The document discusses finding the right problem to solve through product development. It outlines researching the needs of feature phone customers in India to understand why they had not upgraded to smartphones. Affordability was a key issue. The document proposes subsidizing smartphones and offering loans through partnerships to address this, with testing to select the optimal solution. Continuous customer research, testing designs, and getting feedback is emphasized to iteratively improve the product.

1. Becoming a Product Entrepreneur by
Zalando Sr PM
www.productschool.com

2. CERTIFICATES
Your Product Management Certificate Path
Product Leadership
Certificate™
Full Stack Product
Management Certificate™
Product Management
Certificate™

3. Corporate
Training
Level up your team’s Product
Management skills

4. Free Product Management Resources
BOOKS
EVENTS
JOB PORTAL
COMMUNITIES
bit.ly/product_resources
COURSES

5. Becoming a Product Entrepreneur -
Finding the right problem to solve
Yogesh SY , Senior Product Manager, Zalando SE

6. Yogesh SY
S P E A K E R

7. A B O U T M E
I am a product strategy professional with 6+ years of experience in building and scaling
digital products, setting up fintech ecosystems, project management and digital
marketing. I started my career as a software engineer for Verizon. Later, with on of the
biggest telecom firms in India, I led strategic projects aimed at fastening the pace of
digitization in the country by building and scaling digital platforms. I am currently
boosting customer conversion at Zalando SE by driving improved customer convenience
at every stage of the online shopping experience.
I have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering, a Masters in IT and an MBA
from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.

8. A G E N D A
2.
1.
Finding your USP - What can you do better than your competitors
Research Driven Action- The importance of listening to your customers
4.
3.
Summary
Launch Fast and Keep Improving - Get feedback Quickly

9. Product Development Process
● Discover
● Define
● Design
● Deliver

10. Goal : Upgrading Feature Phone Customers to
Smartphones in India

11. Step 1 - Discover : Research Driven Action- The
importance of listening to your customers

12. Keep asking questions till you have the
actionables

13. 5 Whys of Discovery
Why do we want customers to move from feature phones to smartphones?
- Average Revenue Per feature phone customer is $1.5 per month
- Average revenue per smartphone customer is $ 3 per month
Why is there a gap in ARPU for both types of customers ?
- Feature phone customers don’t use data and hence are on a cheaper plan
Why don’t feature phone customers use data ?
- Most feature phones have small screens. They don’t support internet applications and social
media apps. Some support internet browsers but the user experience is extremely poor
Why do we think the upgraders will switch to costly plans?
- Our internal data showed that featurephone customers used 12 Gb data/month starting from
second month of upgrade
Why are people still using a feature phone in 2018?
- We don’t know yet

14. User Research 1 - Identify the right problem to solve ?
Why are people still using a feature phone in 2020?
A User research amongst 1000 feature phone customers gave the following reasons:
● Affordability
● Durability
● Performance
Note : Lack of awareness of smartphones or their use cases didn’t come out as a
major reason

15. Whys of Solution
Why is affordability a problem?
● A good Feature phone is worth $15 but the cheapest smartphone is worth $70
● Average monthly income of ~70% of the population is <$200
Why can’t the customers take a loan for buying the device ?
● No bank/ Fintech is providing loans for $70
Why aren’t banks/fintech first providing loans for this amount ?
● The onboarding costs and recollection costs are too high for such a small amount
● The default rates of this customer segment is very high

16. Step 2: Define the solution & Find your USP

17. Subsidy Loan Locked Device Loan + Locked Device +
Subsidy
Give subsidy on the
phone with a binding
telco contract
Help the customers
procure a loan for the
device
Give subsidy on the
phone that is locked on
the network
Give subsidy on the
phone that is locked on
the network and help
customers get a loan for
the remaining amount
1. Tie up with a
smartphone brand
2. Provide a subsidy
upfront and bind
the customers in a
long term contract
with the telco
3. Cost of the subsidy
to be recovered
over customer’s
lifetime through
increment in
monthly ARPU
1. Tie up with a bank
2. Make a loan
disbursal journey
through the Telco’s
Retailer App thus
removing
onboarding and
recollection costs
of the financier
3. Provide a robust
way of risk
assessment of
customers
1. Tie up with a
smartphone brand
2. Provide a subsidy
upfront and lock
the phone on the
telco’s network
1. Tie up with a bank
and a smartphone
brand
2. Provide a subsidy
upfront, bind the
customers in a long
term contract with
the telco and help
them procure a
loan for the
remaining amount
Possible Solutions

18. User Research 2 - Identify the most acceptable solution
Who is the target customer for the research ?
- Feature phone User
- Using the same device for 24 months ( Average Age of Handsets)
- Optional Filter ( To target low hanging fruits) : Customers with a
monthly average recharge of USD 2.0

19. What can you offer that your competitors cannot ?
1. A trust score based on customer’s telecom package history
2. A strong physical presence across the country ( owned and Franchise Stores) to
guide customers through the journey
3. A strong Promoter presence across the country to guide the customers through
the journey

20. Step 3: Design

21. Design
- Competition Benchmarking : What are existing loan disbursal
journeys out there today ?
- Avoiding Pitfalls : What are the common pain points in those
journeys ?
- Simplification: Can I make a better and simpler journey ?

22. User Research 3 - Always test the Design before
committing to it
- If the idea is a to build a user journey on the app then get the journey
tested amongst the users to design a simple and understandable flow
- The user in this case is our own retailer who is using the Telecom’s App
for several purposes

23. KEEP ITERATING
The user journey needs continuous improvement . Don’t wait to ship
out the perfect product.
A/B Test → Ship → Get Customer Feedback → Repeat

24. 2.
1.
S U M M A R Y
Lack of surety points to lack of research, nothing else
Whenever you feel that you don’t know the answer, always go back to your
customer

25. Thank You!
WWW.PRODUCTSCHOOL.COM

26. www.productschool.com
Part-time Product Management Training Courses
and
Corporate Training