Building an AI Rental Platform from Scratch

Recently, I had the opportunity to work on VDOMA.AI - a startup where I was responsible for designing the MVP from the ground up. For me, this project became much more than another design task. It was a chance to join the product at its earliest stage, when there were no predefined flows or ready-made solutions. Together with the team, we were shaping how the product should work before designing the first screens.

About the project. VDOMA.AI is a startup focused on simplifying apartment search and rentals through AI. The idea was to reduce the time people spend searching for housing by combining AI-powered search, personalized recommendations, and tools that help landlords automate routine communication.

The Problem. Finding a place to rent is still a frustrating experience. Users often browse dozens of outdated or duplicate listings, communicate with multiple landlords, and spend hours filtering apartments that don’t actually match their needs. On the other side, landlords answer the same questions repeatedly and struggle to manage listings efficiently. We wanted to rethink this experience instead of simply creating another rental marketplace.

The Solution. Our goal was to build an MVP where AI becomes a real assistant rather than just another feature.

Instead of relying only on filters, users could describe the apartment they were looking for in natural language. AI would understand the request, recommend suitable properties, and simplify the search process. At the same time, landlords could automate repetitive communication and receive intelligent suggestions for managing their listings.

Discovery. Before moving into interface design, I focused on understanding the problem itself. I analyzed competitors, explored user behavior, identified pain points, mapped user journeys, and worked on product hypotheses together with the team. These insights helped us prioritize the first version of the product and ensure that every feature solved a real user problem instead of adding unnecessary complexity.

AI Features. One of the most exciting parts of the project was designing AI interactions.We explored conversational search, personalized recommendations, intelligent property matching, AI-assisted listing creation, automated landlord support, and smart suggestions throughout the rental journey. Since there are very few established UX patterns for AI products, many interactions had to be designed and validated from first principles.

Working on VDOMA.AI gave me valuable experience in designing not just interfaces, but an entire product from idea to MVP. It reinforced my passion for product thinking, research, hypothesis validation, and creating solutions that solve real user problems.

I’m currently open to new Product Designer opportunities and would be happy to contribute to another ambitious product:) Thank you for reading! I’m always happy to connect with new people, discuss product design, and explore exciting opportunities.

Full case: https://vsevolodshymko.netlify.app/vdoma