Introduction

A Series B startup in the finance space was looking to optimize their Notion workspace. They are a sales and financial planning platform that helps fast-growing businesses take control of their data and plan for the future.

When they started working in Notion they had 20 employees working in one office. Less than two years later their team was more than 150 strong, and spread over 12 countries and 5 timezones.

Their team needed a system that was ready to scale with them and improve their workflows, not slow them down with manual work and organizational chaos.

Given they have a complex product, and a significant professional services department, our process started with the implementation team. We worked with them to audit their current tools, workflows, and how they were using their Notion workspace before building a roadmap that outlined their major pain points and our recommended solutions.

Over the course of 3 weeks we built out systems, dashboards, automations, and more to make the implementation team’s day-to-day that much simpler.

Challenge - A Workspace Not Built to Scale

The FinTech’s team had been growing massively YoY, but their systems weren’t built from the ground up to scale with them. While the questions, tasks, and projects kept piling up, the services team weren’t equipped with the right tools and processes to get everything done in time. Their numbers had grown from 4 to 35 in just two years, but the product had grown so much in that time that everyone had a different way of doing the same things - meaning every client got a different experience.

Inconsistent Processes - Inconsistent Results

• 15 Team members and 3 different divisions made up the implementation team. The audit found multiple ways of completing the same objective on more than 10 occasions.

• Scattered and inconsistent documentation on best practices, workflows, processes, or methods of communication and escalation.

• Lack of consistent project management processes resulted in slipping timelines and missed deadlines.

Multiple Tools for the Same Problems

• Our audit found the team was using different tools for project management, knowledge management & documentation, and onboarding & training.

• None of these tools were connected to each other, and there were multiple tools being used that could solve the same problem with the right set up.

• Lots of manually moving data between different tools & platforms.

No Structure or Organization in the Workspace

• When their team started using Notion they didn’t think about the long-term scalability of their workspace - something most teams aren’t thinking of when growth is the number one target.

• The workspace had become a “dumping ground” for notes, tasks or other items the team had to collect for their work.

• Lack of consistent workspace admin policies, governance frameworks, or best practices to guide their employees.

Solutions - Simple Systems with Big Impacts

We built simple systems to tackle the startup's growing pains. Our solutions focused on creating clear workflows, bringing everything under one roof, and setting up scalable frameworks. These changes helped the team work smarter, cut out redundant tools, and build a system that grows with them. Leveraging Notion's powerful database features, we created a unified ecosystem that streamlined the team's day-to-day operations.

Workflows, Process Guides, and Automations

• Worked with the team to create and document best practices for a consistent implementation methodology that every member of the team could use.

• Documented workflows and created process guides for each step of a typical implementation, and their associated internal tasks.

• Created multiple, scalable FAQs and knowledge management systems that are both client and internal facing.

Centralize to Scale

• Deprecated their project management tools and transferred the functionality, processes, and data into Notion.

• Connected Notion to external tools like Slack, Miro, and Google Drive to speed up flow of information in the business and automate manual tasks.

• Built an employee learning portal onboarding process in Notion. Sunsetted another tool the team had been trialing for 6 months.

Consistent Frameworks Built on Databases

• We built an interconnected system of 6 databases and organized the teams cluttered and chaotic workspace into actionable and accessible buckets.

• Set up database relations, automations, templates, and documented processes on how to operate in the workspace at each level.

• Built individual and team dashboards to provide everyone with quick access to their most relevant info.

Results - Time Is Money

At the end of the day, the goal was to deliver simple, scalable, and connected systems for the implementation team that make their day-to-day jobs easier. The systems we built for the team increased their clients time to value by reducing the amount of time the team was spending trying to onboard them. They were able to sunset tools and save on bottom-line costs, by centralizing their systems into one optimized Workspace. By automating their manual tasks using Notion database tools and AI, and building custom dashboards to get critical info where it needs to go, we saved the team hours of manual work each week.

Improved Time to Value

• Every team member knew exactly what was expected of them, at every step of the way, thanks to widespread documentation and process mapping.

• Ensured consistent delivery standards on every project, so that each client engagement has the same expectations (and the same positive experience) from start to finish.

• Reduced this companies client onboarding time by more than 15%!

Automations Built to Scale

• The database system allows for consistent sorting, quick searching of information, and layers of automations across the entire business.

• Simple dashboards help make a complex back-end system user friendly and easy to use. Improving the chances that employees actually use the tools.

• One centralized, automated system custom built for the whole implementation team that scales as fast as they do.

Cost Savings & Breaking Down Silos

• Notion became the central source of truth for this company, where employees can always go for up to date info.

• Linking to external tools with Notion Connectors and automating manual tasks with Notion AI breaks down internal silos and helps get the right info, to the right people, at the right time.

• Achieved $20K Annual cost savings from sunsetting redundant tools and thus reducing shelf-ware

Ready to Optimize Your Workspace?

Is your team struggling with similar challenges? Are you looking to streamline your processes, reduce costs, and boost productivity?

When you’re ready, there are 2 more ways I can help you:

I’m Mike - a systems builder and startup expert.

I help early stage startups manage and optimize their operations with simple, scalable systems - built using tools like Notion, Slack, and n8n.

Get a Free Consultation.