Fund Admin
Today, Carta Fund Administration (FA) is a market-leading platform with over $100M ARR managing thousands of funds globally. This transformation began with me sitting next to frustrated accountants, watching them juggle 30+ Excel tabs just to create a single quarterly report.
When Carta FA was under $20M ARR in 2019, I led the UX work to digitize quarterly financial reporting - the most critical deliverable in FA. Everything was manual: internal teams prepared reports across disconnected systems while General Partners (GPs) waited weeks for email attachments.
Problem
Through user interviews and workflow analysis (a lot of shadowing accountants work!), I discovered:
For internal teams:
Derek, our FA preparer, entered the same information three times: journal entries in Xero, then 30+ Excel tabs, then additional data in Carta. When reviewers like Kristina needed to verify his work, they had to recreate his entire journey by tracing data through tabs and systems, and taking hours to understand where a single number came from.
For Clients (GPs):
David, a GP at a client firm, told me: "I'm always worried about sending sensitive financial data through email. It's not secure. Plus, I never know if the quarterly package will end up in spam folders, and I can't easily share it with my LPs."
Research insights
I identified six critical issues:
Triple data entry across Xero, Excel (30+ tabs), and Carta
Data traceback complexity - extremely time-consuming to verify numbers
Hidden innovation - the team had built sophisticated Excel checklists with validation logic
Different user priorities - preparers focused on accuracy, reviewers on client presentation
Broken allocation workflow requiring manual download/upload processes
Rounding errors causing frequent $1 discrepancies
Solutions
I started by mapping every data point from transaction to final report, sitting with Derek to trace each number's journey through the systems.
This comprehensive data flows from transactions through chart of accounts to final statements, providing technical architecture guidance that later inspired Carta to build its own general ledger.
Multi-player flow mapping
I orchestrated the complex handoffs between FA preparers, reviewers, GPs, and LPs by designing the review/approve, and notification systems. I established clear approval gates between different user types, making sure the internal teams were comfortable with the process changes.
Internal preparer flow
For internal preparers, I eliminated triple data entry by enabling report preparation directly in Carta and built data population through Xero integration. I created traceback patterns that let users click any number to see its source and supporting documents.
Internal reviewer flow
I streamlined the review process with clear approval states and collaborative commenting, converting the team's existing Excel checklist logic into the platform. This enabled real-time visibility into preparation progress, allowing reviewers to work alongside preparers instead of after them.
FA reviewer to review, leave comments, and approve
FA preparer to view and resolve comments
GP review and approval flow
GPs could review and approve packages to send them directly to LPs in-app, or request changes that would automatically notify the internal team.
Impact
Derek (FA Preparer): "I used to spend 60% of my time making sure numbers matched across systems. Now I can focus on actual accounting work."
Kristina (FA Reviewer): "Instead of recreating Derek's work, I can see exactly where every number comes from with one click."
David (GP): "No more worrying about email attachments or version control. I can share reports with LPs immediately."
This foundational work didn't just streamline quarterly reporting. It became the blueprint for Carta's transformation into a comprehensive fund administration platform.
The design patterns I established, including the full-page takeover modal for immersive workflows, became the foundation we used for all FA and GP workflows: capital calls, distributions, money movements, information requests, and more. Later, we built more automated in-app health checks that further reduced manual verification work.
The data flow charts I created became the technical foundation for Carta's general ledger system, which enabled Carta FA to scale to a >$100M ARR global business.
Takeaways
Start with the human problem
Talented people were stuck doing mindless work instead of strategic accounting. The business case was about efficiency, but solving the human frustration solved the business problem.
Shadow, don't just interview
Watching Derek work for a full day taught me more than any user interview could. You can't design good workflows without understanding the real workflow in all its messy detail.
Design systems, not just screens
The data flow mapping became the foundation for Carta's entire general ledger system. Sometimes the most important design work happens before you open Figma.