Role
Product designer
Industry
Fintech, Proptech
Context
Waltz enables foreign nationals to invest in the US real estate market. To support business growth, we partnered with real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and other industry professionals. For them, we built a dedicated platform that allowed them to track and manage their leads working with Waltz.
The problem
Waltz provides mortgages to foreign investors, but clients are responsible for finding properties in the US to invest in. Many of them hire real estate agents to help with this process.
We identified an opportunity to open a new growth channel. Real estate agents were bringing clients interested in purchasing properties, and we provided those clients with mortgages.
This created a win-win model. We acquired customers and generated revenue through mortgages, while agents could attract buyers eligible for higher value properties and increase their commission earnings.
The research
The sales team had already been collaborating with several partners, so our process started internally.
First, we spoke with the sales team to understand partner needs and pain points. Based on those insights, we created an initial prototype.
Then, we interviewed several partners who had previously worked with us. We walked them through the prototype, gathered feedback, and validated our assumptions based on their real experiences.
The requirements
Through research and validation, we identified three main needs:
Partners needed full visibility into the status of each deal at any given time. They had to understand what was happening in order to guide clients or take action when necessary.
They needed access to mortgage terms and the ability to generate quotes independently.
Since partners often managed processes on behalf of their clients, they needed the ability to upload required documents and share relevant information directly through the platform.
Our approach
This was a large project, and we had to plan carefully, considering limited engineering resources. We divided the project into phases.
Phase 0
We focused on delivering the most critical functionality: visibility. The first version included:
A list of partner deals with basic information
Deal members
Deal type
Closing date
A loan tracker that showed the current stage of each deal
The tracker was the core feature. Due to technical constraints, updates were handled manually at this stage.
Phase 1
In this phase, we expanded functionality:
Added detailed loan information
Enabled partners to upload documents on behalf of their clients
This significantly improved usability and reduced friction in the collaboration process.
Phase 2
In the final phase, we focused on automation and autonomy:
Automated the loan tracker
Enabled partners to generate quotes independently
Iterated on the product based on user feedback
Final conclusions
After releasing Phase 0, we received very positive feedback regarding clarity, usability, and information architecture.
The strongest feedback emphasized the need to upload documents and generate quotes independently. While we had already identified these features as important, user validation confirmed they were essential for adoption.
The launch of the Partners Platform successfully enabled a new growth channel for Waltz and strengthened our relationships with industry professionals.