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GetEquity - Decentralized Startup Investments
TIMELINE
June 2021 - January 2022
MY ROLE
Lead Product Designer
Interface Design
Brand & Art Direction
CONTRIBUTORS
Designers - Drew Ugbechie, Daniel Abayomi, Anuoluwapo Sebiomo, Felix Ayoola
Product Managers - Wisdom Chukwudume, Uchenna Kalu-Uduma
What really is GetEquity?
GetEquity is a platform that enables users invest and own equity from their favorite startups. The system democratizes startup investing for all types of users, with tools to invest, organize and manage assets all in one place.
GetEquity is for investors of all types, both retail and institutional. From first-time investors to institutional veterans.
Imagine this scenario...
You wanted to invest in a startup you had been admiring from afar, but did not belong to any investment fund, venture capital or syndicate. That would be a problem, wouldn't it?
In the same vein, what if you somehow joined a syndicate or fund, but could not meet up with the minimum $$$ fee required to remain an active member. Sucks, doesn't it? I know.
...and that's where GetEquity comes in.
We wanted to design a product that significantly reduced the entry barrier of startup investment, thereby making it easier for literally ANYBODY to invest in a company. It gets interesting.
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So what did we do?
The first part of the project was to understand user investment behaviour, the startup ecosystem as well as existing products that provided alternatives to startup investing. This allowed us to define the problem and identify user needs.
UNDERSTANDING THE AFRICAN STARTUP LANDSCAPE
According to
TechCrunch, the African tech ecosystem saw newfound attention from global players that translated to the continent’s best year of receiving venture capital. From varying sources, it is estimated up to $2 billion went into African tech startups in .
Also, we found that private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) activity across the continent had steadily grown year-on-year within the last 6 years.
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USER SURVEY AND INTERVIEWS
We conducted a survey and had a total of 45 respondents. About 70% of the respondents were in Africa (South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria to be precise). The survey questions we used are shown below.
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ANALYZING EXISTING ALTERNATIVES
After the survey, we decided to have a look at some of the existing solutions. This was to help us find out if there were any gaps in the market. By understanding the gap, we would be able to plan for this product better and make sure of its popularity among target users. We looked at 4 main products that provided startup investing and funding - AngelList Venture, SeedInvest, Republic, and Carta.
Here's what we found out
THE USERS
After the research we carried out, it was clear who we needed to design this product for. We realized two (2) main categories of users who need this solution the most:
- Investors ( i.e people in general )
- Startup Founders in Africa
- Venture Capitalists in Africa
USER PERSONAS
Three key (3) user personas were deduced from the responses we got during the survey, as well as additional conversations with seasoned investors.
So, how might we -
- create a marketplace where founders can meet investors and VCs?
- allow investors trade equity after companies have closed their funding rounds?
- enable founders manage equity-sharing easily?
We came up with this solution
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
INTRODUCING, GETEQUITY
GetEquity landing pages, as a gateway into the product.
Onboarding screens for a new user on GetEquity.
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The Dashboard Screens - giving the user a bird's eyeview of assets and current state of equity market.
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Deal room tokens and trading secondaries.
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Dedicated wallet screen that shows user's assets, and an account screen to manage account details.
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FOR STARTUP FOUNDERS AND VENTURE CAPITAL
Dashboard that allows founders monitor their raises as users buy equity, as well as manage features they want to see on their dashboard.
Private raise dashboard and equity deal request, for founders and VCs to raise from their community.
Employee Benefits, for managing equity handed out by founders to their employees.
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Did our design work? Yes.
We got positive reviews from users who had signed up on the app. In less than 10 months from the date of launch, GetEquity had amassed over 10,000 users. Here are some of the reviews as seen on Twitter.
Conclusion and Next Steps
We had built a democratized startup funding app. The platform was now efficiently linking founders with investors, thereby solving an important issue with the African startup ecosystem.
But with this success came even more diverse needs that we needed to plan for eventually. There are interesting features in the product roadmap to be added down the line. Thankfully we designed the system to scale effortlessly.
So, we keep building. It's only just day one. 🚀
Designed and built by Drew Ugbechie. 2021. All rights reserved. 👍
