Internal Tools at Fundera
Fundera started like many startups—fast-moving and engineering-driven, with no dedicated design team. As a result, our internal tool grew in complexity without a clear UX strategy. Over time, layers of features became redundant and inefficient.
The goal of our initiative was to simplify and refine these workflows—analyzing existing processes, identifying what was essential, and rebuilding a more intuitive, seamless experience. The result? A systematized process that improved efficiency, ensuring higher-quality applications for lenders and enabling company growth.
ROLE
Lead designer
Product strategy partner
Stakeholder manager
GOALS
Invest in the infrastructure to drive sales and lender efficiency
Looking to beat current “App to Fund” rate
Continue to deliver on our promise to provide personalized, continuous, customer-first service.
IMPACt
App Completion Time down 30%
Application Completion Rate is up ~30%
Funded Volume up 16%
Challenges & Solutions
Risk of misalignment across design, engineering, and stakeholders
Stakeholder priorities were high-level and loosely defined
Challenge:
Without consistent communication, priorities and progress could easily drift.
Solution:
Established weekly check-ins to maintain visibility, refine the roadmap collaboratively, and keep execution tightly aligne
Challenge:
Initial kickoff aligned on vision, but objectives were vague and scattered across stakeholders.
Solution:
Ran deeper alignment sessions to surface real goals, grouped overlapping requests into clear themes, and partnered on a phased rollout strategy.
Inconsistent rep workflows made standardization difficult
Unintuitive workarounds and underused actions slowed reps down
Challenge:
User research showed shared patterns, but each rep had their own best practices, creating fragmentation.
Solution:
Distilled common behaviors into a unified, intuitive workflow that supported flexibility without sacrificing consistency.
Challenge:
Sales reps relied on hacks and ignored existing actions because key workflows weren’t obvious or well-integrated.
Solution:
Integrated essential workflows directly into the primary interface and removed inefficiencies, eliminating the need for workarounds and making the “right” path the easiest path.
Reactions & Sentiments
“It used to take 2 months before a new rep made their first sale. Since implementation of [the design changes], there have been new hires who made a sale in their first 2 weeks””
“Before, I would have to run 4 trainings to teach reps the basics. Now have to do only 1 training and can reallocate that time to practice and other skills.””