My approach for discovering and delivering a product featureProject Background
I enrolled in a Product Management course during my MBA program and one of the assignments was to pick a product, evaluate it, and build a new feature for it. I selected Incentify because it is a local startup in an industry I wish to learn more about - the FinTech industry.Project Type: Case StudyDuration: 2 weeksMy Approach
My approach to this case study was influenced and guided by the popular Double Diamond Product Framework. 
What is Incentify?
Founded in 2019, Incentify is a leading tax credit and incentive (C&I) platform that optimizes C&I discovery and management with centralized reporting and customizable workflows.
C&I programs are initiatives implemented by the government to provide subsidies and incentives aimed at reducing business operation costs and fostering economic growth in the United States. These programs offer various incentives, such as tax credits, grants, and subsidies, to incentivize businesses to invest, expand, and create jobs.
With its user-friendly interface and robust features, Incentify empowers businesses to maximize their access to C&I benefits, ultimately reducing costs, enhancing competitiveness, and promoting growth. By leveraging the power of technology and automation, Incentify simplifies the C&I discovery and management process, enabling businesses to unlock the full potential of available incentives and stay ahead in today's competitive business landscape.Discovery Stage
User Flow
As an early step in learning about the Incentify platform, I mapped the user flow using available screenshots on its website to gain a deeper understanding of the platform. The user flow revealed two primary functions that users engage in: discovery and management.
Incentify's discovery function involves identifying C&I opportunities across the U.S., at the local, state, and federal government levels. Users can access detailed C&I data, such as the C&I value, description, relevant dates/deadlines, etc..., directly from the platform.
Incetify's management function centers around streamlining the C&I application process and acts as a centralized hub. Users are able to oversee the C&I application lifecycle, which includes tracking the required documents, ensuring compliance with regulations, and generating specialized reports as needed.
By mapping out this user flow, I gained valuable insights into the Incentify platform and the workflow of its users. This understanding allowed me to speculate pain points and areas for improvement. Competition
User Research
Potential users find value in a C&I platform to support their calculations for deciding whether to expand their business into new locations.
Strengths:Comprehensive C&I searchEnd-to-end C&I services platform
Weaknesses:Value proposition can be mimicked
Incentify must proactively expand and enhance its platform to stay ahead of competitors
Finance Manager, Target (Retail): “We use a professional accounting firm to help with our C&I. They would give us a list of C&I and we would work with them to apply for applicable ones. A C&I platform would be helpful to cross-check the information our accountants give us.”Strategy & Operations Sr Manager, Taco Bell (Franchise): “We use our internal accounting department and a professional services firm to support and audit our C&I. At the franchisee level, we flow any relevant C&I data to our store owners so they can increase their bottom line. I would use a C&I platform to learn what C&I opportunities are available for the store before we give the green light to the franchisee. This helps us understand and balance the profitability risks before the store even opens.”Operations Manager, Guild Mortgage Company (SMB): “My company is considering an office expansion into neighboring markets. We work with a local financial consultant to estimate the expansion costs and rely on them to discover and support federal and state level C&I in this new location. If I had a C&I platform, I would use it to explore other locations for the office expansion.”How might we provide users with the necessary C&I data, allowing them to make an informed decision on whether to expand their business into a new geographic location?
Using my research on Incentify, the competition, and interviews with potential users, I brainstormed possible solutions and prioritized them based on my perception of each concept’s feasibility and importance to Incentify.Solution: “Incentives Compare” - an extended feature of Incentive Discovery that compares C&I opportunities between two different locations
As part of my assignment, I prepared the following deliverables to demonstrate the type of content I would contribute to the product pod.
Location selection is a critical decision for expanding businesses, which range from offices to restaurants. C&I opportunities, which vary across cities, is heavily factored into the decision making process because of its significant impact to operational costs. Incentives Compare enables businesses to efficiently search and compare available C&I opportunities between two cities, empowering decision makers to make informed and calculated expansion decisions.User Stories/Acceptance Criteria
Sketches
User enters two cities - Denver and Albuquerque - into the search bar and receives a comprehensive list of local, state, and federal C&I opportunities. Other relevant information, such as C&I name, value, targeted sector, and deadline are also displayed.
User Flow
User selects all local C&I and presses the ‘COMPARE’ button to filter all non-selected opportunities. The remaining opportunities are displayed and its summed value is calculated. Experimentation
I would conduct the following experiments on a functional prototype:
Pilot Program
User Interviews
I avoid A/B testing because as a start up for a B2B product, the results may not yield statistically significant results
Measuring Success
User Engagement
User Feedback
Conversion to C&I Applications
Ideation
Implementation
Description
User accesses the existing Discovery page and navigates to the new 'Incentives Compare' buttonDelivery Stage
Technical Requirements/Dependencies
The search function uses Incentify's existing C&I databaseThe search function is limited to U.S. cities onlyThere are two search functions displayed side-by-sideThe search results are displayed in a table
Include ability to sort the search results
Additional Context
User Interviews: In interviews with the target audience (Retail/Franchise), C&I is considered before expanding their business into a new geographic region to help offset operating costs.Competitors: Most competitors choose to specialize in a small number of C&I areas, most notably in federal Research and Development (R&D) credit. They provide services in locating and applying for federal R&D and R&D-related credits. There is only one competitor, IncentiLock, that helps its customers discover C&I opportunities. However, their offering is not technology-driven and relies on its nationwide network of C&I professionals.My Takeaways
Ideation is effective with a small team
Since this was an individual assignment, I started ideating by myself and was stuck after generating only a few possible solutions. I decided to ask my classmate for help and after only 10 minutes of whiteboarding, we doubled the number of possible solutions by building off of each other’s ideas and energy.
The more niche the market, the more difficult the research becomes
My interviewees were uncertain of the C&I process at their company. This made it difficult to truly understand and identify the C&I challenges of potential users. This is further complicated by the fact that Incentify is a B2B business, meaning the ‘buyer’ is usually not the ‘user’.
Strong competition requires constant product innovation and launch
After evaluating the C&I competitive landscape, it became clear that Incentify is the market leader in C&I platforms by offering the unique ability to discover a robust list of C&I opportunities. However, competitors can easily mimic Incentify’s platform because all C&I opportunities are provided by the government and is publicly available.