Lovely Direct

WHAT:

Lovely is a rental marketplace for landlords and renters to connect. I joined the team to help build the first fully automated, technology-driven, end-to-end leasing solution called Lovely Direct. Our product aimed to make renting and leasing more transparent, secure, efficient, and well, more lovely. San Francisco was our test market, which meant we were building and testing a completely innovative product in one of the most competitive rental markets in the country. We figured, if we could build a solution that worked for the SF marketplace we’d both innovate and stress test at the same time, making for a scalable product that could be effectively rolled out to markets globally.

MY ROLE:

Senior Lead: Product Operations & User Experience

CONTRIBUTION:

As a first hire on the Lovely Direct team, I led product operations and was the main point of contact with our users. My work tested our product hypothesis, and the data I collected and synthesized for our product team shaped our roadmap, features, and user experience from start to finish. At the same time, I built the infrastructure to ensure a people-first approach to our product operations and logistics, as well as a seamless rollout of the automation tools built and released during each phase and new feature of our MVP.

LEARNING:

I love working with people, and my role at Lovely showed how my innate empathetic abilities and astute perceptive nature translate into insights that center people at the forefront of every product decision. This was an asset in creating a personable user experience for people navigating an inherently stressful process (apartment renting in SF is no joke!). In addition, while I was leading operations, interfacing with customers, and building a contractor team, I was most energized by my time spent working on product and content. A large part of my role was to advocate for users and act as a proxy to improve their experience while using our product. I collected exhaustive user feedback and research then turned that data into actionable feedback for our product team, including insights that shaped content throughout the product. My insights helped us quickly find product-market fit, and I advised on over 12 product features to build our MVP into a fully-featured product that delivered such a delightful user experience it earned an NPS of 20+.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

Lovely was the technology-focused innovation group within RentPath, a TPG Capital-backed rental listing provider. Lovely Direct, the innovation project I helped initiate and build, realized early success and exponential growth, including partnerships with the San Francisco Apartment Association (SFAA) and 12 of SF's largest property management firms. However, a successful proof of concept and product framework was all that was needed from our innovation team. Ultimately, RentPath (read: TPG) chose to close the Lovely office in San Francisco and consolidate all teams to its Atlanta, GA offices in March 2016. The Lovely Direct product flows and user experience framework was then incorporated into the larger RentPath product to completely innovate and update what was previously a print-stand-focused catalog business.

As my time at Lovely came to a close, I knew I wanted to continue working in a role that needed me closely connected with people, integrally involved in shaping user experience, and continued building on my interest in content strategy. This is why I next accepted a position at Sakara Life, where I opened a new market, helped shape our product to serve the new customer base, and led content writing and strategy for the region.