Milestone One

Introduction to Product Management

Product Management
A website and mobile application that connects home buyers with
sellers as well as renters with their landlords. The consumer can
negotiate and bid directly on vendor offering including houses for sale
and rent. The aim is to cut out real estate agents and their fees.

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Begin your initiative canvas
The problem/opportunity
A large portion of income and expenses is diverted
to real estate agents and their fees. Renters find it
difficult to access vacant properties due to REA
bias or discrimination and fees on rental
payments. Owners must pay the REA a large
chunk of the sale price as commission or rental
income as property management fees.
Business readiness
Following teams are included:
 Operations and Management: looking after
day-to-day delivery and performance of the
product
 Finance
 Marketing: promote product and offers to the
consumers
 Software Engineers and Delivery Managers:
develop and deliver the product
 Legal/Commercial: support any compliances
or any form of partnerships
The customer segment(s)/personas Possible solutions
affected A website that acts like eBay except focusing on
Property transactions of maximum $2 million housing only. The website is accompanied by an
(initially) by: app which would have all the functionality of the
 Property Buyers website.
 Landlords  Partner with similar companies such as eBay
 Renters  Partner with a bank such as Bendigo &
 Vendors Adelaide Bank
 Develop an app and website and market it on
social media such as Facebook
Value Cost/effort and time
There is no convenient P2P technology solution The cost of website and app development and at
which provides the method of directly least three months’ time to launch the website and
communicating between vendors/buyers and app.
landlords/renters. At present, the majority of  Hire external renowned software
property transactions are concluded with the help development / fintech firms (~$62/hr)
of real estate agents – who charge a percentage of  Hire employees or outsource staff to
the sale price as commission or property reputable labour hire companies
management fees.  Hire a team of service professionals
including lawyers, accountants to ensure we
operate under current legislation and
regulations.
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What kind of product do you need?
Answer these questions to help you define your product.
What is the business problem you hope to solve
with your product? Eliminate the need for a
“middleman” (real estate agent / buyer's agent) to
conclude a property transaction (buying/selling) or
(leasing/renting).
What is your product? If it’s an existing product,
what changes do you plan to make?
A website and app that acts like eBay for the
property market. It will be a completely new
product and will be modelled on Uber and Airbnb
which were innovations in the market.
Who is your end user? Anyone who registers on the
website to use the platform.
Who is your customer? Any party to a property
transaction who do not want to engage a real estate
agent.
What is the platform for your product?
Website and Mobile Application.
How will customers pay for it? Digitally –
Card/Apple Pay/ Google Pay. Subscription service.

If you plan to create a new product, why do you If it is an existing product, what stage is it at in the
want to create it? If it’s an existing product, why product life cycle?
was this product created? The product addresses an N/A – new product
unmet consumer need to avoid paying REA fees
(commission and property management fees) and to
avoid paying buyer's agent fees to buy property.

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Milestone Two
Where will your product fit?

Product Management
—
Define your value proposition
Fill out the value proposition canvas on the next page as per this template.

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Define your value proposition
Fill out the Customer Profile section and fill out the Value Map section in the space provided.
- No need to deal with real estate agents
- No costs incurred in commissions, buyer's
agent fees and fees for rental payments
- Faster transaction and settlement times - Securing the house with the
- Direct communication with vendor, landlord assistance of real estate agents
and less risk of miscommunication - Agents can guide us with the
- Easy guidance for regulations and legislation property prices
that may apply in each state - Provide exclusive viewing of
- Free market efficiency with full knowledge the house without running
- Negotiate purchase and of products, services, pricing by all - Search properties
around to get permissions from
sale of a property participants the owner online via
without a “middleman” - No underquoting or risk of overvaluation as - Real estate agents act as Point realestate.com or
such as a real estate homes can be compared with similar of contact between the buyer domain.com
agent offerings and the seller. - Engage real estate
- Negotiate a lease agents initially or if
without a real estate you are interested in
agent any property
- Associated transactions - Delayed communications - Give percentage
such as conveyancing - No chance of poor customer service and agents Underquoting share of the sale
and building and pest experience with real estate agents - Agents not performing due price to the real
inspections can be bid - No risk of privacy breach with end-to-end diligence in sale, property estate agent
upon encryption of all communication management
- Subscription services - Less paperwork from new transactions - Lack of centralised source
with a different real estate agent each time of truth with regards to
as paperwork completed upon sign up market participants
- No hunting around for conveyancers, - Had to compare like for
building and pest inspectors, settlement like services and products
agents
- Savings on commissions, fees, printing,
scanning, manual paperwork

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Milestone Three
What’s the market like?

Product Management
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Competitor analysis framework
Realestate.com.au Domain.com.au SaleByHomeOwner.com.au

Product quality Very Highly rated by Canstar Blue Highly Rated by Canstar Blue Not Rated

Price No charge No Charge Different pricing packages available

Target market National National National

Strengths Brand recognition Brand recognition First entrant into the market

Weaknesses No chat facilities No chat facilities No app

Market strategy Reliant on fees from listings by Reliant on fees from listings by Reliant on website only where pricing
customers (real estate agents or customers (real estate agents or packages are listed
private listings) private listings)

Market share ~4.3 million unique visitors in a ~3.1 million unique visitors in a No reliant data available
month (website) month (website)

Threat level Medium Medium Medium

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Competitor analysis framework
Answer the questions below.

Who is your major competitor? Out of the three competitors mentioned in the previous slide, SaleByHomeOwner.com.au is
the major competitor.
Are they a threat to your product? A: They are a threat as they are an existing service provider.
Are there any weaknesses that you could capitalise on? A: Yes, SaleByHomeOwner.com.au do not seem to have instant
messenger capabilities. They do not emphasize that lease/rental transactions can also take place on the website. They do
not have an app and do not appear to spend any money on marketing or search engine optimization making them difficult
to find.
How does your product stand in relation to your competitor’s strategy? A: My product is available on the traditional
desktop as well as on mobile devices which are ubiquitous. Instant messenger capabilities can allow buyers and sellers
(and/or renters) to initiate the conversation. The competitor provides various level of packages where functionality is
excluded at the cheaper end. However, our product provides all capabilities and all features with a subscription fee, and is
thus better value for money,

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Go-to-market strategy
Outline and analyse the three factors that influence your strategy:

Customers
A: My customers should be able to save thousands in real estate/buyer’s agent fees when selling/buying or leasing/renting a
property. That is a great value proposition, and my product can act as a clearing house for all property transactions with
better price discovery and eliminate price manipulation that currently occurs in underquoting by REAs. The initial customer
segment targeted will be properties priced up to maximum $2 million – as the average price of a 4-bedroom property in
Sydney is ~$1.4 million (Source: Domain)

Vision
A: To provide a service that eliminates the need for engaging a real estate or buyer’s agent to buy/sell or rent/lease
properties.

Competition
A: The closest competitor, SaleByHomeOwner.com.au, is not very well known and does not spend money on advertisement,
search engine optimisation and digital marketing. Not many customers have used their service, and hence there aren’t many
online reviews for new potential customers to refer to. They also only provide their service via a website; hence they are
missing out on opportunities to reach potential new customers who prefer using mobile apps compared to a web browser.
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Your second initiative canvas
The problem/opportunity
A large portion of income and expenses is diverted
to real estate agents and their fees. Renters find it
difficult to access vacant properties due to REA
bias or discrimination and fees on rental
payments. Owners must pay the REA a large
chunk of the sale price as commission or rental
income as property management fees.
Business readiness
Following teams are included:
 Operations and Management: looking after
day-to-day delivery and performance of the
product
 Finance
 Marketing: promote product and offers to the
consumers via Facebook
 Software Engineers and Delivery Managers:
develop and deliver the product
 Legal/Commercial: support any compliances
or any form of partnerships with Facebook
The customer segment(s)/personas
affected
Property transactions of maximum $2 million
(initially) by:
 Property Buyers
 Landlords
 Renters
 Vendors
Value
There is no convenient method of directly
communicating with vendors/buyers,
landlords/renters. At present, the majority of
property transactions are concluded with the help
of real estate agents – unnecessary middlemen.
The Facebook platform has internal settings
where you can choose who can access the page by
geographical location, and also has built-in
instantaneous communication tool via its
Messenger app – thus allowing buyers and sellers
(and renters) to easily communicate.
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Possible solutions
Having a Facebook business page which allows
buyers and sellers to upload/post once they are
subscribed to the service. This requires very little
investment into app or website development,
while allowing to reach a vast majority of
potential customers.
Cost/effort and time
 Minimum cost for website and app as these
have already been built by the social media
platform.
 Initially hire two Social Media Experts for
Facebook page upkeep and maintenance at
$25.38/hr which is ~$65K/year per person.
(Average salary of social media experts in
Australia. Source: Seek.com)
 Ensure the business meets Facebook guidelines
and rules
 Potential use of Facebook ads for Marketing
purposes.
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Your third initiative canvas
The problem/opportunity
A large portion of income and expenses is diverted
to real estate agents and their fees. Renters find it
difficult to access vacant properties due to REA
bias or discrimination and fees on rental
payments. Owners must pay the REA a large
chunk of the sale price as commission or rental
income as property management fees.
Business readiness
Following teams are included:
 Operations and Management: looking after
day-to-day delivery and performance of the
product
 Finance
 CRM and Chat Software, integrate with a
chat and customer records management
software such as Zendesk
 Legal/Commercial: ensure all local, state and
federal legislation is followed and adhered to.
The customer segment(s)/personas
affected
Property transactions of maximum $2 million
(initially) by:
 Property Buyers
 Landlords
 Renters
 Vendors
Value
There is no convenient method of directly
communicating with vendors/buyers,
landlords/renters. At present, the majority of
property transactions are concluded with the help
of real estate agents – unnecessary middlemen.
The Shopify platform makes it easy to deploy a
solution where marketing, payments, security are
all taken of by the Shopify platform and is also
flexible to integrate with existing chat and
customer records management software providers
like Zendesk.
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Possible solutions
Use an e-commerce platform like Shopify to
create and run the business online with added
benefit of not having to worry about the
maintenance of software, collecting payments and
marketing.
Cost/effort and time
 Minimum cost for website as it is built using
templates on Shopify
 Initially hire one Social Media Expert for
Shopify page upkeep and maintenance at
$25.38/hr which is ~$65K/year per person.
(Average salary of social media experts in
Australia. Source: Seek.com)
 Ensure the business meets regulatory
guidelines and rules
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Milestone Four
Planning your product idea

Product Management
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Create a prioritisation framework

Why did you choose this canvas/framework?

Building a dedicated
Answer: Effort/Value Prioritization is a simple matrix model to
app and website
prioritise ideas based on the variables of:
Facebook Page Effort – How much time will it take for you to develop/build the
solution
Value – How much value will the idea bring to the business.
This framework was selected as we have multiple solutions to
our problem to start a website and enable direct communication
Shopify Page with Zendesk integration between parties.

• The FB page can be created for free, and FB has instant

messaging built in on the platform and is thus the highest
value with least effort in our model.
• The Shopify Page is also good value but needs integration
with other software providers thus requiring a little more
effort than the FB page.
• Building our own website and app will have the most impact
but it means a lot of time and effort to get up and running
compared to the other initiative canvas’. Hence, we will go
with the first initiative canvas – building a dedicated app and
website.

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Create a product roadmap (Jira)

MVP Scope

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Milestone Five
Developing your product idea

Product Management
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Define and discuss your success metrics
1. Select four metrics that will give an accurate picture of the
success of your product.
• Alexa webpage rankings
• Google Analytics data
• Google Play and Apple Store App downloads
• Satisfaction surveys
2.Explain why you picked these metrics.
Alexa website rankings will indicate the popularity of the
website. Google Analytics data will indicate the search terms,
hyperlink navigation and time spent on the website
Google Play store and Apple Store application downloads will
indicate the popularity of the app. Surveys filled out by buyers,
sellers and renters will indicate their satisfaction with the
product.
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3. Describe how you plan to capture the data they will provide.
I will regularly monitor Alexa page rankings to see how my
website is increasing in rank and how regularly it is accessed.
Data regarding the apps and volume of downloads are available
in Apple’s App store connect and for the Google Play store on
Google console. I will use NPS surveys sent out to customers
following the conclusion of a property transaction.
4. Reflect on how you might use the feedback they will provide.
I will use the NPS survey feedback to identify and eliminate
customer pain points with the goal of improving user experience.
I can use the Google Analytics data to improve search engine
optimization (SEO) and improve visibility of my website in
search results. App download statistics can indicate the
popularity of my app and the uptake in app usage.
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Create your development sprint

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Reflect on your development sprint
1. How was your overall experience selecting items for your I would focus more on MVP as that would cut down
sprint? the number of items that I would need to include in
It was a challenge to choose only the items that would my EPICs and Issues.
address the vision directly for the first sprint. I realised I had
to create new issues in the sprint, which I didn't think about
previously. Such as I added new issues (under EPICs that I
created previously) regarding research and knowledge
acquiring for some EPICs.

2. What did you find challenging?

It was difficult for me to drop items for the MVP that I really
wanted to add because the points would have exceeded 16
points.

3. What would you do differently next time?

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Milestone Six
Managing your product development

Product Management
—
Introduce your design sprint
Show us your design sprint; attach your document below.

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Milestone Seven
Launch and beyond

Product Management
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Reflect on your progress
Write a reflection on your growth and achievements in product management over the last 7 weeks. Answer the following
questions.

1. Which solution did you decide to develop? Why did final product decisions? Are you still confident they
you choose that one? Would you still select that option will give you the right results? Your response here:
if you could re-do the process? Why? Your response
here:
5. What other observations did you make about the
process? Your response here:
2. What did you learn about your competitors, and the
market, during your competitor analysis? Your response
here: 6. What challenges did you face? Your response here:

3. What features did you decide upon for your MVP? 7. What will you do differently next time plan and
How did you decide on them? Your response here: develop a product? Your response here:

4. How did your initial success metrics line up with your

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The Final Project
Finalising your project

Product Management