Equipped

Product Overview

Equipped is a game-changing platform for on-the-go equipment rentals. Forget the frustration of leaving your gear behind or debating whether to buy equipment for one-time use. Equipped's strategically placed lockers in parks offer affordable rentals with a simple process.

Scan the locker's QR code and register with a secure SMS OTP. Through the user-friendly web application, you have complete control over the locker, selecting from a range of equipment like footballs, tennis sets, frisbees, and more.

Stay in the loop with real-time rental status tracking and with Equipped, you can fully enjoy your outdoor activities without the worry. No more regrets about forgetting your equipment or unnecessary expenses. Discover a seamless and affordable solution with Equipped's convenient lockers, empowering you to make the most of every adventure.

Key Metrics

• Product team designed, developed and launched two web applications in 4 months

• Accrued 12,000+ unique visits within 3 months of launch

• Expanded to 6 locations in a year

My Role as Equipped’s Product Manager

Working directly with Equipped’s CTO, I led the product from ideation to Minimum Viable Product (MVP) launch and through post MVP iterations. I was the bridge between Equipped’s team and our product team at Hyperspace; I drove product vision and translated Equipped’s business objectives into achievable, technical sprints. Along with my PM hat, I also wore the hats of a business consultant, a UI designer and a QA tester throughout the product cycle.

At the ideation phase, the founders briefed us on Equipped’s target customers and hardware and together, we brainstormed on how to best bring Equipped to the market. Taking into account of customer segments and their motivations, I outlined the architectural structural and the third party tools that are needed to bring the product to life (i.e. AWS, Stripe, Twilio, Particle IoT etc.). I hosted discovery sessions, presented wireframes and prototypes, and aligned all stakeholders on the decision to build two web applications:

• Management Console Web Application for the Equipped team to manage each locker, add/edit/remove products, assist with issues remotely and track user history

• Customer-facing Web application for users to rent products on demand

Throughout the product cycle, I hosted daily stand-up meetings with my engineering team to discuss progress, answer questions (i.e. user flows) and eliminate any road blocks they may have. I often utilized my interest in UI/UX design to develop wireframes to quickly help engineers fill in knowledge gaps.

Additionally, I held bi-weekly calls with Equipped’s CTO for updates and brainstorming sessions. Some of my favorite features we’ve worked on are post-MVP’s quick iterations to test product-market fit. Through collecting user data, I ideated features, performed risk analysis and proposed solutions to the CTO. A few of the crucial features I worked on were: a) promo code b) Apple pay integration and c) subscription model.

Equipped was my first IoT project and introduced me to the complex world of hardware-software integration. The collaboration with Equipped’s CTO also constantly pushed me to advance my knowledge in order to help Equipped grow quickly with limited resources. Unfortunately, Equipped’s growth was halted by COVID mid-2020: a business model that heavily depended on social interactions was crumbled by strict lockdowns nationwide.

Key Takeaway

Utilizing analytics and small research groups can effectively enhance user experiences

Working with startup founders, I learned that it’s crucial to actively track user engagement to understand how we can better serve our users. Using Google Analytics, we identified a drop-off rate of 57% before users convert; to understand this, I conducted a small research group to better identify where in the customer’s journey are users getting lost and why?

The participants were asked to navigate through the website while I observed how they interacted with the site. I mainly found that a) users were frustrated with the number of steps prior to starting the rental and b) they were confused about when they will be charged. The following changes I proposed reduced the drop rate by 5% and users were advancing further than before:

Reduce the number of clicks of user flow to conversion

• Returning customers should have last-used card selected by default

• Take user to next page directly after correct OTP is entered; no extra clicks required

Redesign locker and checkout pages to emphasize value

• Emphasize wording for grace period to highlight free trial

• Reverse pricing and description labels & update font styling on the locker page

Increase clarity of rental process

• Improve progress bar to help users identify when paid rental period begins

• Accentuate call to action on product page, such as “Select the item below you want to rent” or “Tap any item below to get started”