Company
Aumni, a JP Morgan Company
My role
Research, Strategy, Prototyping, Testing, Product Design
Team
1 Product Designer (me),
1 Product Manager,
5 Engineers,
1 Engineering Manager,
2 Subject Matter Experts
Challenge
Scenario modeling is a time consuming, complex exercise, usually performed in Excel. Round modeling is used to determine how each round of financing might affect investor’s ownership and what do they need to invest to maintain a specific ownership percent. The outcome of this project was Aumni’s first Scenario Modeling tool which Aumni users can now leverage in their workflows.
Understanding the pain points of modeling financing rounds
Together with a Product Manager we conducted user interviews with our existing customers to understand how we can help with modeling financing rounds. Scenario modeling is one of the most popular feature requests, and we wanted to understand more about the specific user needs and pain points. We found out that smaller Venture Capital firms are usually extremely busy with sourcing new deals and managing their portfolio, and do not have time to build custom models. Some of Aumni’s customers are currently using other software to work on scenarios. However, they would prefer to just use one tool to save on subscriptions and to not have to log in to multiple platforms every day.
Competitive Analysis
To understand our main competitors better, I mapped out their scenarios functionality and features. We reviewed the map and discussed the different data points and user flows to plan how to differentiate our offering. One of the biggest benefits of using Aumni is getting access to organized, aggregated legal and economic data. There is no need for user’s manual data entry and everything is summarized and reviewed by Aumni. To start a scenario, a user needs to have an up-to-date version of the capitalization table for the investment they are evaluating. This data was already summarized in Aumni and we are able to significantly speed up the scenario modeling workflow.
Initial test - leveraging existing functionality to gauge interest in Scenarios
To further validate interest in round modeling functionality, I designed a simple initial version of the tool, reusing existing functionality. We created a new navigation item called “Scenarios” and tracked the amount of visits to this new page. After receiving a high volume of visits and requests to expand on the functionality, the need to build this tool was confirmed and we were able to invest more in additional features.
Strategy
Focus on Round Modeling and Exit Waterfall Analysis
I spent time with our Subject Matter Experts and Product Manager to review insights from initial discovery, write down the specific use cases, and map out future user flows. We started with round modeling, and decided to plan for adding more complex functionality in the future. Due to complexity of exit waterfall features, we decided to build a simple initial version first. Users can generate an exit waterfall excel template, which will be pre-populated with Aumni data points. All formulas are included and the users will be able to make any changes. This gives us an opportunity to gather feedback, and carefully plan the future additions to scenario modeling functionality.
Iterative designs, continuous testing and delivery
At Aumni, I worked in 2 week sprints and delvered a new feature or an improvement after each sprint. To plan each sprint, I worked with a Product Manager on user story mapping, considering changing direction based on the performace of each addition. Frequent releases helped us gather user feedback frequently, and test in smaller increments.
Key Features
Leverage Aumni’s data to quickly start with existing capitalization
The fastest way to build round modeling scenario in Aumni is to start with an existing portfolio company. Scenarios can be accessed either from a specific portfolio company page, or though Scenarios home - where a user can search for an existing investment. In case users are evaluating a new investment, we added an option to “Start from scratch”.
Understand how much to invest to maintain a specific ownership percentage
In Aumni, all data points come from legal documents, which are then summarized and organized into an easy to reference display. Venture Capital firms might have a right to invest a specific amount to maintain their ownership percentage (Pro Rata rights). To make filling out the scenario easier, I designed a section with Pro Rata rights information to help users determine how much do they need to invest. Users can quickly pre-fill the investment amount with recommended amount, by clicking “Fill with Pro Rata”. Users can quickly edit data in the table and then switch between a high level overview and a full table result of the model.
Export Exit Waterfall Analysis
Users can pick an existing portfolio company, leveraging the data that's already in Aumni, and export an excel exit waterfall analysis directly from Aumni. Exit waterfall analysis is a complex process and frequently requires adding specific data points and formulas. To give our users the flexibility to make any changes we decided to start with the Excel export, including relevant formulas and the data directly from Aumni. This gave users the flexibility to quickly start with a template, but then make any relevant adjustment making the most out of flexibility in Excel.
Outcomes
This project addressed the most frequently requested feature at Aumni - 7% of all feature requests included a mention of Scenario Modeling functionality. Completion rate and number of saved scenarios are some of the key success metrics I tracked when deciding on the next set of improvements. 80% of users were using an existing company to start their scenario, making the most out of the data that is already in Aumni.
