Raluca Radoi

Nick Jr.'s watch and learn app is an educational app designed for preschoolers that helps them learn through content videos and interacting games.

My role was to coordinate the development and testing team and ensure that the app was appropriate for the target group.

The challenge was to stress-test the app using different devices and screen resolutions and test responses to hectic interaction, closing, killing, and reopening.

As a product manager, I ensured an incredible, outstanding, and flawless experience for the demanding teenagers, as well as the product's wow element.

The most challenging thing was to find a technical solution that would allow users to play videos while browsing through the website, which no competitor had at that time, and manage content teams across nine countries to ensure meeting the deadline.

The promotion platform automatically offered bonuses to the users, either as cash in their wallet that could be used for specific bets or bonuses on specific games, based on several criteria.

The purpose of the automated bonus was to increase gamification, engagement, and spending while keeping a solid position in the market as an innovation leader.

The challenge in this project was syncing the stakeholders and teams to deliver the feature. In addition, we faced a few technical challenges related to the app’s performance and perfect sync between all components, wallets, and third-party integrations such as games providers with their wallet and bonus types.

As a result, we improved engagement and spending, especially in the games promoted through bonuses.

It started as a digital innovation project within LafargeHolcim, aiming to raise brand awareness across Romania's end-users who wanted to build their own houses.

The educational app with tips and tricks for each step of the house-building project came naturally after interviewing future house owners at hundreds of sites across the country. The next step was to find a monetization option that would help the project become a stand-alone, fast-growing business. After testing many ideas from customer exploration, the interior design industry proved to be the most promising one.

As the head of product, I created the entire product from scratch using design thinking and lean startup methodologies. The entire product was built iteratively, based on repeated tests and continuous learning. I proved the business model and product-market fit, attracted customers from zero to 100 per month for a mid-priced service in Romania, continuously improved conversion rates between 0 and 5%, and increased interior design service efficiency through process standardization and digitalization.

The idea to use AI in the interior design business came across when scaling up became obviously impossible with the existing team structure and business model. One of the major concerns was the time needed for a designer to finish an interior design project.

In terms of business and operation, our model could only work with volume and fast projects, which was impossible due to the personalized nature of the service and time needed for a designer to understand and create the project. The main pain points were helping the user decide about anything, from general style to color pallets and furniture, and reducing the designer's working time.

We built and created an interactive and progressive online quiz based on the deep learning models that the user can access anytime. The quiz narrows down the user style from generic styles to specific furniture pieces found in local stores. Starting from these pieces, the designer can create the project without spending months on discussions and conversations with the customer; and finish it in a maximum of two weeks. In the process, we have also identified other applications for the models proposed.