End-to-End Lending Software Prototype
Built robust Figma prototype for lending software used to pitch investors and sell customers.
Dates
Q4 2021 - Q1 2022, 6 Months
Role
UX/UI Designer, UX Researcher
Stakeholders
Co-founders, Investors, Potential Customers
Tools
Figma, Google Drive, Google Meet
Securing $3.3M Investor Funding and 5 Pre-Signed Customers with a Robust Prototype
Context
Presta is a brand new starup made of a team of 3, two cofounders and me, the UX/UI designer. To start a new business, we needed to validate our idea and secure investor funding.
Impact
Raised $3.3M in an oversubscribed pre-seed round
35+ investor conversations
Pre-Signed 5 customers and created a Product Advisory Board
Problem
Lenders Use Manual Processes That Don't Scale And Disjointed Tools That Don't Talk To Each Other
All the various tools a lender uses to manage loan applications.
Pain Point #1
Manually transferring information between different software tools that don’t integrate with each other is tedious and time consuming
There are 5 stages of the lending process and many lenders use a separate tool for each stage. As a borrower’s loan moves from stage to stage, the lender must manually re-type the borrower's information into each system.
“We have the worst CRM system I’ve ever encountered. We have the underwriting system, but this doesn’t talk to our CRM system at all. You have to put your loan request in your CRM system, then enter it again into your underwriting system.”
Pain Point #2
Security threatening human errors are becoming more frequent as the CDFIs outgrow their old manual processes
CDFIs start off very small, at this stage they can manage their loans with google docs, excel, and pdfs. However, as they scale, these manual processes don’t scale with them. Larger lenders need software to automate redundant manual tasks.
“We do servicing in Excel, and it’s really painful. Doing everything in Excel made sense at the beginning, but 25 years later this is really cumbersome. We are one keystroke or extra zero away from having an incorrect amortization schedule.”
Pain Point #3
Borrowers and other stakeholders are slowing down the lending process when they don’t send their documents in a timely fashion
Lenders collect documents from borrowers primarily through email. Borrowers are slow to respond and constantly need to be followed up with until all their documents are submitted. When borrowers finally send their forms, they are rarely correct on their first try, which leads to even more back-and-forth emails to send corrections and answer questions. This creates a bottleneck in the lending process.
“Trying to pull documents from all locations is like herding cats”
Solution
Addressed Pain Point #1
Lenders No Longer Transfer Information Across Different Software Tools Because Presta Is an All-In-One Tool
Presta covers all 5 stages of the loan process so that information can be automatically shared across stages. When a lender types a borrower’s banking information in the underwriting stage, they no longer have to retype that information in the closing stage, it is automatically transferred.
"Putting everything into one platform is really a game-changer."
Addressed Pain Point #2
Presta Reduces Human Errors by Automating Redundant Manual Tasks
Presta saves lenders time and reduces errors by automating many of the manual tasks they have throughout the lending process. It is particularly helpful in the underwriting and servicing stages where lenders have to provide precise and accurate data, as this is where they tend to make the most mistakes.
“What you have here takes everything that I do manually or one-off and puts it all into one thing. At the end of the day, this does the same thing that I would do, but this would probably be three times as fast.”
Addressed Pain Point #3
Presta’s Borrower Facing Application Portal Helps Lenders Collect Documents Faster
Lenders no longer have to collect documents through back-and-forth emails. Presta has a borrower facing application portal where borrowers can view and submit all their forms, and a lender facing review portal where lenders can approve or return borrower forms. Presta encourages borrowers to submit their forms faster through auto-reminders and if a borrower needs assistance with their application, they can reference the self-help resource documents or reach out to a lender.
“[Showing applicants the list of remaining forms they need to complete] is very good. This is something that is really missing from the process. Giving the applicant a visual of what is outstanding is really helpful when you're having conversations with our team."
“I think the resources section here for the borrower is a really really really good idea. Giving them a template and explaining how to fill out the forms so they get it right on the first try would be really helpful.”
Discovery
Discovering Pain Points With 25+ Lender Interviews
I reached out to 550+ lenders at CDFIs (Community Development Financial Institution) around the country asking them for a half hour of their time. The 2 co-founders and I conducted 27 user interviews, alternating between interviewer and note-taker roles. I went through the notes with a fine tooth comb, pulling out quotes that related to user goals and pain points.
An outreach email used to recruit users to interview.
Research & Iterations
Mapping Out the Lending Process
At this point, a UX/UI design contractor joined the team to assist me during the ideation, iteration, and prototyping portion of the design process. I created a set of onboarding documents that included a summary of learnings from our user interviews and a packet of all the raw interview notes.
We started out by using a whiteboard to break down the process into 5 digestible stages: intake, application, underwriting, closing, and servicing. We then split the process up by the 2 key user types: Lender and Borrower.
A digitized version of the process map split up by stage and user type
Internal Feedback on Initial Prototypes
My co-designer and I made lo-fi prototypes for all the key screens. We shared them with our two co-founders for a round of internal team feedback.
I will focus on the borrower application portal, which is a key screen for the application stage of the process. The borrower application portal is a central location for borrowers to submit their documents.
A sampling of our lo-fi sketches of the borrower application portal.
Hi-Fi version of the borrower application portal that takes into account feedback from the lo-fi sketches.
User Testing
Reconnecting With Lenders for Feedback
We followed up with the users we interviewed during the discovery process and were able to complete 26 product demo interviews.
The demo covers key screens from each of the 5 stages of the loan process. We tested the demo by walking through it with our users and frequently pausing to ask and answer questions.
“It’s almost as if you have bugged our office and built solutions to so many of the frustrations and inefficiencies we don’t have the time or expertise to address ourselves.”
