Melli

Melli is a startup company looking to make waves in the female health industry by creating an app targeting adolescent women to teach them the ins and outs of the female anatomy. 

Year
2022 - present

Type
App

Background

Melli is a startup company looking to make waves in the female health industry by creating an app targeting adolescent women to teach them the ins and outs of the female anatomy. 

This is an app that women would only need to download once for their lifetime. The app is targeted to help women learn more about women's health to prepare them in their teens which will allow them to advocate for their body during their lifetime.

The Data

Conducted two surveys which accounted for 300 people:

  1. Women with no children reflecting on their childhood

  2. Parents (both men and women) with a daughter reflecting on how they had “the talk”

Results:

  • 99% of women reflecting on their childhood said they did not feel prepared on how in depth womens health is

  • 85% of the women described they went undiagnosed for 10 - 30 years with various women’s health conditions 

  • 99% of women disclosed they did not feel comfortable having “the talk” with their parents because they did not know what to ask

  • 90% of women were learning about the female body from a sexual partner (90% male) or rumors in school

  • 2% of women thought their parents were successful in teaching them everything they needed to know in regards to women's health

  • 99% of parents said when they give “the talk” they only answer questions the child has

  • 60% of parents felt they did not know what to teach in regards to women's health

  • 90% of parents thought they were successful in “the talk” in regards to all women's health

Problem Statement:

Women are struggling to find accurate information about their health, particularly as they transition into adulthood. Lack of preparation and proactiveness from parents often leaves them unaware of key health issues, leading to undiagnosed conditions and delays in seeking care. This gap in education and resources prevents women from making informed decisions about their well-being.

Women are not prepared and this causes frustration, pain, and suffering for longer periods than needed while they learn

  • There is a gap between what parents believe how prepared their daughters are to how prepared the daughters actually are 

  • Parents only teach what they feel is necessary

Hypothesis:

Current Problems:

Introducing an app will allow women to have access to truthful information without the awkwardness of “the talk”. This will have information for all stages of life which will help prepare them on what to expect in regard to women’s related health topics.

Assumptions:

  1. Both women and their parents will actively use the app, engage with its features regularly, and trust the app as a reliable source of health information.

  2. By bridging the learning gap women will feel more comfortable and confident in regards to their body.

  3. Parents will feel more confident in “the talk” as they will have all the information to give to their daughter to make them confident.

Risks:

  1. The app might provide too much information, which could overwhelm users or lead to confusion, especially if the health topics are complex or nuanced. 

  2. Parents will not use the full functionality of the app to ready their daughters in regard to the information they need.

  3. Users might be hesitant to trust an app with sensitive health data, particularly if it collects personal information for tracking or providing personalized recommendations.

Mind Mapping & Collaboration

Solution & Requirements

Product Goal:

Develop an app that provides women and parents with the necessary information to make women feel prepared and confident in regard to their bodies. 

Functionality:

The main functionality of this app is for parents to approve the connect their daughters see to create a learning environment where women ultimately feel comfortable about their bodies. 

Requirements (MoSCoW):

Solution: Friendly content in an app for parents and daughters to see

Requirement 1: Account creation flow (Must Have)

Requirement 2: Login flow (Must Have)

Requirement 3: 3 content topics (sex, hygiene, periods) (Must Have)

Requirement 4: Home page (Must Have)

Requirement 5: Settings flow (Should Have)

Requirement 6: Category page (Should Have)

Requirement 7: Subcategory page (Should Have)

Requirement 8: Individual content page (Could Have)

Requirement 9: Free trial option (Won’t Have)

LoFi Mock Ups

Launch Timeline:

Each sprint should last about 4 weeks with meetings set up each week to determine progress. 

Sprint 1:

• Login  (Build)

• Account creation (Build)

• Billing (Mocks)

Sprint 2:

• Billing (Build)

• Homepage (Mocks)

Sprint 3:

• Homepage (Build)

•Categories (mock ups)

• Sub-categories (mock ups)

• Individual content pages (mock ups)

Sprint 4:

• Categories (Build)

• Sub-categories (Build)

• Individual content pages (Build)

Objectives & Key Results

Objective 1: Launch a user-friendly women’s health app that meets market needs

KR1: Complete MVP (Minimum Viable Product) development and launch within 6 months.

KR2: Acquire 5,000 downloads within the first 3 months of launch.

KR3:  Reach 500 active users (defined as users who engage with the app at least once a week) 3 months post launch.

Objective 3: Monetize the app while providing value to users

KR1: Launch premium subscription model within 6 months, with at least 10% of users converting to paid plans within 3 months of launch.

KR2: Achieve $X revenue from in-app purchases or subscriptions within the first 6 months post-launch.

KR3:  Collect feedback from at least 500 users on the pricing and feature offerings to refine the business model.

Objective 2: Build a strong user base and brand awareness by ensuring a seamless and engaging user experience

KR1: Achieve a user engagement rate of 60% (measured by daily active users to monthly active users ratio).

KR2: Establish partnerships with at least 3 women’s health influencers or organizations to help promote the app.

KR3:  Achieve a 90%+ user satisfaction rate for app navigation and ease of use.

Future Steps

  • Launch Beta

  • Gather and analyze download data

  • Launch survey to users to gather user data

  • Compare data to business goals

  • Continue to adapt and add to the app based on user needs and business goals

Retrospective

What went well?

Effective collaboration - In one portion of the project a brainstorming session was set up with 10 people. During this time I ran the meeting in which each user gave out their solutions then at the end we all voted on the best solution. This session was very productive as when there was disagreement we were able to bring it back together and discuss solutions rationally. In the end everyone was able to voice their opinion and the group was able to agree on the one solution. 

Key Takeaways

The key takeaway from this project is there is going to be a lot of opinions throughout the process and it will be the PM’s job to set expectations and keep the team aligned. The PM will always need to not only keep the business goals in mind but the user as well to ensure you release the best product/feature  that will help solve users problems and drive value to the overall business goals. 

Biggest Challenge

Time management was the biggest challenge during this project. Juggling a full time job in addition to coaching it was imperative to find time to knock out this project in full. In addition, one aspect that was challenging was creating a prototype that visually looked appealing without having all the fancy tools to make it look pretty.

Final Thoughts

This project tied everything together in regards to product management. From ideation to launch I conducted all the tasks a product manager would need complete within the product feature lifecycle which now gives me the confidence to take these skills to my new role. 

Interview Context

Currently working with the startup melli as their only product manager. They are an aspiring women's health care app that is looking to take women's health education in app form. As the sole PM I am working hand in hand with the CEO, developer, and ux designers to build the app from the ground up. Currently we have identified the problem and found the solution is to develop the app. I have developed the roadmap with the CEO and in current state we collectively meet once a week to discuss the ongoing tasks. This weekly meeting is a checking to see where the projects stand and where people are. Currently the sprints to get things down are about two weeks but changes based on people bandwidth for that week. As the PM I run most of those standup meetings to make sure we get the MVP out as soon as we can and to stay on task. Currently working on the login page but have assigned backlog in Jira to work though the entire app.