Understanding the "How"

Before going further, I wanted to understand the information that’s available to us

Based on the information here's what we know -

• Why - we are building this?

• What - we need to build?

But to be able to design a tool that truly addresses the "What", I needed to dive deeper to figure out "How" do I go about building this tool that allows us to achieve the "Outcome" that is being desired?

Diving deeper

I began asking questions which could act as a guide or direction for further research -

Constraints

"The project had a major constraints of not having access to real users to conduct user interview to gain deeper insights" 👥

I focused and planned my research into 2 parts -

• How data is being handled currently in the VC world

• Analysing existing tools for VC fund managers

My goal was to understand the current working environment of VC fund managers to ensure that the product not only addresses their pain points but also seamlessly integrates into their existing workflow.

I went through industry reports, academic studies, and online forums, to gather valuable insights.

What I found 📄

VC fund managers often rely on a combination of tools to streamline financial data analysis.

These tools typically offer strong data extraction, advanced analytics, data visualisation, portfolio management, and relationship management features. This comprehensive approach helps VC managers make informed investment decisions.

Let's take a look at the current workflow to get a better sense of the stages, processes, tools and challenges -

Given that VC fund managers uses a combination of tools, it wasn't very feasible to dive deeper into each tools individually. So I'd to focus on getting a broader sense of the challenges VC fund managers experiences while using tools.

This information gives me a more complete understanding, helping me to brainstorm on the architecture of the tool.

Setting the foundation

As next steps, my focus was to flash out the information architecture based on the insights gathered from secondary research. I asked myself -

• What are some of the features crucial for success?

• Will those features help the fund managers get up and running?

Again, these questions were like a guide for further brainstorming, here were my initial thoughts

I aimed to create a clear and intuitive structure that supports efficient navigation and easy access to key features.

Goal

One of the core north stars while brainstorming on the information architecture - was to solve for tool complexity and user experience

Designing the solution

Layout & Navigation

To ensure the tool easy to navigate - I chose a straightforward layout that is consistent with common dashboard practices.

Functionalities

Let's understand how each of these panels work and empowers users to navigate seamlessly, access information efficiently, and make informed decisions.

Diving deeper into the Analysis Tab

The "Analysis" tab offers a streamlined way for users to delve into data and gain insights on a wide range of subjects.

Document upload process

When an user clicks on the analysis options from the menu, in this case quick analysis - a dial-up box pops up allowing them to upload or directly drop a document to the tool from their device.

Document View

Once the tool extracts all the information from the document, it's presented in an easy-to-read and organised format, allowing users to quickly review the information.

Nav bar in document view

Once the document is perused - the "Nav Bar" contracts. The decision was taken to reduce distraction from the screen and allowing users to focus on the information only.

Understanding the document view functionalities

Add, Delete and Error state

Selection, Edit and Save

🗃️ Learnings

At first glance, the brief seemed straightforward in terms of "what" needed to be built. However, it quickly became more complex than it appeared. While the goal was to create simple features to help fund managers efficiently conduct analysis, save time, and reduce errors - those features were still a part of a much larger system.

Now what became crucial was to build a deeper understanding of the broader tool in order to integrated those features. From my initial research what I learnt was that currently in the market fund managers uses combinations of tools to achieve their goals. Each of these tools have very unique designs and had their own set of limitations and complexities.

With each information the complexity of the project grew and I had to figure out how do I translate the information to something meaningful and also that made sense. I'd to break the information and asked questions at each stages to make sure I was solving for the desired outcome.