input through a conversational interface, using an LLM for flexible, scalable UI flows. The hybrid approach—combining LLM with guided prompts—allowed for easy iteration while balancing freeform and structured data collection.
Co-design on Beta.vilda
Beta.vilda was the primary internal and customer-facing tool for customer advisors to promote and appraise customers for green finance products. Working with internal stakeholders, we developed new features and improved the flow on beta.vilda, such as allowing users to give context and set preferences: What have you done? What do you want to do? What is most important? This was done through the initial questions and an interactive filter draw at the final report screen.
Through working with Vilda, SPV achieved the following:
- Increased green loan conversions
- Significantly reduced prospect-to-conversion time
- Simplified ESG documentation for both advisors and customers
In addition to these improvements, we also explored and built a Data Management Platform (in test only). This platform allowed customer advisors to store, organise, manage, and share the documentation they need. We also explored and iterated upon performance dashboards to track activity and loan conversion numbers.
From SaaS to DaaS
Working closely with users, we sought to craft the solution into a flexible sales tool to help SPV hit its green finance targets. To do this, we explored various approaches, such as white-label versions and various versions of an ROI calculator.
To explore how we could add more value to SPV, we asked the following "How Might We" (HMW) questions:
- How might we help you market and sell green products?
- How might we solve your data and documentation needs?
- How might we assist with risk exposure management?
- How might we add value at a portfolio level in managing your mortgage book and bonds?
This led us to a deeper understanding of the importance of data, which evolved Vilda into a DaaS (Data as a Service) proposition — a powerful data and tech solution for banks, helping them engage customers and improve their Green Asset Ratio.
The outcome
Energy Efficiency Data you can Bank on
Vilda is a data platform and API that gives banks and insurers access to a wealth of energy performance insights for any and every residential property, in Norway. Vilda collects, processes, and simulates fragmented property information to provide best-in-class data about building energy efficiency, making it easy for customers to integrate energy efficiency data into their own products, systems, and workflows in real time.
Vilda currently has two product lines:
- Assess: Understand the energy profile of every home in your portfolio, enabling customers to manage risk and streamline ESG reporting.
- Advise: Unlock the sale of green products, services, and customer journeys at scale—fostering innovation and customer engagement.
The data products are fully supported by comprehensive API documentation and a sandbox environment.
Reflections
Keep a decision log:
- I learnt this the hard way. I should have kept a paper trail of every significant design decision. I tried to use a shared Notion page, and it became somewhat valuable when people asked, "Why did we do this?" after launch. However, I didn't maintain well enough. This would've saved time, cut down on repetitive explanations, and ensured there was a single source of truth everyone could refer to.
Use effective placeholder content:
- When using placeholder images or text, make sure they don’t distract from the design’s core function. I’ve found that simple, non-distracting placeholders help stakeholders focus on the flow. This keeps the conversation on what matters, without pulling attention away with unnecessary details.
If the value chain isn't ready, the market isn't: our initial concept, solid as it was, was not a viable case due to the shortage of skilled green upgrade installers. Even with high demand for energy renovations, the lack of installers and service providers limits how much can be delivered at scale.
Business outcomes sometimes just happen along the way: we didn’t set out to hit specific business outcomes—they emerged through constant iteration and adapting to user needs.
Stepping Away
I stepped away from Vilda in August as we pivoted to DaaS. The main reason: design wasn’t mission-critical for the next 1-2 years, and we had a short runway until our next raise, and I simply put—I wanted to do my job, design.
Plus, my cofounder and I shared overlapping roles in customer-facing product work. Initially, it felt hard. However, upon reflection, and putting my ego aside, I asked myself—yes, I can take another role, but 1. Do I actually want that? And 2. I might be the right person now, but am I the right person for tomorrow? It was the toughest decision of my career, but also the most necessary for myself and the company.
Too many to mention regarding communication and tact. However, the most concrete example: was learning to leave your ego out of it: In a startup, design doesn’t exist in isolation. Everyone has input, and sometimes the best solutions come from those outside the design team.
Therein, it’s crucial to check your ego and be open to other people’s ideas. When you catch yourself thinking, "They don’t understand design", stop and listen. Understand their perspective. Good design is about finding the best solution, not defending your own. Using an asynchoronous comms approach also helped with this, I later learnt.
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