Overview
AppVentory is a B2B SaaS spend management platform designed for small businesses, accountants, and
bookkeepers in the US and UK markets. Our founders had extensive experience in the accounting and
bookkeeping industry and had strong connections with professionals who used platforms such as Xero,
QuickBooks, FreshBooks, and other accounting software.
When I joined AppVentory as a Product Designer in early 2024, the product was still just an idea on
paper.
The founders had already spoken with potential users in the accounting and bookkeeping industry and
conducted user interviews, surveys, and research. They shared the documented findings with me, giving me a
clear understanding of the users, their challenges, and the product vision.
Using this research as the foundation, I started designing the product from the ground up.
Problem Statement
After reviewing the user research and interview findings shared by the founders, I created a clear problem
statement based on the recurring challenges users were facing.
I identified three major pain points for users:
Small businesses were using multiple SaaS products with recurring subscription plans. Since each
product had a different renewal date, it was difficult to track overall SaaS spending and manage
renewals efficiently.
Many businesses struggled to understand how many software licenses they had purchased compared to how
many were actually being used, making it difficult to identify unused or wasted licenses.
Accountants and bookkeepers found it challenging to track SaaS spending, upcoming renewals, and unused
licenses across their clients’ businesses.
User Persona
After defining the problem statement, my next step was to create user personas based on the research
findings. I carefully reviewed the interview responses to identify common patterns, goals, and challenges
among the participants. Based on this analysis, I created two primary user personas that represented the
platform’s target users.
Competitor Audit
After identifying the target users and their pain points, I wanted to understand how existing SaaS spend
management platforms approached these challenges. I conducted a competitor audit to study common workflows,
feature sets, and user experiences. This helped me identify industry best practices as well as opportunities
where AppVentory could differentiate itself.
- Key Takeaways
- Most competitors target enterprise customers rather than small businesses.
- Dashboards are often cluttered with large amounts of data.
- Users usually need to complete multiple integrations before seeing any value.
- Renewal tracking and license management are spread across different sections.
- There was an opportunity to create a simpler experience focused on small businesses and accountants.
Prouct Goal
The insights from the user research and competitor analysis helped me define clear product goals. These
goals became the foundation for prioritizing features and planning the MVP.
- The product goals I defined were:
- Most competitors target enterprise customers rather than small businesses.
- Dashboards are often cluttered with large amounts of data.
- Users usually need to complete multiple integrations before seeing any value.
- Renewal tracking and license management are spread across different sections.
- There was an opportunity to create a simpler experience focused on small businesses and accountants.
User Flow
After defining the product goals, we decided to move into the design phase. Before designing individual
screens, I started by creating the core user flows to define the product’s information architecture. This
helped me organize the product into logical modules, map the key user journeys, and establish a clear
foundation for the overall user experience.
Wireframes & Exploration
Using the information architecture and user flows as a guide, I created low fidelity wireframes to validate
the overall product structure and core workflows before moving into visual design. This helped me quickly
explore different layouts, gather feedback from stakeholders, and refine the user experience early in the
design process.
The initial wireframes focused on the product’s key modules, including the Dashboard, Apps, App Details,
Clients, Client Details, and App Stack. These screens helped define the overall navigation, information
hierarchy, and interactions, providing a solid foundation for the high fidelity designs.
Some Low Fidelity Designs
Final Solution
After reviewing the low fidelity wireframes with the founders and other stakeholders, we finalized the core
user flows and overall product structure. With the workflows validated, I was ready to move into high
fidelity design.
Before designing the final interfaces, I created a scalable design system to establish a consistent visual
language across the product. This gave me a solid foundation for designing new features efficiently while
maintaining consistency throughout the user experience.
With the scalable design system in place, I moved on to designing the final high fidelity screens based on the
validated wireframes. My focus was on creating a consistent, intuitive, and scalable user experience across
the entire product.
Once the designs were complete, I shared them with the founders, stakeholders, and team members to gather
feedback and validate the usability of the proposed solution. Based on their feedback, I went through several
design iterations to refine the experience before finalizing the designs for development.
After the designs were approved, I handed them over to the engineering team for implementation. My role didn’t
end there. I continued collaborating closely with the engineers throughout development to ensure the final
product was implemented as intended and maintained the quality of the design.
Measurable Impact
Through AppVentory, I designed a single platform where businesses could manage their SaaS apps, software
spending, renewals, and usage in one place. My goal was to make everyday tasks simpler, reduce manual work,
and create a product that could easily grow as new features were added.
The following outcomes show the impact of the product and how my design decisions helped improve the overall
user experience.
Key Outcomes
52%
Better spend visibility
41%
Less manual tracking
35%
Faster task completion
68%
Simplified Workflows
Learnings
Working on AppVentory taught me how to design a product from the ground up. I learned how to turn research
into product decisions, balance user needs with business goals, and work closely with founders and engineers
throughout the product lifecycle. It also strengthened my skills in product thinking, design systems, and
designing scalable B2B SaaS experiences.
