Company
Carta manages over two trillion dollars in equity for nearly two million people globally. The company is trusted by more than 30,000 companies, over 5,000 investment funds, and half a million employees for cap table management, compensation management, liquidity venture capital solutions, and more.
REBRAND
Glossary
Employee
In this context, they are professionals who have already received equity as compensation at least once.
Equity
In this context, equity is the cash value to be received by those who own shares of a company after a liquidity event.
Option grant / Option
It is the right to buy a certain amount of shares in a company at a fixed price for a defined period. It is given in the form of equity compensation.
Stock
Groups of shares that represent the ownership of a part of a corporation. They can be acquired from the purchase of option grants.
Project overview
Role
Lead designer
Timeframe
10 months
Release
2019 - Globally
Context
In the modern world, a mobile app is not just a luxury but a necessity for finance companies looking to meet the evolving needs of their customers, enhance user experience, and stay competitive in the digital age. It can provide convenience, security, and personalization while optimizing operational efficiency.
Carta tried a few times to create an app that would provide value for every type of Carta user, from employees to investors but never had great success.
The context of this new approach was to define what a carta mobile app could look like with just the essentials, and who this app would be for.
| Learn from the past to improve the future
Scenario
FORMER APP ANALYSIS
POSITIVE
-
Had active users
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Users were willing to provide feedback
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Long feedback backlog since the launch
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The original team of engineers and product people were still accessible and with the company
NEGATIVE
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No user mapping or customized UX. Different personas, same experience
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No key feature
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Unstructured feedback
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No tracking or metrics
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App crashes
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The signup didn't work properly
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
Lack of user trust in the app and consequently in the company.
At the end of the day,
why should we build this app?
Quantitative Investigation
Data investigation
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Daily access to the former app
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Monthly App Store downloads
Usage data comparison with the desktop app
Data segmentation by user type
Qualitative Investigation
Data investigation
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Support tickets via email
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Support tickets via Salesforce
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App Store comments
Live comments in shadowed calls
Conclusion
The comparison between mobile and desktop was surprisingly favorable given the mobile app limitations
-
Relevant number of downloads and accesses to the mobile app
Majority of users = employees
User research
Audience
Professionals aged between 20 and 55 who have received compensation in the form of options or stock.
Method
Solo user interviews + Group user interviews
Results
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The majority do not feel educated about investments
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Most are afraid to invest
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Most do not understand equity
Users equity IQ
Goal
Create an app that would provide value for the biggest user base: employees of Carta companies.
Architecture + Wireframe
Style definition
Mix of Flat Design and Elevation
Hierarchy is established visually, in a macro view, by grouping information and presenting it at different elevation marks. As well as playing with font sizes, weights, and colors.
Cards play a significant role as an aggregator, having the highest
elevation and hierarchy. They’re also easily scalable creating good consistency when building components.
Flat areas contain less critical information. They’re usually more text-heavy and harder to consume.
COLORS
FONT
Graphik Medium
Graphik Regular
Graphik Light
Design output
Philosophy
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
Educate users
Celebrate user learnings
Scale building process
Fix bugs and issues
Iterate quickly
Manage Your Portfolio
Check available quantities, exercised quantities, canceled securities, converted securities, expiration dates, etc.
Track Vesting Schedules
Vesting schedules can be seen in a clear timeline visualization timeline with the support of push notifications.
Get Company Insights
Check companies' latest number updates and documents available.
Approve Board Resolutions
Read, review, and approve board resolutions. Investor only
Exercise Option Grants
Choose quantities, check taxes, connect a bank account, and exercise options.
Accept Securities
Say yes to all new securities issued to you and celebrate.
Learnings
01.
It works, time to delight! Improvements to UI, typography, and adaptability to overlapping personas
Reduce scope to iterate better and faster
Scale building process
Opportunity to reduce friction in the exercise flow
Opportunity of a feature for exercise simulation
02.
03.
04.
05.
Impact
>95% success
Flows: sign in, sign up, option acceptance, option exercise
#1 in trust
Mobile has more signups, option acceptances and option transactions
4.9 app store score
Upgrade of 3.6 stars from the previous score
>2k comments
Positive comments
1st app in the world
Allowing option grant transactions
>$1m in transactions
in the first 3 months
More exercises on the app than desktop
More than 50% of all exercises today are made in the app
A little step towards a multiplatform world for Carta
The biggest thing to come out of this app experiment was to prove that there's a real world in which Carta becomes a multiplatform business.
So much so that Carta just released their new Investor-focused app.