A Disconnected Investor Ecosystem

In the venture capital world, connections between General Partners (GPs) and Limited Partners (LPs) are critical yet inefficient.

• LPs have to deal with a tsunami of incoming fund pitches and find it nearly impossible to identify and diligence relevant funds effectively.
• GPs are left in the dark about actively investing LPs.
  

At MDSV, we encountered both sides of the problem daily and saw an opportunity to strengthen the ecosystem. Our goal was to create an exclusive, invite-only platform that connected GPs and LPs and presented accurate data about investment opportunities.

Research and Insights

In our first round of discovery, we surveyed 200 GPs and 150 LPs to understand the severity of the problem.

Subsequently, I interviewed 5 GPs and LPs to dig deeper into their responses.

From my user interviews came GP insights such as:

• "I don't know which LPs are actively investing right now."
• "How do I meet new LPs?”
• "How do I know if my emails are even getting through?"

And LP insights such as:

• "We need to find the managers investing in deep tech and defense tech early”
• "How are we supposed to find, identify, and diligence relevant funds effectively?”
• "Our limited team cannot deal with a tsunami of incoming email pitches from funds"

It was clear that GPs lacked visibility into actively investing LPs, and LPs lacked the efficiency in filtering viable investment options. There was an opportunity to create a LinkedIn/Pitchbook hybrid that connected GPs and LPs, while providing data-rich fund profiles and performance.

Designing the Solution

The first phase of our product roadmap included features for both segments. Our plan was to build a lightweight version of the platform that could be used by both parties, and gradually iterate on features based on the demand.

Key screens for the first phase included:

• News Feed: News feed to allow GPs and LPs to post about fundraising opportunities.
• Fund Profiles: Data-rich fund profiles, including a permission-based data room.
• Fund Directory: Simplified directory with filtering options for LPs.
• Upcoming Events: Quarterly events hosted by MDSV to continue engaging GPs and LPs offline.

Simultaneously, I collaborated with our lead engineer to come up with a ballpark timeline as to when we might have V1 designed, developed, and ready for launch.

Usability Tests

Early rounds of revisions with stakeholders at MDSV revealed the need for more robust filtering options within our directory and a better visual hierarchy on fund profiles. Incorporating this feedback, I designed the low-fidelity mocks and prepared for usability testing.

I wrote two separate scripts to identify unique insights from both the GPs and the LPs.

My usability test included questions like:

Based on your experience as an LP, what fund information do you expect to see right away?

Which information would you expect to be permission-based?

How would you update your fund profile to accurately reflect any changes?

Final Designs & QA

After several rounds of design critiques, user interviews, and usability tests, we landed on a refined flow that would serve as our private beta.

Based on feedback from both GPs and LPs, I made several key changes to the design:

• Moving the left hand navigation to the top to create more horizontal space for fund and portfolio company tables.
• Breaking up the fund information into separate subsections that are easier to digest.
• Adding portfolio companies to the directory

To create a more efficient design and development process, we agreed to use the Material UI framework and create any custom components if necessary.

As a team, we QA'd the entire experience from both perspectives to catch any bugs, UI mistakes, or data mismatches.

Launching The Promontory

We launched a private beta of The Promontory during a venture capital event at the Stanford Research Institute.

In attendance were 110 LPs and 135 GPs from Silicon Valley. Our team took 15 minutes during the event to introduce The Promontory to the audience.

After the event, attendees were encouraged to join our waitlist to continue networking with even more GPs and LPs.

This event set the stage for The Promontory’s success, driving momentum for the beta launch.

Early Success and Growing Momentum

The response from our first wave of users was overwhelmingly positive:

• GPs valued the exclusivity of the platform and the liveliness of the new feed.
• LPs appreciated the depth of data we had available from GPs and their funds.

Within the first year, The Promontory achieved:

• 200 GPs, 31 LPs, and 1,500 portfolio companies onboarded.
• $500k in seed funding and a $1.5M valuation.
• An 80% satisfaction rate (NPS) among beta users, who cited the streamlined search capabilities and data visualization.

These results highlight the platform's ability to address critical gaps in investor networking while positioning us for future growth.

Building a Platform for Trust and Growth

This project reinforced the importance of:

• User Focus: Deep research and iteration led to features investors truly needed.
• Data Accuracy: Verified data & endorsements became our unique selling point.
• Collaboration: Strong alignment across design and engineering ensured a cohesive product.

In the immediate future, we plan on revamping the LP experience on the home page based on recent user feedback.