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Inkle
Inkle Books
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I worked at Inkle for two years across multiple products, but Books — our bookkeeping platform — became the flagship. When I joined, Inkle was a bookkeeping service with around twenty customers. Accountants managed everything manually with spreadsheets, and founders waited until month-end to see their numbers. The vision from day one was to build software that could eventually replace QuickBooks — and scale far beyond what a service model could handle.
My Role & Team
I was one of two designers on the product team. My focus was on flows where users interacted with their financial data: connecting bank accounts, categorizing transactions, reconciliation workflows, and collaboration features. The other designer led much of the reporting and dashboards, though we iterated on each other’s work. Together with two PMs, six to eight engineers, and two accountants, we shipped an MVP in about three months.
I was one of two designers on the product team. My focus was on flows where users interacted with their financial data: connecting bank accounts, categorizing transactions, reconciliation workflows, and collaboration features. The other designer led much of the reporting and dashboards, though we iterated on each other’s work. Together with two PMs, six to eight engineers, and two accountants, we shipped an MVP in about three months.
The Problem
Through shadowing accountants and talking with founders, we saw recurring issues: bookkeeping was repetitive and error-prone, founders lacked real-time visibility, and every clarification happened over long email threads. Reconciliation in particular was a pain — mismatched statements, duplicate entries, and endless CSV uploads. QuickBooks existed, but for our customers it was too complex and still required manual patchwork. We needed a product that automated routine tasks, enabled collaboration in context, and gave founders live visibility into their finances.
Through shadowing accountants and talking with founders, we saw recurring issues: bookkeeping was repetitive and error-prone, founders lacked real-time visibility, and every clarification happened over long email threads. Reconciliation in particular was a pain — mismatched statements, duplicate entries, and endless CSV uploads. QuickBooks existed, but for our customers it was too complex and still required manual patchwork. We needed a product that automated routine tasks, enabled collaboration in context, and gave founders live visibility into their finances.
User Personas
Andrew, Founder
Runs a US-incorporated SaaS startup with a small team. Focused on growth, fundraising, and building product.
Runs a US-incorporated SaaS startup with a small team. Focused on growth, fundraising, and building product.
No real-time view of cash flow or runway. Relies on month-end reports.
Frustrated by QuickBooks — too complex, too many manual steps, poor collaboration.
Loses time clarifying ambiguous transactions with accountants over email.
No real-time view of cash flow or runway. Relies on month-end reports.
Frustrated by QuickBooks — too complex, too many manual steps, poor collaboration.
Loses time clarifying ambiguous transactions with accountants over email.
Maya, Accountant
Works at a small firm handling books for multiple early-stage startups. Balances accuracy with tight deadlines.
Works at a small firm handling books for multiple early-stage startups. Balances accuracy with tight deadlines.
Manual reconciliation is painful — chasing founders for statements, matching CSVs, dealing with duplicates.
Transaction categorization is repetitive, yet critical; ambiguity creates long email threads.
Tools like QuickBooks are powerful but clunky; context switching slows her down.
Manual reconciliation is painful — chasing founders for statements, matching CSVs, dealing with duplicates.
Transaction categorization is repetitive, yet critical; ambiguity creates long email threads.
Tools like QuickBooks are powerful but clunky; context switching slows her down.
Design Process
Kick-off & Alignment: Kick-off call with PMs, reviewing PRDs, user docs, and early user stories to align on goals and constraints.
Information Architecture: Defined IA to map how founders and accountants move across the product; identified key entities and hierarchy.
User Flows: Created detailed flows for core scenarios (bank connection, transaction categorization, reconciliation, reporting) and captured edge cases.
Wireframing & Iteration: Sketched and built low-fi wireframes; iterated quickly with PMs and CEO feedback before committing to visuals.
Visual Design: Developed clean UI, reusing existing design system where possible to move fast, while ensuring clarity and trust cues.
Design Review & QA: Worked closely with engineers on staging builds, validating design intent and addressing gaps.
Feedback & Iteration: Gathered feedback from PMs, accountants, and founders; iterated continuously until launch.
Kick-off & Alignment: Kick-off call with PMs, reviewing PRDs, user docs, and early user stories to align on goals and constraints.
Information Architecture: Defined IA to map how founders and accountants move across the product; identified key entities and hierarchy.
User Flows: Created detailed flows for core scenarios (bank connection, transaction categorization, reconciliation, reporting) and captured edge cases.
Wireframing & Iteration: Sketched and built low-fi wireframes; iterated quickly with PMs and CEO feedback before committing to visuals.
Visual Design: Developed clean UI, reusing existing design system where possible to move fast, while ensuring clarity and trust cues.
Design Review & QA: Worked closely with engineers on staging builds, validating design intent and addressing gaps.
Feedback & Iteration: Gathered feedback from PMs, accountants, and founders; iterated continuously until launch.
Bank Connections
Connecting accounts was the first critical step. We designed this flow to feel trustworthy — showing balances, last sync time, and clear error messages if something went wrong. Founders could reconnect accounts in one click or upload statements as a fallback.
Connecting accounts was the first critical step. We designed this flow to feel trustworthy — showing balances, last sync time, and clear error messages if something went wrong. Founders could reconnect accounts in one click or upload statements as a fallback.
Transactions & Categorization
Transactions are the heart of bookkeeping. Once data streamed in, the system suggested categories automatically. But automation wasn’t always perfect, so ambiguous transactions were flagged. Founders and accountants could override categories or ask questions directly inside the product. This reduced mistakes and built trust without slowing people down.
Transactions are the heart of bookkeeping. Once data streamed in, the system suggested categories automatically. But automation wasn’t always perfect, so ambiguous transactions were flagged. Founders and accountants could override categories or ask questions directly inside the product. This reduced mistakes and built trust without slowing people down.
Reconciliation
Reconciliation was where accountants lost the most time. We built a side-by-side view showing bank balances against Inkle’s ledger, highlighting mismatches in red until resolved. CSV uploads supported unusual formats, and duplicates were surfaced automatically. By making mismatches explicit and easy to resolve, closing books became faster and less frustrating.
Reconciliation was where accountants lost the most time. We built a side-by-side view showing bank balances against Inkle’s ledger, highlighting mismatches in red until resolved. CSV uploads supported unusual formats, and duplicates were surfaced automatically. By making mismatches explicit and easy to resolve, closing books became faster and less frustrating.
Accounting
The Accounting section was built mainly for accountants, giving them a central place to manage and validate financial data. Unlike the founder dashboard, this area focused on accuracy, structure, and compliance.
The Accounting section was built mainly for accountants, giving them a central place to manage and validate financial data. Unlike the founder dashboard, this area focused on accuracy, structure, and compliance.
A core part of this was the Chart of Accounts. We designed it to feel simple but flexible: assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses all presented in a clear hierarchy. Accountants could expand or collapse categories, add new ones, assign IDs, and set opening balances. Transactions flowing in from bank connections and invoices were mapped against this chart, ensuring that every report — from balance sheet to cashflow — was consistent and audit-ready.
A core part of this was the Chart of Accounts. We designed it to feel simple but flexible: assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses all presented in a clear hierarchy. Accountants could expand or collapse categories, add new ones, assign IDs, and set opening balances. Transactions flowing in from bank connections and invoices were mapped against this chart, ensuring that every report — from balance sheet to cashflow — was consistent and audit-ready.
Beyond the chart, the Accounting section also supported other essentials: reconciliation checks, general ledger entries, fixed assets, and manual journals. These weren’t used as often by founders but were critical for accountants handling multiple startups. By keeping these advanced features under a clean tabbed interface, we gave accountants the control they needed without overwhelming founders.
Beyond the chart, the Accounting section also supported other essentials: reconciliation checks, general ledger entries, fixed assets, and manual journals. These weren’t used as often by founders but were critical for accountants handling multiple startups. By keeping these advanced features under a clean tabbed interface, we gave accountants the control they needed without overwhelming founders.
Reports & Dashboard
Founders didn’t want to wait weeks to know their financial health. We designed real-time reports — Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cashflow, and Vendor summaries — alongside a simple dashboard showing cash balance, inflows, and outflows at a glance. Instead of requesting PDFs every month, founders could now check their numbers in seconds.
Founders didn’t want to wait weeks to know their financial health. We designed real-time reports — Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cashflow, and Vendor summaries — alongside a simple dashboard showing cash balance, inflows, and outflows at a glance. Instead of requesting PDFs every month, founders could now check their numbers in seconds.
Results & Impact
500+ startups
scaled from just 20 customers
300+ paid customers
for the Books product after launch
$1.5M–$2M ARR
contributed during scaling