SpendHQ

Narain Bala, serving as Principal Product Manager at SpendHQ in Atlanta, Georgia from 2021 to 2023, developed and managed the end-to-end Product Practice with a focus on incorporating the voice of the customer, driving user engagement through comprehensive customer research, experimentation, and a commitment to tangible outcomes. He created and executed detailed product roadmaps, collaborating with cross-functional teams, including Engineering, Sales, Design, Operations, and Data Science, which generated over $14 million in revenue within 1.5 years. Bala set strategic directions and defined OKRs aimed at increasing user engagement and visit frequency, resulting in a 133% increase in NPS scores, a 125% rise in product stickiness, and a 50% boost in average time spent on site.

Bala also established and managed SpendHQ’s customer research and feedback processes, emphasizing innovation driven by data, customer interviews, in-app messaging, and A/B testing experiments, which led to a 900% increase in user interaction with the app. He oversaw the Go to Market strategy for all product launches, working with Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success teams to create awareness of new capabilities and set optimal pricing strategies. Additionally, Bala designed and led UX initiatives for the product, including the creation of design rules, user personas, frictionless user journeys, empathy maps, and continuous communication with users for design feedback.

Narain Bala significantly contributed to the development of SpendHQ, a spend intelligence dashboard web app for Fortune 500 companies, by integrating AI for data re-categorization and renaming, providing companies with clear expenditure insights. Collaborating with major clients like Pepsi and Under Armour, Bala and the product owner gathered crucial feedback to refine the product. They also established four main user personas to represent financial analysts with varying technical skills, ensuring the product met diverse user needs.

Bala introduced the 'Insights' module, which delivers critical analysis directly to users, eliminating the need for manual searches and providing valuable information efficiently. This module significantly enhanced user experience by offering immediate, actionable data. Additionally, he launched the 'Watchlists' feature, which tracks customer spending and alerts users when predefined thresholds are surpassed, helping them stay informed and in control of their financial activities. This feature underscored Bala's commitment to user-centric innovations.

With no existing analytics tools, Bala selected and integrated HotJar and Pendo for comprehensive user behavior tracking, providing insights through heatmaps, recordings, surveys, and key metrics. Introducing FigJam facilitated real-time mapping of user flows, enhancing collaboration with stakeholders and developers, and reducing revision times.