Case Study: Building the MVP Roadmap for Zero — A Sustainable Fintech Bank
Background
Zero is a purpose-driven fintech startup with the mission of “healing the planet using the power of your money.” The goal was to reinvent digital banking for a generation that prioritises sustainability. I was tasked with leading the design and strategy process to define and deliver a clear Minimum Viable Product (MVP) roadmap — balancing business goals, user needs, and technical feasibility.
The Challenge
Zero aimed to go to market quickly with a product that validated its unique proposition: a green digital bank experience. Key challenges included defining an MVP scope that delivers meaningful value to users, balancing sustainability features with core banking functionalities, aligning product, design, and engineering priorities in an agile, scalable way, and ensuring a phased approach to transition from e-money provider to a fully licensed bank.
My Approach: Strategic Roadmapping
Vision & Alignment
I defined the product vision and mission to serve as guiding principles. This involved mapping business goals (user acquisition, brand differentiation) to OKRs and KPIs. The roadmap was established as a tool for alignment between Product, Design, and Engineering teams to ensure everyone was working toward the same objectives.
Double Diamond Process
I applied the Double Diamond approach to ensure we were solving the right problems. The Discover phase involved customer research, ethnographic studies, competitor benchmarking, and tech readiness analysis. During the Define phase, we prioritised features based on user impact, business value, and technical feasibility. The Develop & Deliver phases were structured as phased releases to deliver incremental value while building towards a scalable banking platform.
MVP Roadmap & Phased Delivery
We structured the roadmap into four distinct phases. Phase 1 focused on the Pre-bank MVP with an E-money provider and green products. Phase 2 involved full bank architecture migration and building scalable infrastructure. Phase 3 concentrated on Bank V1 feature build-out. Phase 4 focused on Bank V2, introducing new banking products and preparing for FCA & PRA licensing.
Feature Prioritisation
Using an Effort vs Impact matrix and Uniqueness analysis, we prioritised features effectively. Core banking functions included onboarding, KYC, transaction feeds, cards, and notifications. Unique green features encompassed carbon footprint analysis, green rewards, customer share scheme, and carbon projects. We deliberately deprioritised lower-impact or high-effort features for future releases to maintain focus on delivering a compelling MVP.
Data-Driven & Customer-First Approach
We integrated data tools like Mixpanel and Amplitude for tracking user engagement and impact. Establishing feedback loops through user testing, continuous discovery, and analytics helped validate assumptions and inform iterations. This approach ensured we were always building based on real user needs and behaviors.
Resulta and next steps
The project delivered a clear, phased MVP roadmap aligned to Zero's vision and business objectives. We successfully balanced sustainability differentiators with core banking features to create a viable, compelling first release. The process fostered cross-functional collaboration and alignment across Product, Design, and Engineering teams. We set up scalable processes for future growth, regulatory compliance, and product expansion, enabling Zero to accelerate go-to-market with confidence in product-market fit and technical readiness.
OKRs, KPIS & delivery sprint planning
I met with the leadership team to align on the quarterly OKRs, ensuring our objectives were clear and measurable. We then defined product and design KPIs to track progress and impact, focusing on user engagement and feature adoption. Afterward, I gathered my team to break down the OKRs into actionable sprint tasks, collaboratively mapping them out and assigning ownership. We added these tasks to a delivery roadmap, setting clear timelines and dependencies to keep us on track.
Summary
Creating Zero's product roadmap was not just a planning exercise — it was a strategic collaboration to ensure the startup's values translated into tangible user experiences. By combining customer insights, strategic prioritisation, and agile principles, we built a roadmap that was both visionary and executable.
TLDR:
I led the creation of Zero's MVP product roadmap — aligning business goals, user needs, and technical feasibility into a phased delivery plan, balancing core banking functionality with unique green differentiators to accelerate go-to-market and drive meaningful impact.