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Fintech Venture From Insight to PMF

Vela started as an idea on a whiteboard and became a venture-backed fintech product with traction and a CEO hired to scale. I led the journey from ethnographic research with lenders and borrowers to prototyping solutions that eliminated the #1 friction in commercial lending: manual document collection. Along the way, I built the brand, GTM system, and campaign assets including the narrative “Hunt deals, not docs.” The result was product–market fit, enterprise pilots, a scalable marketing playbook, and leadership in place for growth.
Categories
Financial Services
image of office building (for a digital marketing & advertising agency)
Role
Founding GTM + Product Marketing Lead, PM | Internal Leader at Venture Studio
Client
Gitwit
Year
2023
Status
Completed

Problem

Commercial lending was slowed by ad-hoc, manual document collection. The friction wasted time for loan officers, stalled borrower onboarding, and increased churn and default risk.

  • Loan officers handled 30–40% fewer loans due to document inefficiencies
  • Assistants required 3–6 months to onboard, delaying productivity
  • Borrowers dropped out from poor onboarding experiences
  • Banks faced slower growth and higher risk exposure

Actions

I led the discovery-to-PMF journey and built the systems for scale.

  • Conducted 70+ hours of ethnographic research with loan officers, assistants, and borrowers
  • Mapped productivity, sales, and churn impacts to size the opportunity
  • Facilitated hackathon sprints with design and engineering teams to test workflows
  • Aligned solution on borrower experience + lender efficiency as dual value drivers
  • Created brand identity, GTM system, and positioning “Hunt deals, not docs”
  • Built campaigns, onboarding templates, and collateral for early pilots
  • Recruited and onboarded a CEO to lead Vela post-PMF

‍

Results

Vela went from raw problem to validated product–market fit in under a year.

  • Identified and solved the top adoption barrier in commercial lending
  • Launched a differentiated brand and resonant narrative
  • Secured first enterprise pilots with regional banks
  • Established a scalable GTM system and campaign engine
  • Transitioned leadership with a CEO hire to scale growth

Impact

The project proved that a fintech startup could be built from ethnographic insight through to PMF within a venture studio model.

  • Eliminated a core bottleneck in commercial lending workflows
  • Positioned Vela as a modern platform for lenders and borrowers
  • Built both the product story and the operating system to scale
  • Validated the venture’s credibility with investors and leadership hires

Metrics

  • 70+ hours of ethnographic research conducted
  • 30–40% fewer loans processed due to manual doc collection (problem baseline)
  • Reduced assistant onboarding time from 3–6 months to weeks (projected impact)
  • First enterprise pilots initiated with regional banks
  • Thousands of impressions validating messaging resonance in campaigns
  • CEO recruited and onboarded post-PMF

    • Additional Resources

    image of game development process (for a mobile gaming) - collaborative team meeting
    image of game development process (for a mobile gaming) - collaborative team meeting
    image of game development process (for a mobile gaming) - collaborative team meeting
    image of game development process (for a mobile gaming) - collaborative team meeting
    image of game development process (for a mobile gaming) - collaborative team meeting
    image of game development process (for a mobile gaming) - collaborative team meeting
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