Payment Blocking
The $15M Turnaround: Payment Blocking Product Redesign
B2B SaaS
FINTECH
AI TAX COMPLIANCE
Role
Sole Designer, leading with PM & Engineering
Product
Payment Blocking (formerly MaxITC)
Team
PM, Engineering, Data Science, Product Analytics
Timeline
3 months
After a committed $15 million investment and two failed MVPs, I was brought in as the sole designer to lead the turnaround of a business-critical product. The previous attempts, built on a flawed "gamified" premise, were on track to be a complete write-off. My work transformed the product into a reliable, enterprise-grade platform centered on stakeholder alignment and operational trust.
By redirecting the strategy and redesigning the entire experience, we built a product that protected over ₹2300 Cr (~$275M USD) in working capital in its first quarter alone. This success delivered a full return on the initial investment, generating ~$3M ARR run rate from 400+ of India's largest enterprises.
We rebuilt a product that had failed twice into a dependable tool that stops risky vendor payments before money leaves the bank.
Phase 1 focused on building a rock-solid foundation of trust;
Phase 2 added AI assistance to cut manual effort, lower errors, and speed up approvals.
“We’re flying blind. We process thousands of payments, but I have no real-time visibility into our compliance risk. Every month, we're just hoping we don't get hit with a notice for claiming invalid tax credits.”
– Head of Taxes of a large FMCG client
A large enterprise pays 1000s of invoices monthly. Without a reliable system, companies risk significant cash loss. But the problem isn't just one invoice; it's a complex web of people, processes, and data points that quickly becomes unmanageable.
The People Involved & What They Want (Personas)
Every payment is a negotiation between stakeholders with different, often competing, priorities:
The Supplier (Vendor)
“Just pay me on time." Their primary goal is cash flow, and compliance paperwork can often be a secondary concern.
The Accounts Payable (AP) Team
"Tell me exactly what to pay and when."
Caught between maintaining good vendor relationships and enforcing compliance policies they didn't create. They crave clarity and a simple, repeatable process to avoid errors and escalations.
The Tax Head
"We can't afford to lose any more money to non-compliant vendors."
Reporting to the CFO, they are responsible for minimizing risk and ensuring every claimed tax credit is valid. They need control, visibility, and an audit-proof trail for every decision.
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
"Show me that our working capital is safe and our investments are paying off."
As the economic buyer, the CFO needs a high-level view of financial risk and a clear return on investment. They need to trust that the company's processes are sound and scalable.
Here’s how a typical, high-risk payment lifecycle unfolds:
Before: The Broken Workflow
Invoice Arrives: The Accounts Payable (AP) team receives an invoice for ₹1 Crore from a key supplier.
Payment Scheduled: The invoice is entered into the company's ERP, and the full payment is scheduled based on its due date.
Payment Released: On the due date, the system automatically releases the full ₹1 Crore to the supplier.
The Hidden Risk: Weeks later, the tax team discovers the supplier never filed their mandatory GST returns for that invoice. The government has no record of the transaction.
The Consequence: The company's claim for a ₹18 Lakh tax credit (Input Tax Credit) is rejected. This is a direct cash loss, creates an audit nightmare, and forces the AP team to begin a painful and often unsuccessful recovery process with the supplier.
After: The Protected Workflow with Payment Blocking
Invoice Arrives: The same ₹1 Crore invoice is entered into the ERP.
Automated Check: The Payment Blocking platform automatically syncs with the ERP and begins monitoring government portals for the supplier's filing status.
Risk Detected & Payment Held: Before the due date, the platform detects the supplier has not filed their returns. It automatically places a hold on the payment and flags it to the AP team with the clear reason: "Vendor GSTR-1 Not Filed."
Automated Communication: The supplier is automatically notified about the non-compliance and the payment hold, with clear instructions on how to resolve it.
The Consequence: The company's working capital is protected. The ₹18 Lakh tax credit is de-risked without any manual follow-up from the finance team. The payment is only released once the supplier becomes compliant, turning a potential crisis into a routine, automated workflow.
The Real-World Complexity
Now, multiply a single transaction by the scale of a large enterprise. The challenge explodes:
Massive Volume: Instead of one invoice, the AP team faces a queue of 5,000+ invoices every month.
Diverse Suppliers: These invoices come from over 200 different suppliers, each with their own payment terms, reliability, and GST slab rates.
Cross-State Operations: Business units operate across multiple states, each with its own regulatory nuances.
Information Overload: A manual process is impossible. No team can effectively track the individual compliance status for every single transaction in real-time.
This is where the system breaks down.
What you just saw in action is Payment Blocking—a compliance-driven platform ensuring that companies only pay vendors after confirming proper GST filings and data reconciliation, thereby protecting companies' working capital and preventing audit risks. It automates vendor compliance checks, flags risky payments, and involves key finance stakeholders with clear, decisive workflows.
Problem
After a $15M investment and two failed MVPs, the product was on track to be a write-off. A gamified interface missed the mark with AP teams who needed security, not games, and economic buyers (CFOs) had zero visibility.
Strategy
A radical strategic shift: To involve the economic buyers, automate the manual workflows, and deliver certainty through clear decisioning. We built transparent rules, autonomous scheduling, and executive visibility.
Result
Protected over ₹2300 Cr (~$275M USD) in working capital in Q1, achieved a ~$3M ARR run rate, deployed to 400+ of India's largest enterprises, and reduced manual review effort by ~35%.
The company had invested $15M to build MaxITC, a product meant to stop risky vendor payments. But after two versions, it was failing. My post-mortem analysis revealed a product at odds with its users
A Flawed Premise
The earlier MVPs were built around a gamified interface for Accounts Payable (AP) teams. This completely missed the mark. The AP head's job is on the line; they care about security and accuracy, not a game.
The Wrong Audience
The product's primary investors—the CFOs and Tax Heads who approved the purchase—were completely excluded from the experience. They had no visibility into the tool's effectiveness, making their investment a black box.
A Manual Nightmare
The workflow was archaic. Teams had to manually sync data, and reconciliations took 1-2 hours to run during peak business hours, forcing users to wait instead of work.
📝 Deep Analysis
Comprehensively analyzed failed MVPs and aligned strategy with PM and stakeholders.
🤝 User & Stakeholder Research
Engaged AP teams, CFOs, Tax Heads, vendors to identify pain points and common issues for productization.
🔍 Tech Alignment
Collaborated with ML teams to explore autonomous reconciliation potential, accuracy, data needs, and costs.
🔄 Iterative Validation
Shared feasible solutions with users, ran alpha tests, gathered feedback, and refined through rapid AI-assisted iterations.
🎯 Confident Execution
Implemented UI improvements and scaled only after strong validation and user buy-in.
A New, Design-Led Strategy
The post-mortem drove a radical strategic shift. I worked with the PM to establish a new vision built on principles that addressed the core failures:
Involve the Economic Buyer
The CFO and Tax Head must have a seat at the table. The product's value must be visible to them.
Automate the Toil
Eliminate manual work. The system should work for the user in the background, not the other way around.
Deliver Certainty, Not Clicks
Guide users to confident, correct decisions, with the user involved at every critical stage.
Part I: Building a Foundation of Trust
Automated Reconciliation Scheduler
The biggest pain point was hours of manual wait times during peak business hours, making the product unusable when teams needed it most.
Why it mattered
The biggest pain point was hours of manual wait times during peak business hours, making the product unusable when teams needed it most.
What was broken
• Manual data sync processes requiring constant user intervention
• Reconciliations ran during peak hours, blocking other work
• No retry mechanisms when processes failed
What I did
• Designed fully automated scheduler running during non-peak hours
• Built ERP data pulling system eliminating manual uploads
• Created retry logic and failure notification system
• Gave users their time back - no more waiting
Impact
• Eliminated 1-2 hours of daily wait time for finance teams
• Improved system reliability with automated retry mechanisms
• Enabled teams to focus on decision-making, not data management
Clear, Confident Decision Framework (5–6 Screen Workbench)
Why it mattered
Complex financial decisions were buried in confusing interfaces. Teams needed clear guidance to make confident choices about payment risks. The old UI had people browsing, not deciding.
What was broken
• Multiple confusing status states with unclear meanings
• No clear reasoning provided for system recommendations
• Trust was broken due to lack of transparency
What I did
• Simplified to three clear outcomes: Pay Now, Hold, or Release with Note.
• Designed UI patterns making the "why" immediately obvious.
• Built explainability into every decision point.
• Designed a straight path: Vendor → Document → Voucher.
Impact
• Rebuilt user trust through transparent decision-making.
• Reduced override rates by providing clear reasoning.
• Lowered time-to-decision by 40% (measured by comparing the average time from first view to final action across key accounts in the first quarter post-redesign)
Configurable Settings You Can Trust
Why it mattered
Cross-PAN (business unit) differences caused inconsistent decisions.
What was broken
• No stable policy application across business units
• No audit trails for changes
What I did
• Created PAN-level policies with thresholds and exemptions
• Implemented versioned changes with exportable audit
• Added reasons and explainability on why holds occurred
Impact
• Ensured stable, predictable behavior across teams.
• Reduced confusion and support tickets.
Executive Dashboard for Economic Buyers
Why it mattered
CFOs and Tax Heads were completely excluded from the experience despite being the economic buyers. They had no visibility into their product’s investment's performance. Leadership needed a single page showing money at risk, money protected, and habitual late vendors.
What was broken
• Zero visibility for decision makers who approved the purchase
• No business impact metrics or ROI demonstration
• Investment was effectively a black box
What I did
• Designed one-page executive dashboard translating operations into business narrative
• Built clear metrics: money at risk, capital protected, vendor compliance trends
• Created stakeholder alignment through shared visibility
Impact
• Brought CFOs and Tax Heads directly into the product loop and demonstrated clear ROI and business value
• Made the business case for renewal undeniable by transparently reporting on working capital protected and ROI.
• Enabled data-driven vendor management by highlighting the highest-risk and most frequently non-compliant vendors.
Part II: From Trusted Tool to Intelligent Partner (Human-in-the-Loop AI Assistance)
The Next Challenge: Scaling Intelligence
With trust established, the next bottleneck was the manual effort of reviewing hundreds of daily blocked payments.
The goal for Phase 2 was to reduce this cognitive load without sacrificing user control.
Human-in-the-Loop AI
The Recommendation AI engine didn't just flag issues; it accurately suggested actions, taking the analytical, error-prone burden off the AP team.
Think of it as a "Today's Priority" list that used an AI model to rank payments by financial impact and an engine that proposed next actions with full explainability.
Smart Prioritization
Why it mattered
Reviewing hundreds of blocked payments daily was exhausting.
What was broken
• Users overwhelmed with large queues
• Inefficient triaging
What I did
• Ranked items by impact × confidence
• Focused user attention on the most critical items.
Impact
• Reduced cognitive load
• Faster, more focused decision-making.
Suggested Actions (Explainability)
Why it mattered
AI needed to be transparent to build trust.
What was broken
• Opaque AI without reasoning
• User fear of blindly following AI recommendations.
What I did
• Proposed safe next actions with clear, simple reasons.
• Displayed expected outcomes and the evidence behind each suggestion.
Impact
• Less guesswork for users.
• Consistent, trusted judgments.
Additional Solution Snapshots + Some Iterations
Product
Working Capital Protected: Safeguarded over ₹2300 Cr (~$275M USD) in working capital within the first quarter by blocking high-risk payments across 400+ of India's largest enterprises.
Business Growth: Turned a failing product into a success, achieving a ~$3M ARR run rate within the first year of the redesign
Measured by
Working Capital Protection: The total value of payments automatically put on hold by the system due to vendor non-compliance (e.g., mismatched invoices, delayed GST filings). The figure is aggregated from the dashboards of all live enterprise clients.
Business Growth (ARR): The annualized recurring revenue calculated from the subscription fees of the 400+ enterprise clients who adopted the redesigned product.
Team
• Time Savings: Eliminated 1-2 hours of daily wait time per user
• Decision Quality: Reduced manual override rates through clear reasoning
• Efficiency: ~35% reduction in time spent on daily payment reviews
Measured by
Time Savings (1–2 hours): This was calculated by comparing the old manual workflow, where users actively waited for reconciliations to run during business hours, against the new automated system. The new scheduler runs these processes overnight, completely eliminating the manual wait time.
Efficiency Improvement (~35%): This metric was determined by measuring the average time Accounts Payable (AP) teams spent reviewing and actioning the queue of blocked payments before and after the AI features were implemented. The AI's ability to prioritize critical items and suggest actions significantly reduced the time needed for manual analysis and decision-making
Process
• Strategic Alignment: Economic buyers now have full visibility into their investment
• Operational Excellence: Automated workflows eliminated manual bottlenecks
• Scalable Intelligence: AI recommendations reduced cognitive load while maintaining control
Design for the buyer, not just the user.
The AP team uses the tool, but the CFO buys it. By designing experiences that delivered clear value to both personas, we ensured both initial adoption and long-term renewal.
Automate the wait.
The biggest user experience win wasn't a prettier button; it was giving back 2 hours of waiting time every single day through thoughtful, automated decisions powered by an efficient use of AI.
Salvage, then scale.
You can't build intelligent systems on a broken foundation. We had to first earn user trust by being relentlessly reliable. Only then could we introduce AI to make the product truly smart.
NDA-safe views here — happy to walk through full flows live.
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