accounting made effortless.
Name & Industry
capitain.io, fintech
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Defining a web application & mobile companion product that streamlines document collection for users while improving collaboration with tax advisors.
about project.
A fintech product built for German small businesses and their tax advisors, replacing the dreaded "shoebox of receipts" with a simple digital flow: photograph, scan or email an invoice, and the app captures, organizes, and archives it automatically. Behind that simplicity sits real complexity, legal e-invoicing requirements, GoBD-compliant archiving, and bank-grade security - all of which had to disappear into an interface ordinary business owners can use without thinking.
scope: the mobile companion.
The web platform and mobile application were not initially planned as a single product initiative. The mobile app emerged shortly after the project kickoff, when the client identified the need for a mobile experience that would complement and extend the value of the web platform.
This introduced a new product challenge: defining the role of each platform within the broader ecosystem and ensuring they worked together as a cohesive experience.
At that stage, I collaborated closely with the design team and stakeholders to help shape the product vision, define the purpose of both platforms, and establish clear user expectations for each experience.
The primary challenge was determining how much functionality should live on mobile while maintaining a streamlined and intuitive experience. I focused on creating a simplified mobile product with seamless user flows, platform-specific features, and quick access to key actions, while ensuring it continued to support the web platform without compromising critical usability or user needs.
This required careful prioritization, continuous collaboration, and a product-first approach to deciding what was essential for users on the go and what was better suited for the more comprehensive web experience.
problem statement.
As the product evolved, the mobile application inherited a growing number of features from the web platform. While the web experience was designed to support a broad range of workflows for both tax advisors and their clients - including document management, payments, banking activities, and task organization, the same level of functionality proved less valuable in a mobile context.
This created a mismatch between user needs and product behavior. Instead of supporting users in quick, on-the-go interactions, the mobile experience became increasingly complex, making core tasks harder to access and complete efficiently.
why is this a problem?
User feedback from tax advisor’s clients consistently reinforced an assumption identified early in the discovery process: users primarily viewed the mobile application as a companion product rather than a full-featured extension of the web platform.
Their primary goal was simple, capture receipts, scan invoices, and transfer documents quickly while away from their desks. Additional functionality often introduced unnecessary friction without providing proportional value in mobile scenarios.
focus on what matters.
The product's most critical mobile task, capturing and submitting documents was not immediately accessible when users opened the application.
As a result, users were forced to navigate through additional screens before reaching the functionality they needed most, increasing effort, slowing task completion, and creating frustration during moments when speed and convenience were essential.
impact: back to users.
A series of research & interviews I initiated, revealed clear differences in user goals, behaviors, and usage contexts.
These insights led to the creation of two core personas and two primary user types that represented both web and mobile audiences.
The resulting framework became the foundation for feature prioritization and product decisions across both platforms.
Outcome
In order for mobile companion serve it's purpose I needed to refactor design system and include mobile components in separate file so app can live it's own life separated from web app design system.
Then I stripped off the app from noise that was created from sufficient features and focused main feature only and that is scanning & uploading paperwork.
Receipts and invoices are captured in seconds, sorted automatically, and archived in a GoBD and e-invoicing compliant way.
We shipped as a live mobile app on iOS and Android, giving German small businesses a single, calm place to handle preparatory bookkeeping.
