Launching a 0-1 AI-Powered Financial Management Tool
End-to-End Design • Startup • FinTech • B2B • Responsive Web • Data Visualization
Overview
The "Sunday Night Time Suck" is a challenge familiar to many small business owners, including the founders of Tensor Financial. Running a small business is demanding, particularly when it comes to managing finances.
Owners often spend precious free time—such as Sunday evenings—creating complicated spreadsheets to ensure they have enough cash to pay bills and employees. Tensor aimsto eliminate the "Sunday Night Time Suck" with instant predictive cash flow visualizations and actionable mitigation strategies that prevent overdrawing.
In 2023, we focused on designing Tensor's first proof-of-concept SaaS offering for market validation.
Key Outcomes
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Designed MVP of Tensor Financial
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Launched to testers and improved iteratively based on feedback
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100% of early testers transitioned from free testing period to paid membership
My Roles
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Research
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UX Design
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UI Design
About the Company
Tensor Financial solves problems for small business owners, creating affordable financial management software for non-technical owner-operators. I joined Tensor in 2023 as the first designer.
Challenges & Opportunities
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Lack of competitive precedents (or access) for predictive financial software visualizations
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Regulatory compliance to ensure generated tax documents can be used by many CPAs
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Small team of 3 and limited resources
Key Decisions
Strategic design language
I chose to leverage an existing design system library, Ant Design, to enable rapid development with high-quality, thoroughly designed components.
Once we had validated the proof-of-concept in the market, we planned to revisit and strategize a holistic approach to visual design.
Displaying predictions
The critical pain point for Tensor was solving the 'Sunday Night Time Suck.'
This was the most important part of the product experience. To tackle it, we met in the office, brainstormed ideas on the whiteboard, and emerged with a strong proof of concept ready for testing.
Outcomes
Customer Referrals
Business owners who participated in our beta have referred other owners to try Tensor
100% Adoption to Paid
All beta testers in the free trial chose to transition to the paid model
"It gives me exactly what I need, when I need it..."
Positive feedback from a small business owner in Tigard, OR
Next Steps
I'm actively designing the next iteration of Tensor, improving interactions, introducing helpful animations, and ensuring quality where we may have deprioritized it during the POC phase.
Pictured above: Result of the whiteboarding brainstorm session
Pictured above: Evolution of whiteboard to wireframe
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Pictured above: Final iteration for MVP proof of concept