Phase of Discovery Missing from Many Teams - Fintech Apps
When developing a new fintech app/platform, so often, teams are eager to get on with design/development without taking the time to complete a Discovery phase first. The fintech industry is extremely complicated, highly regulated, and has high stakes as compared to other industries; therefore, you cannot just “wing it” in fintech. The discovery phase is a vital component in creating your new product.
At Appricotsoft, a fintech software development organization specializing in working with both startups and established businesses (scale-ups) throughout the U.S. and EU, we have had the opportunity to witness how to execute the proper discovery process can wholly prevent your company from experiencing costly misfires, the need to redo/build your solution after the fact, and regulatory challenges in the future. While some believe discovery is just busy work, it is, in fact, a strategic investment in the long-term success of your product!
Why Discovery Is Essential for Fintech Projects
Fintech app development is not solely about user experience (the interface), nor is it just about fast transactions! Rather:
- Creating trust within a highly regulated industry
- Creating integration with various complex financial systems (Complying with KYC/AML guidelines, using the correct level of PSD2 compliance, creating interfaces that support multiple payment types including gateways)
- Designing redundant processes and workflows that appear simple and are compliant with the various rules and regulations associated to those industries and government authorities
- Ensuring that the functionality you include in your app/platform project actually provides measurable results to your organization
If you skip the discovery phase for your project, you run the risk of failing on all points mentioned!
Phase One of Discovery: Step-by-Step
At Appricotsoft we have a very structured process led by our Unison Framework, which guarantees that our app will achieve predictable, transparent and valuable results from day one.
1. Understand your goals and who needs to be involved.
The first step of discovery will be to identify the “Why?”. Why are we developing this app? Who are we developing it for? And who will need to be involved in developing the solution?
Key activities:
- Stakeholder Interviews
- Business Goals Alignment
- Mapping of Regulatory Requirements (e.g. Open Banking, KYC/AML)
Outcome: A shared understanding of what our goal looks like for our users, the business and Regulators.
2. Running Workshops to discover the right questions.
During the second step of discovery, we will run a workshop with both your team and our team, where we will explore:
- Users Target Journey (onboarding, payment, reports)
- What are the limitations/gaps of current systems?
- Is our goal a Minimum Viable Product or do we have a longer term vision?
- What are the integration and compliance requirements?
Lean Inception and/or Event Storming Techniques will often be used in the USA to derive real-world feedback from stakeholders.
Outcome: Clarity for the Feature Scope, Dependencies and Red Flags, before any code is written.
3. Define User Stories and Acceptance Criteria
Once we have goals and flows completed, we create user stories from these insights, which are essentially small and testable units of value. Each user story has corresponding acceptance criteria to eliminate ambiguity.
Depending on how complex your fintech offering is, we normally identify between 30 and 80 core user stories.
The outcome is a prioritized backlog that both your product and engineering teams can rely upon.
4. Drafting Technical Architecture and Integrations
We create a high-level outline of your architecture to ensure that it meets 3 criteria:
- Scalability
- Security & Compliance
- Integrations.
For example, if your organization is creating a mobile banking application, we will identify a mobile-first architecture and components; if the project is establishing a B2B payment gateway, we will define your application programming interfaces.
The outcome is a foundation of technology that can accommodate your real-world goals and constraints.
5. Risk register
We believe about visible, not surprise, risks. Therefore, throughout discovery, we have a shared risk register where we log:
- Possible regulatory barriers
- Uncertain requirements
- Dependence on any third-party systems
- Assumptions that will require confirmation
Outcome: Everyone continues to be aligned regarding risks and making conscious trade-offs as opposed to making them by accident.
6. Delivery plan with timeline and budget estimates
As the final step of the delivery plan, we will create a phased delivery plan that includes:
- MVP scope and timing (generally 8-14 weeks)
- Delivery milestones with weekly demos (our trust mechanism)
- Resource plan and ballpark budget
- Open scope items and their consequences
Outcome: A launch roadmap that you can commit to, and, therefore, not have scope creep or surprises!
Outputs You Should Expect from Fintech Discovery
Here’s a quick checklist of what you should walk away with:
| Output | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Product brief | Alignment across business and tech teams |
| Prioritized backlog | Execution-ready user stories with acceptance tests |
| Architecture outline | Foundation for scalability, security, and speed |
| Risk register | Prevents costly surprises later |
| Delivery timeline and cost range | Enables realistic budget and launch planning |
| Workshop notes and artifacts | Decision traceability and stakeholder visibility |
What Is The Duration Of Discovery?
A typical Appricotsoft fintech discovery process can take anywhere from approximately 2-4 weeks depending upon the scope and the availability of stakeholders.
The benefit? You will have de-risked your whole build, avoided expensive rework and entered development with clarity, not confusion.
Real Life Example Of Discovery To Launch
After coming to Appricotsoft only with an ‘idea’ and some compliance documentation for assistance, a fintech customer (a startup building their own cross border payment application) was able to complete the following in 3 weeks:
- Complete mapping of their entire customer onboarding flow (to include KYC logic by country)
- Develop 50+ user stories that outlined all core functionality
- Identify two significant risks of integrating with outside vendors (and developed alternatives)
- Establish an MVP scope that would allow them to launch within 12 weeks
As a result of completing discovery they were able successfully close on their additional round of financing and achieve their first revenue from this product two months after launch.
How the Unison Framework Supports Discovery
At Appricotsoft, we view discovery as a fluid process within our Unison delivery framework centered around our AI-first approach.
In other words:
- You will always know where your project is.
- You will receive working software every week (versus waiting for a slide deck).
- You will enjoy the benefits of utilizing AI to create user stories and decision logs in a shorter amount of time without sacrificing quality.
- Quality assurance will have already been completed, demonstration of the working product will be presented upon completion of research and documentation of your project.
Creating the foundation for your project will support delivery and quality of results.
Planning a Fintech App? Don’t Skip Discovery
If you are evaluating software development companies to create your Fintech App, make sure to ask them how they handle discovery. If there is no process for discovery or no examples of prior discovered results then you should continue searching.
At Appricotsoft we do not consider discovery as a mere process, rather as an opportunity to establish a strong relationship based on trust and expedite successful results for your product.
💡 Want to see what the discovery phase looks like for your product? Request a free quote for your Fintech Project Estimate by requesting.