The Challenge
My Role
Goals
Design
Outcome
Learnings

Simplifying finances
for the self-employed

Designing a lightweight financial solution for freelancers and gig workers.

Outcome

Designed the foundations of an MVP targeting 2.6M sole traders. The mobile app simplified invoicing, expense tracking, and tax preparation, recognised for its ease of use and convenience, helping users manage their finances effortlessly.

Skills

  • Product design
  • Interactive prototyping
  • User research & testing
  • Information Architecture
  • Competitive Analysis
  • Stakeholder management

Team

  • Product
  • Design
  • Engineering
  • Product Management
  • Software architect
  • Marketing

Platform

Mobile

  • iOS
  • Android

Timeline

6 months

The Challenge

Self-employed individuals like freelancers and gig workers struggle with manual financial processes and complex tools.

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Xero, a global leader in cloud accounting with 4.2M+ users, sought to create an affordable, mobile-first product to simplify financial management for this growing market.

My role

As Lead Product Designer, I spearheaded the design process from inception to MVP:

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  • Created foundational screens and features, from wireframes to high-fidelity prototypes.
  • Advocated for user-centric design while balancing technical constraints.
  • Collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure seamless delivery.
  • Transitioned the project for further refinement after MVP, ensuring vision continuity.

Goals

Business goals

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  • Validate market demand for a lightweight, simplified accounting solution.
  • Launch an MVP to gather insights and iterate rapidly.
  • Expand total addressable market (TAM) by reaching 500K+ users in Australia and the UK.
  • Build ecosystem partnerships to strengthen Xero’s competitive position.

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User goals

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  • Feel organised and in control of my finances
  • Look professional to my customers
  • Not be surprised ie. an unexpected bill at tax time

Constraints & limitations

  • Technical limitations required building new services from scratch, as many existing Xero web features couldn’t be leveraged.
  • Dependencies on login and authentication introduced restrictions on user flows and onboarding flexibility

User journey & data mapping

Design

Translating research into actionable insights

Insight 1

Perceived Complexity

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Existing accounting software feels irrelevant to users whose needs are simple and specific.

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How might we: Simplify the accounting experience by focusing only on what matters most to users?

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Solution

  • Immediate Value: Streamline onboarding to show benefits quickly, avoiding unnecessary setup steps.
  • Relevance: Focus on core features like invoicing, expense tracking, and basic reporting.

Insight 2
Blurred Financial Boundaries

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Sole traders often mix personal and business finances, leading to confusion during tax preparation.

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How might we: Enable users to untangle finances and gain clarity over their business health?

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Solution

  • Simplified spend categorisation with a focus on 13 tax-deductible categories.
  • In-app visuals provided clear business insights, promoting engagement.
  • Tools to help users organise personal and business transactions for tax preparation.

Insight 3

Resistance to Change

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Adopting new systems feels daunting, especially for users unsure of the relevance of accounting tools.

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How might we: Reduce barriers to learning and demonstrate immediate value over existing methods?

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Solution

  • Enhanced mobile invoicing with customisable templates and minimal data entry.
  • Basic income and expense reports tailored for self-employed needs.

Outcome

Supporting Diverse Work Models

The app successfully served both side hustles and full-time businesses. Many users transitioned from spreadsheets, appreciating the tailored design and efficient workflows.

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‍Ease of Use and Convenience

Users consistently praised the app’s simplicity and mobile-first approach. Features like in-app business health visuals and on-the-go access stood out as key strengths.

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Iterative Improvements

Post-launch feedback informed the roadmap, leading to impactful refinements such as improved login flows, enhanced categorisation, and seamless report downloads. The agile approach ensured rapid iteration on high-priority areas.

Learnings

Learnings 1

Navigating Ambiguity

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Balancing an evolving scope while meeting fast development needs was a fun challenge. What helped me stay grounded was anchoring in customer needs and using that to make informed decisions, allowing progress despite uncertainties

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Learnings 2

‍Investing in Foundations

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Taking the time to get the foundational elements right with the architect and engineers really set us up for smoother iterations and reduced bottlenecks during development.

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What I would do differently next time

Pivoting with Clarity

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Aligning on risk thresholds and pivot strategies earlier would have helped the team pivot more effectively while maintaining alignment and momentum across design, engineering, and product teams.

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