Google Ventures Runway Capital Planning
Project: Runway: Deal flow, forecasting, evaluation, and diligence in one product
Role: Design & Research Lead (Slalom Consulting Partner)
Method: Expert interviews, Co-design, Service Design
Outcome: 50% faster time to funding decisions
Helping investment teams reach higher-quality decisions in half the time.
Design for the way work is done.
As part of a consulting partnership while working at Slalom - we studied best-in-class solutions across investment and portfolio management with many of our clients. The tech stack at GV lent itself to a consolidation pattern we had done for several other clients - to integrate all their of their disparate tools into platform and connect workflows so they match the organizations work style.
Interviews with the GV technical team helped us assess feasibility. Next we broadened the research to Google Ventures' own associates and partners to map their real workflows — how deals moved, how they collaborated, where forecasting happened, and what it took to see an investment both on its own and in the context of the full portfolio.
Two months from concept to production-ready. We designed, prototyped, tested, and prepped Runway for production — including a full design system, component libraries, and complete engineering handoff to the implementation team. The original hypothesis was to unify their disparate system and have them better service their workflow. Contextually research was the quickest because the role types and org size were relatively small. Service blueprints became the defacto tool to validate our thinking and identify areas for improvement with our counterparts and project stakeholders.
One place to see, model, and decide
Five systems, one product. Runway unified deal flow, cash flow forecasting, investment management, evaluation, and due diligence into a single solution — so a deal never had to leave the environment where it would ultimately be judged.
Scenario modeling built in. Associates can model different financial scenarios directly against a deal or an existing investment, and view holdings by industry — independently or rolled up as a portfolio.
A custom front end on proven platforms. The product shipped by leveraging established platforms for the back end with a fully custom web front end, defined through the design system and component libraries we delivered.
Faster, better decisions. Administrative overhead for associates and general partners reviewing deal flow dropped drastically, and decision-making time collapsed — anecdotally, the team reached decision points in roughly half the time they had previously, without trading away rigor.
