Interview with Winner Taiwo - Winner of Metrics of the Year

The Top Voices Media hosted The Top Startup PM Awards 2024 to spotlight impactful startup Product Managers. In the Metrics of the Year category, the winner was Winner Taiwo, whose work at Kuda stood out for its data-driven approach to product improvements. We had the opportunity to speak with Taiwo about his journey into product management, the key challenges he tackled at Kuda, and the strategies he used to drive meaningful changes.

How did you start your career in product management, and what led you to the Kuda project?

My journey into product management evolved through a strategic progression of roles that built my cross-functional expertise. I began in digital marketing, which gave me valuable insights into user acquisition and market dynamics. I then advanced to a finance operations manager position at a tech company, where I took on increasing responsibility for stakeholder management and critical business operations, including leading the preparation of fiscal year financial statements.

My transition to product management began during my internship at Kuda, where I conducted comprehensive product teardowns that caught the attention of senior product leaders. This work, combined with my initiative to conduct extensive user research across social media platforms in collaboration with the customer support team, helped identify critical user pain points and improvement opportunities. These experiences led to my current role as a product manager, where I can fully leverage my diverse background in marketing, finance, and user research to drive product success.

What key problems did you identify in the Kuda app, and how did you determine which ones to focus on first?

Through systematic user research and data analysis, we identified three critical issues affecting the Kuda app's user experience:

1. Authentication Stability: Users experienced frequent automatic logouts, disrupting their banking activities and requiring multiple sign-ins daily.
2. Transaction Reliability: Inconsistent real-time updates in transaction history created user uncertainty about payment completion status.
3. Support Accessibility: The existing AI chatbot wasn't meeting user needs effectively, and users faced challenges accessing human support representatives.

To prioritize these issues, we implemented a structured approach using a priority matrix combined with Fibonacci scoring. This methodology helped quantify the impact and urgency of each problem, allowing us to allocate resources to the most critical issues first. The resulting prioritization framework provided clear direction for our product development roadmap.

How did you manage to effectively organize collaboration between different teams (design, engineering, customer support) to solve these issues?

 For team collaboration: My role centered on orchestrating seamless collaboration across teams while maintaining clear focus on user needs. I implemented a structured communication framework including:

1. Regular alignment meetings with product stakeholders to ensure shared understanding of user problems and priorities 
2. Daily standups to track deliverables and milestone progress
3. Sprint retrospectives to capture learnings and define next steps

This approach helped maintain momentum while keeping all teams aligned on our objectives.

For challenges and constraints: The primary challenge was implementing improvements to a live product without disrupting the existing user experience. We addressed this through:

• Calculated deployment windows to minimize user impact
• Comprehensive risk assessment identifying in-scope and out-of-scope factors
• Resource optimization planning to maximize impact within constraints

What were the biggest challenges in the process of improvements, and how did you overcome them given the resource and time constraints?

Our primary challenge was implementing critical improvements to a live financial product while maintaining uninterrupted service. We addressed this through strategic planning:

Key challenges were resource limitations and tight timelines, which we managed by:

1. Implementing changes during low-traffic periods to minimize user impact
2. Creating a detailed risk assessment matrix to identify and mitigate potential issues
3. Prioritizing in-scope features that delivered maximum value within our constraints
4. Establishing clear success metrics for each improvement phase

By taking this calculated approach, we successfully deployed updates without compromising the user experience or system stability, while staying within our resource constraints. Regular monitoring and quick iteration allowed us to make adjustments when needed.

Which solutions you implemented were the most complex, and how did you execute them?

One of our most complex implementations was the biometric authentication system. Our team introduced secure fingerprint and facial recognition features to streamline the login process while maintaining robust security standards.

The complexity stemmed from handling sensitive user biometric data and ensuring rapid API response times. Through collaborative research and testing, we optimized the face detection algorithms to improve accuracy and speed. Our engineers worked closely with the security team to implement proper encryption protocols, while our UX researchers helped fine-tune the authentication flow based on user feedback.

Together, we successfully reduced login complaints by implementing a solution that balanced security requirements with user convenience.

How did you measure the success of the changes, and what results were the most telling in terms of user experience improvements and team productivity?

We measured success through both quantitative and qualitative metrics. Our post-implementation social media poll reaching over 1,000 users revealed significant improvements in user satisfaction. Key success indicators included:

1. Reduced login-related support tickets
2. Higher user engagement metrics
3. Positive sentiment in user feedback

These improvements validated our team's approach and became a benchmark for future projects within the organization. The success strengthened team morale and established a proven framework for tackling complex user experience challenges.

What key lessons and insights did you gain from this experience, and what advice would you give to other product managers in the fintech space?

From this experience, I learned several crucial lessons about product management in fintech:

First, user feedback is invaluable at every stage - from problem identification to solution validation. We found social media platforms particularly effective for real-time user research and solution validation.

Second, even seemingly minor user pain points can significantly impact product trust and adoption. Our metrics showed that addressing basic usability issues led to measurable improvements in user engagement and retention.

Finally, maintaining market fit requires constant attention to user needs across all segments. By implementing a systematic approach to gathering and acting on user feedback, we were able to improve both our product metrics and brand credibility.

For other fintech product managers, I'd emphasize the importance of building robust feedback loops with users and treating every user interaction as an opportunity to strengthen product-market fit.