“I like your website, by the way.” A potential client said that to me on a sales call. Another reached out by email after finding my site. Neither of them talked about the design. So what does your portfolio website actually do?
This year I rebuilt my portfolio three times, after moving from in-house product designer to design partner. Version one got the message across but felt messy. The site and the portfolio were built with different tools (Claude Code and Claude Design), and side by side they didn’t feel like the same person.
Version two was cleaner: a short intro video, a clearer hero, case studies and testimonials. Then Eric Sin, a Staff Product Designer at Netflix, reviewed it. His point: it was good for knowing who I am, but not for helping a founder judge whether to start a conversation. The offer needed to be bigger than my name, and “startups and enterprise at every stage” describes every company on the planet. You can watch Eric’s full roast of my portfolio here:
That review moved me from a portfolio mindset to a trust conversion mindset. Before the first call, a founder wants to know why you, whether you can do it, and what happens next. Version three puts the offer first, redraws the client logos so they can actually be read, and cuts each case study down to the problem, the outcome and what I delivered.
As Eric put it: this is the same thing you would do for a startup. You just have to do it for yourself.
Chapters
0:00 “I like your website, by the way”
0:56 What does your portfolio website do?
1:09 Version 1: from job seeker to design partner
2:49 Same site, two design languages
3:44 Version 2: a cleaner message and hero
5:03 Eric Sin’s portfolio review
5:43 Message hierarchy and a sharper offer
6:51 From portfolio mindset to trust conversion mindset
8:13 Turning interest into a conversation
9:03 Version 3: the new homepage
10:13 Redraw the logos so people can read them
10:50 Case studies people can scan
12:22 Testimonials and a positive signal
13:24 Treat yourself like a product
14:21 So, what does your portfolio do?
Show Notes
My portfolio website: https://bearliu.com
