Overview
Prizeout Corporation is a fintech that turns cash-outs and withdrawals into boosted gift-card rewards, distributed largely through banks and credit unions. As the product scaled through those partner channels, Prizeout wanted an objective, senior read on how it built product, and help finding the leader to carry that work forward. Winston Francois came in as an independent advisor across two focused project phases.
The mandate:
- Get an objective assessment of the product development and design process
- Understand how members actually discover and use the product
- Add product-management leadership to own the roadmap
The challenge
- A solid core experience, but little investment in the first-time user experience, with no real onboarding.
- Product copy that read as corporate rather than approachable, a mismatch for a credit-union member audience.
- Limited internal capacity to run structured user research independently.
- A need for dedicated product-management ownership as the product scaled through partner channels.
The approach
1. Product and UX audit
- Reviewed Prizeout's live product and prototype screens against how real members reach it through credit unions.
- Delivered a written audit plus a recorded walkthrough of the findings.
- Named the first-time user experience and onboarding as the single highest-leverage opportunity.
2. User research
- Built a member-facing research screener for credit-union audiences.
- Coordinated with Prizeout's parallel research partner to shape recruiting and avoid over-screening the same members.
- Handed over preliminary findings so product decisions could be grounded in real member input.
3. Process audit, then hiring support
- Ran a structured audit of how Prizeout develops and designs product, working across the organization.
- Delivered a well-received analysis report and a live report-out to the product leadership contact.
- Extended the engagement into a Product Manager hiring scope so roadmap ownership could move in-house.
The results
October 2023 – August 2024
| Metric | Change | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Product and design process | Independently audited | A clear, prioritized view of where the product org was strong and where it was thin |
| First-time user experience | Flagged as the top gap | Focused Prizeout on onboarding and approachable, member-friendly copy |
| Member research | Screener built, findings delivered | Grounded product decisions in real credit-union member input |
| Engagement | Extended to a second scope | Prizeout re-engaged Winston Francois for Product Manager hiring support |
This was a diagnostic and advisory engagement rather than a performance program, so the value shows up in clarity and direction, not in a media dashboard.
The report was received well enough that Prizeout came back for a second scope and asked Winston Francois to help bring product leadership in-house.
“Michelle's report was really helpful.”David MetzPrizeout
What we learned
- A focused, senior audit can surface the one gap that matters most. Here it was the missing first-time user experience.
- For partner-distributed fintech products, onboarding and approachable copy matter as much as core functionality.
- Diagnostic work builds trust: a well-received report opened the door to a second scope.
- Sometimes the highest-leverage deliverable is helping a client hire the right person, not doing the work for them.