--- title: "CodeAnt AI (YC W24) Case Study | Utkarsh Panwar" description: "How Utkarsh designed CodeAnt AI's product, website and brand as Founding Designer, fixing onboarding and activation for a platform used by 800+ companies." url: https://www.utkarshdesign.com/work/codeant-ai author: Utkarsh Dhairya Panwar updated: 2026-10-11 --- # CodeAnt AI - YC W24 ![CodeAnt attack surface dashboard on a desktop monitor](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/codeant-hero-mockup.webp) - **Brand:** CodeAnt AI - **My Role:** Founding Designer - **Timeline:** Jun 24 - Present - **Status:** Live Product - **Impact:** 800+ Companies | $60M Valued ## Overview CodeAnt AI is a code health platform for engineering teams: code quality, security, reviews, and developer visibility. This case study focuses on the problem I spent the most time on as the platform scaled: onboarding and activation. ## CodeAnt gives engineering teams visibility into their code health. Code review, security scanning, developer metrics, quality gates. As more developers signed up, fewer were reaching any of it. Connecting a repository was the first gate and it was breaking at every layer. ![What users were trying to reach.](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/codeant-laptop-mockup.webp) ## Product, website, brand. All designed from the ground up. - **Product Design**: Onboarding, dashboard, scan center, code review, security flows, and developer metrics. - **Website and Marketing**: Framer website, conversion-optimised landing pages, and ad creative. Conversion rate doubled since launch. - **Brand and Design System**: Visual identity, component library, and design guidelines. Built in parallel with the product. ![Product](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/codeant-product-attack-surface.webp) ![Website](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/jdYLausb0Sdy2sZ05YOCI5QdomM.webp) ## The flow looked complete. Users were dropping at the last step. Sign up, choose a Git provider, connect a repo, move forward. The flow had four steps. Users were dropping at step three and most of them never knew why. ![Userflow](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/Zot4RV05zGoXWlCFWN9mdRa8fE.webp) ![Onboarding](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/codeant-sign-in.webp) ## Connecting a repo requires admin access. Most developers do not have it. In most engineering teams, the person who discovers a new tool is not the person who controls its installation. They hit a permissions wall and had no way forward. > “The person with intent had no access. The person with access had no idea CodeAnt existed.” ![No error. No path. Just a wall.](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/QWzAhleILakb0CawY3pUt5lphEE.webp) The install defaulted to the personal account, not the company org. Connecting the company account needs admin access ## This was not a UX problem. It was an org structure problem. We had designed onboarding for one user completing one journey. Enterprise tools do not activate that way. ![Flow](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/aU20VqOCAkvTLldgRFUIL0s6d4.webp) ## So we gave blocked users. a way to pull in the right person. Instead of a dead end, the user gets two paths forward: email the admin directly, or share a link into the team chat. ![Flow](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/Mul1lsJtfn9tRqKrg4pNquZsQ.webp) ![Invite Via Link](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/codeant-request-admin-approval.webp) ## Self-hosted onboarding was also broke without hand-holding. Instead of forcing users through dense docs, I turned setup into simple step-by-step flows with platform-specific videos, making self-serve onboarding much easier for developers. ![Product](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/vSEIhJhnwDQQxTA3aEd7PUqnTio.webp) ![Website](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/codeant-self-hosted-after.webp) ## Getting connected did not mean getting value. Instead of forcing users through dense docs, I turned setup into simple step-by-step flows with platform-specific videos, making self-serve onboarding much easier for developers. ![Onboarding Issue](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/iEuSzY6wsVO5OtdDJIG2rOVWZM.webp) ## Surface what exists. Then nudge what they miss. The Get Started screen gave developers a direct path to each product line. No tour, no forced sequence. Each item linked directly to setup, no reading required. ![Get Started](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/codeant-get-started.webp) ## Also I built a communication layer that extended onboarding through the trial. Each email was triggered by what that specific user had and had not done, not a fixed sequence sent to everyone. The same logic ran in-product as a contextual nudge. Together they surfaced what users were missing without interrupting what they were doing. ![Onboarding Email](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/8T5p851tLoDrFZ6JlJEthbMj9V0.webp) ## Impact - **2×** Trial-to-paid conversion - **40%** Reduction in drop-off at the admin wall > Working with Utkarsh is like compressing five years of design into a single month. His speed, taste, and craft consistently push our brand to new heights. > (Amartya Jha, Co-founder, CodeAnt - YC W24) Next case study: Next Case Study --- Utkarsh Dhairya Panwar, Founding Product Designer and Design Engineer (IIT Roorkee; Founding Designer at CodeAnt AI, YC W24). Email: work@utkarshdesign.com · Book a call: https://cal.com/utkarsh-design/30min · Hire: https://www.utkarshdesign.com/hire · About: https://www.utkarshdesign.com/llms.txt