Welcome to another exciting episode of Yellow Insight! Today, we’re having an open discussion between the team and Protik about his product development journey. Get ready to learn, relearn, and unlearn with us!
His Journey is a testament to the power of combining technical prowess with a deep understanding of user needs. By following a well-defined product development process, he has consistently delivered successful products that meet the evolving demands of the market.
We learned important things to know about product development, from ideation to launch, and how to navigate the challenges that arise along the way.
Protik Roychowdhury: A Product Development Visionary
Meet Protik, a seasoned product leader with a stellar track record in both high-growth startups and well-established brands. Currently serving as the VP of Intellect, a cutting-edge mental health startup in Singapore, Protik boasts over 12 years of expertise in building and scaling B2C, B2B SaaS, and logistics.
His professional journey began as a consultant and swiftly evolved into a co-founder role. Protik’s foray into product management commenced with Bhaalu and further flourished at Exotel Techcom Private Limited. Since then, he has consistently delivered remarkable results in product development.
Protik has held several important product roles at OLA in India, Fabelio in Indonesia, and Grab in Singapore. In Indonesia, he focused on developing strategic roadmaps and product strategies for Fabelio. At Grab, he tackled complex driver and consumer experience challenges, focusing on engagement and retention.
Protik envisions a world where mental health discussions should be normalized. Based on this premise, he joined Intellect and took their mission as his project. If you come across the design or content at Intellect, you best believe it was spearheaded and coordinated by Protik. He is committed to ensuring that technology is seamlessly intertwined with a human touch to change behaviours and make mental health care more accessible and empathetic.
With his extensive experience scaling startups and deep understanding of user-centric product development, he got series A funding for Intellect in just three years of operation. Intellect has over 3 million users in over 15 languages; we can only imagine the hard work he has put into making Intellect the mental health start-up we know today.
His experience has made him flexible enough to adapt to any business environment, strategy, or challenge, making him a versatile product leader.
Intellect: Making Mental Health Care Accessible
Accessibility is an important concept in product development, and while Protik believes in it, it means something different to them in terms of intellect. Accessibility means making mental health care and information accessible to everyone who needs it.
Protik’s personal experience and those around him made him realise how important mental health is. Intellect was an A Series company at that time, so it just made sense for him to be a part of their journey.
In early 2022, they already had about 3 million downloads, which meant it was gaining popularity, probably due to the post-pandemic effect. However, revenue was not coming forth, which reflects how we see mental health as a society.
The stigma associated with mental health is still very high in Asia and even in America. Apart from the stigma, the cost of getting mental health care is very expensive. It would cost about $300 for a base session, which a large percentage of the target market won’t be able to afford.
They had to scale, make an impact and maintain a steady source of revenue, but how?
So, the big decision came in. They had to shift from a B2C to a B2B brand. They took advantage of the Employee Assistant Programme (EAP). They could offer their services to the audience while still earning revenue. Their venture into B2B helped to shift Intellect from a self-care app to a virtual Mental health and Psychological professional service.
Scaling a product without Bloating
Protik mentions that it is easy to get caught up in trying to ensure the availability of all the features and big ideas that will be useful for the users. So, we stuff the app or website without giving the users space to digest the information properly.
So, his trick is to hold quarterly meetings to discuss the necessary and unnecessary features. This keeps his team in check with the actual solution they started with. For intellect, it is important that they keep the app very personal to the user, and so should your solution!
So, how do you scale while keeping your product as personalized as possible?
Protik explained that a personalized user journey stems from understanding user needs and using data insights to guide them through their journey. This has been their core principle and has helped them scale intellect in the last two years.
That was all he had for us; it was so succinct and straight to the point!
The session did not end there, as our designers had questions about the story of Protik and Intellect. This is the part Protik has been excited about, and we made sure to make it a blast.
Question and Answer
Kishor: Most of us here are designers and would love to pursue product development. Can you give us insight on how you got started? Did you engage in some self-learning, or did you go to school for it? Also, can you give our designers some insight to help them on their journey?
Protik: So let me start with a caveat: My personal journey might not work for everyone. I learned early enough that it is better to fail than not to try. This has brought me to see success in product and design as iteration.
You might have a big, crazy idea that would be a big hit, but then you must implement it to know how it will work. That first step is super important to determine if your idea won’t have an aftereffect.
Then I had a good support system—mentors who gave me the freedom to take a step no matter how good or bad it seemed, as long as I found a way to recover from the bad decision and iterate. Their assurance and support were very important, and I think every designer should also have a support system.
Empathy is another important ingredient in my journey, as is any insight I would give people. I know empathy seems like a buzzword, but beyond the buzz, you have to immerse yourself in your users’ typical lives to empathize with them. At any product review, I always ask how we can make this easier because there is always a way to do that.
Priya: I found your journey very interesting, especially how you moved from India to Indonesia and Singapore. I want to understand what made you want to do product management in different countries and if there is any difference from India. Secondly, is there any framework that one should look out for a successful product launch or a roadmap we should follow?
Protik: My journey has been interesting. When my startup was acquired, I found myself unemployable because I was doing many things, so I could not specialize in one aspect of managing a product. This became a problem in my first Job because everything I was doing belonged to someone else. I was already used to doing everything as I did in my startup.
Thankfully, they allowed me to explore different things, from sales to support. This made me realize that I loved building stuff and scaling from scratch so I picked product management.
When I joined Ola, they had already scaled, so I knew I had to leave again to join Fabello in Indonesia. I feel comfortable with more small setups. Also, their problem statement was quite fascinating to me. Logistics was mainly a problem alongside inventory management and warehousing. Then, I moved to Grab because the offer was too difficult.
The difference between India and Singapore is the opportunity to work with different nationalities, which gives different approaches to work. Singapore is a small country, so it uses a multinational system to deliver the best output.
On the other hand, India is an enormous country with almost every resource at their beck and call, so Indians would instead operate within India and try to see how other countries are doing their thing.
Anthony: How much are product managers and designers involved in this process?
Protik: I’ll answer this from my experience with Intellect and Grab. Intellect was a small company, so decisions were more centralized and revenue-focused. Designers and product managers might not have a lot of say in certain decisions, but they are very involved in the process.
With Grab, it was a bit different. We had negative reviews, and I led the product managers, so I had to step in. It was a new business strategy that would cost some investment. In bigger companies, PMs and designers can be involved and usually should be involved because they are the people who start with the facts to say what should be done.
So, it depends on the size of the company and the proposal you are pushing for their involvement.
