Fintech SaaS: A Digital Back-Office for SMBs
Finli's software empowers SMBs with a suite of digital tools for easy invoice creation, payment processing, and streamlined financial management. In order to reduce the invoicing and payment processing pain points for users, Finli's SaaS includes an overview dashboard, reporting features, recurring and one-time invoices, quote processing, billing history, management of customer accounts, and a convenient payment portal for the SMBs and their customers.
Jan 2023 - May 2023
Product Designer: Feb 2021 - Jan 2023
UX/UI Designer: Feb 2020 - Jan 2021
Project Manager
4-10 Engineers
1-3 Designers
Figma: Low to High-Fidelity Design, Component Library, Prototyping
Miro: Wireframing Userflows, Ideation & Leading Team Workshops
Userpilot: Analyzing Metrics
Hotjar: User Analysis
Empowering community-based businesses with robust, yet simple-to-use invoicing and money management tools.
Over the course of 3+ years at Finli, my role had undergone significant growth and transformation. Commencing as the sole product designer in a startup environment, I collaborated closely with a team of 4-8 engineers, a project manager and leadership, spearheading projects from concept to launch. Progressing into the position of lead product designer, I assumed responsibility for guiding a team comprised of 1-3 junior or contract designers, while strategically charting the product roadmap and KPIs.
This multifaceted journey had afforded me the invaluable opportunity to champion the centrality of user experience within our team. I was the orchestrating force for a shift in our approach to product team workshops to include more diverse perspectives, ranging from sales representatives to the CEO. My engagement extended beyond internal collaboration to direct communication with the small businesses utilizing our software, ensuring their specific needs were not only understood, but also effectively addressed. This holistic approach allowed me to redefine and elevate our product design process, fostering a more inclusive and user-centric experience for our software.
When I came onboard with Finli, my first goal was to evaluate our current v1 product based on users’ pain points and goals. These discussions with our current customers as well as team members lead to a redesign of the software for our v2, to increase usability and optimize for user needs. Our software at the time catered to providing a digital tool suite to help classroom based and child enrichment businesses. Along with a mobile app to receive monetary contributions from family members and invoice payment for these services.
Our v2 design was implemented after 7 months of user research, team work-shopping, redesign, and testing. We continued to add new features to v2 over the next 1.5 years, based on the business goal of finding product-market fit. On top of our digital tool suite of invoicing & customer management, our product included scheduling features, a form builder, a virtual classes marketplace, online business pages, and a mobile application for invoice payment.
The latest version of software came about during a software-wide refactor. Our client base was also evolving to include a more specific market of small business owners & entrepreneurs who needed to keep track of projects, inventory and payments. The refactor provided the design team the opportunity to reevaluate how our software was now meeting our user’s needs and a mobile-first invoicing tool and payment portal was seen as the next stage.
Championing design process and user experience within our team started from the point of concept. Introducing a new feature or version of our software always initiated with a collaborative team workshop. The advantage of working in a smaller company allowed me to orchestrate workshops that gathered diverse perspectives, ranging from the sales team to our CEO. I recognized the significance of this approach in shaping our discussions on user needs and goals. Given that each team member interacted with our users at different stages of their journey, including engineers who gained insights into customer needs and communicated technical constraints to the team, these workshops became central to fostering a comprehensive understanding.
I approached the process by preparing a workshop activity using a collaborative platform like Miro. I facilitated team members in expressing their thoughts on the proposed feature through a combination of collaborative exercises. These activities encompassed crafting the problem statement, formulating hypotheses on solutions, developing user personas and scenarios, and incorporating timed solo activities to gather feedback from the more reserved team members.
These workshops served as a north star for steering the Sprint forward and establishing a foundational principle for how a feature could unfold. Throughout the Sprint cycle, we revisited some of our initial workshop ideas, particularly if our initial hypotheses faced challenges from user feedback during iteration testing.
Shifting from hypothesizing, we prioritized direct insights from users, crucial for refining and directing product development with a user-centric approach. Following these user meetings, I regularly compiled user personas and insightful quotes to furnish the team with a comprehensive understanding of user needs.
This practice not only facilitated communication within the team but also served as a compass guiding the trajectory of our product or feature development. While user feedback didn't dictate every decision, it stood as a valuable guidepost and a means to rigorously test our hypotheses and assumptions regarding user sentiments and needs.
The design process was never done in a silo. The design process was a collaborative effort, involving everyone from engineers to the CEO. Evaluating our direction at crucial points required careful coordination and honest collaboration.
I championed the double diamond method, especially for complex projects where our collective expertise was essential to create the best product within given resources.
As features progressed from low to high-fidelity design, I developed prototypes for user testing and feedback. Insights from this process strongly influenced subsequent design iterations, ensuring a user-driven refinement of our product. This iterative approach prioritized responsiveness to user needs, enhancing communication and aligning development with user expectations.
Illustratively, in the design of version 3 of our invoicing software, specifically the invoice builder, multiple iterative transformations occurred. These changes were directly shaped by user testing and feedback, showcasing our commitment to refining and enhancing user experience through continuous improvement during the design process.
Navigating through the intricacies of feature design, unexpected user feedback, newly discovered technical constraints, or changes in stakeholder decisions can be challenging. Amidst this chaos, I ensured that Sprints remained on track, avoiding delays or excessive scope creep. Simultaneously, maintaining flexibility between iterations allowed us to enhance and align with what mattered most – the user's needs and goals, even if it meant making tough decisions, as the saying goes, to 'kill your darlings.'
During my tenure with Finli, I spearheaded Sprint plans, recognizing that while Sprints aren't a literal race, they do have a sense of urgency as actionable segments of time to define scope and devise solutions. This was particularly crucial in the early stages when we were focused on MVPs to test product-to-market fit. As a Lead Product Designer, I played a key role in shaping product roadmaps and began tracking metrics and KPIs, acknowledging that there's always room for further learning and growth in these areas.
The response to Finli's digital tool suite, version 3, surpassed our expectations. We not only received numerous compliments on the refreshed aesthetics and user interface, but our users also demonstrated immediate advantages by seamlessly invoicing via mobile and utilizing basic reporting tools available on their dashboards. Following the successful launch, we engaged with our user base to gather valuable feedback on the enhancements made to our product.
If you found my work intriguing, don't hesitate to reach out—I'm actively exploring new opportunities and would welcome the chance to connect further!