One Acre Fields
Portfolio · Major projects · Family office · Private equity · 04 of 17

A family holding company's whole portfolio, out of spreadsheets and into one ledger of truth.

ClientA Gulf family holding company
ProductInvestment Management System
Where and whenQatar · 2025
PlatformWeb app
The screen, annotated by hand · scroll
Fund manager dashboard: net investment, profit trend, allocation and breakdown
  1. the number the principals ask fornet investment first, then dividends, then return: the order of the questions
  2. allocation, by holdingchange the asset class or the status and the ring redraws
  3. currency is a columneach holding is shown in the currency it was bought in, not converted out of sight

The story, in the order I work

Given · why

What was there

A Gulf family holding company holds private-equity, venture and hospitality assets across currencies. Loan schedules, dividends, capital injections, valuations and hotel P&L lived in separate workbooks. The system gives the investment team a fund-manager dashboard, then a drill-down per asset: summary, dividends, capital injections, loans, valuation and IRR, performance and P&L, and charts comparing budget, actual and proforma year on year. A second module covers the capital-market portfolios: comparison, benchmarks, transfers and a log trail.

Planted · what I owned

What I took on

  • Data model for assets, instruments and multi-currency positions
  • Dashboard KPIs and portfolio breakdown with the principals
  • Asset drill-down tab structure and financial table conventions
  • Valuation design: three methods weighted into one figure, with IRR and multiple per asset
  • Capital market module: portfolio comparison, benchmarks, transfers between portfolios, and a log trail
  • User and permission design for a small, senior team
  • Led a team of five to six, two or three of them on design, for the length of the engagement
Shipped

What went out

Released in 2025 as a web app. The client stays nameless; the screens are blurred where they would name it.

Fund manager dashboard Deal pipeline Asset summary Loans & schedules Dividends & injections Valuation & IRR P&L Budget vs actual charts Capital market portfolios Portfolio comparison Benchmarks Transfers & log trail Bulk upload Users
The other screens
Summary of investments by stage: active, ongoing, pending, bid lost and rejected, with capital, value, income and ROI
Every deal by stage: active, ongoing, pending, bid lost, rejected
Valuation of one asset by three weighted methods: price to book, price to earnings and dividend yield
One valuation from three methods, each with its own weight
IRR and multiple for one asset from yearly cash flows
IRR and multiple for a single asset, from its yearly cash flows
Budget, actual and proforma by year with hotel KPIs
Budget, actual and proforma by year with hotel KPIs
Capital market dashboard comparing two portfolios: invested capital, value, net profit and loss, allocation
Capital market: two portfolios side by side
Monthly portfolio view with NAV, profit and loss, and benchmark rows for S&P 500, NASDAQ and DJIA
Month by month against the S&P 500, NASDAQ and DJIA

Yields

7Investments on one screen
3Valuation methods weighted into one figure
3Benchmarks every portfolio is measured against
What I'd do differently

The honest paragraph.

Every process in a family office can be improved, optimised or automated, and this system does a lot of that. But at every step there is still a decision to be made, by a person, with their own money. The work was knowing where the automation stops and the decision starts, and designing for the second as carefully as the first.

Automate the process. Leave the decision where it belongs.
field note