Setup and Calculate Waterfall Distributions

Goal

Build a feature to setup and calculate real estate investment waterfall distributions that are outlined in the investment’s legal operating agreements.

Process

  • Facilitated customer research calls to get an understanding of basic waterfall structures.
  • Read through operating agreements to start to understand the legal language around the calculation explanations.
  • Worked through online tutorials to better understand the spreadsheets built to manage the distribution calculations.
Screenshot 2023-06-12 at 8.13.08 PM
Example Operating Agreement
  • Sent out customer surveys to understand the most common waterfall tiers that should be supported in early releases to gain the most adoption. 
Survey Results
  • Created a story map to outline the work that was necessary to get a waterfall feature released that could work for a majority of the customers. 
20190919_160933
Story Mapping
  • Ran a design studio with the team to brain storm the user flows to create a waterfall structure in the system.
  • Prototyped the teams ideas and ran usability tests. 
Waterfall Prototype

Final Product

Successfully shipped an easy to use distribution waterfall feature, that has replaced customer spreadsheets and the headache that goes with managing these complex calculations manually. 

We have continued to incrementally improve the waterfall functionality over the past 3 years, as we continue to learn about new common deal structures. 

Example Customer Waterfall
Back
Next