Building Products
Aucti
Building an AI-powered fundraising operating system
Founded and building Aucti, which reduces the operational work behind charity fundraising events while keeping organizers in control of every decision.
- Role
- Founder and Product Lead
- Focus
- Product strategy, Customer research, Service design, AI workflows, Go-to-market
Context
Charity fundraising events are run largely by volunteers and small teams, on nights and weekends. The visible part is the gala. The hidden part is a mountain of operational work: building the catalogue, writing communications, planning the run of show, issuing tax receipts, and reconciling reports.
The challenge
The tools available to organizers automate the bidding, but not the work around it. Staff and volunteers become the workflow. I set out to reduce that operational load without taking decisions away from the people running the event.
My role
Founder and product lead. I own customer discovery with organizers, product strategy, service design, the AI workflows, and go-to-market.
Approach
- Researched the real operational calendar of an event, from months out to the night itself.
- Designed AI to draft the catalogue, communications, run of show, receipts, and reports, with the organizer approving every step.
- Built for silent and live bidding, paddle raises, and tax receipting as one connected system.
- Held a firm line: AI drafts, the organizer decides.
Outcome
Aucti is in active development with charity organizers. It moves the operational load off volunteers while keeping them in control, so their time goes to the mission rather than the paperwork.
What I learned
The strongest AI product opportunities are in the work people have quietly accepted as unavoidable. Sitting with organizers surfaced far more value than any feature brainstorm would have.
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