The Challenge

By 2022, Sharsies had captured the first-time investor market in New Zealand, but a large group of experienced investors felt left behind. They found Sharsies too simplistic, its insights too shallow, and its fees too high. Yet traditional brokers were still out of reach. At the same time, there was no dedicated managed-fund specialist in the market, an area that matched the founders’ heritage and expertise.

The opportunity was clear: to design a digital investing experience for mid-weight investors who wanted to manage portfolios of managed funds with the same confidence and control offered to share traders. The challenge wasn’t to build another investing app; it was to redefine DIY investing around depth, trust, and informed decision-making.

Discovery & Problem Reframing

I led a customer-centred discovery phase combining more than 50 hours of interviews, behavioural observation, and stakeholder facilitation. Rather than validating features, we explored how investors think about risk, time, and trust. This process revealed that Flint’s advantage lay not in teaching people to invest, but in helping capable investors make better, data-backed choices.

Through a series of workshops with founders, compliance, and technology teams, we reframed Flint’s purpose: to empower investors to act like professionals, without needing one. This shift gave the business strategic clarity, aligning the founders’ domain expertise in managed funds with an unclaimed gap in the market.

Journey Mapping & Design

We visualised the full customer journey—from first curiosity to portfolio confidence—and created clickable prototypes to test and refine core flows such as onboarding, fund comparison, and risk alignment. Weekly user sessions allowed us to simplify complex decisions, clarify value propositions, and strengthen trust throughout the experience.

Within eight weeks, we delivered validated product architecture and interface prototypes ready for build. This alignment of insight, design, and strategy enabled Flint to move forward with confidence and secure board-level commitment to development.

Journey Mapping & Design

Flint Wealth launched as a credible alternative to Sharsies—built on deep user insight and the founders’ expertise in managed funds. It now serves serious, self-directed investors seeking confidence, clarity, and control, with more than 100 funds and 20 fund managers onboarded since launch.