Submittable is a submission management platform where anyone can create application based programs, build forms, collect submissions, and make awards. It was originally designed for creatives, but since 2020, grant makers and their applicants have made up the vast majority of our user base. Unlike creatives, grant applicants typically submit applications on behalf of their entire organization. But because of the way Submittable was originally designed (purpose built for individual submissions) every submission was tied to a single account holder’s name.

This created a problem for our grant making customers who need access to organization level data, like award and submission history, in order to make informed funding decisions. Our customers were spending countless hours digging for information about their applicants (and their applicants were spending precious time recreating the same application data year over year). We received consistent customer feedback tied to this issue and lost multiple enterprise deals in 2023 because of this gap in functionality. I led research to better understand these pain points and gather feedback on an MVP solution.