Episode 196: The Affirm Card: Transforming Payment Flexibility with Vishal Kapoor

In this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, Vishal Kapoor, Senior Vice President of Product at Affirm, joins Melissa Perri to dive into the intricacies of building and scaling products in the fintech space. Vishal shares his journey through 15+ years of product management. The episode offers deep insight into not just what Affirm is up to, but into the very bones of the culture that drives their product development. For instance, Vishal lets us in on how the company balances customer-centric innovation with the complex regulations of the financial sector. Tune in to learn how Affirm is shaping the future of fintech and get practical advice for building adaptable product strategies in complex industries.

The conversation covers Affirm's strategic approach to launching its new Affirm card, emphasizing the importance of real-time feedback loops, data-driven decision-making, and prioritizing customer experience. Vishal also highlights how the company uses experimentation platforms to test new features with minimal lift for its merchant partners and explores the art of balancing long-term roadmaps with agile responses to customer needs.

Melissa and Vishal also get into the important topic of how product managers can cultivate strong cross-functional partnerships, especially with legal and compliance teams, to navigate industry regulations while maintaining innovation.

Tune in to learn how Affirm is shaping the future of fintech and get practical advice for building adaptable product strategies in complex industries.

You’ll hear us talk about:

12:18 - Iterative, Fast-Paced Product Culture at Affirm

In discussing the go-no-go decision-making process, Vishal reveals Affirm’s product culture, which thrives on fast-paced iteration. The company introduced the digital card as a beta product, learned from its success, and evolved the offering into a physical card. This iterative approach ensures constant feedback loops with customers and allows the product to evolve quickly based on real-world data. Vishal stresses the importance of identifying the right problems and empowering teams to run at the solution space with speed and precision.

23:54 - The Go-No-Go Process: Ensuring Readiness for Big Launches

Here, Vishal describes the meticulous process Affirm follows before launching major products. Returning to the topic of the "go-no-go" meetings, Vishal explains this process in greater detail – these are meetings held before the launch of a major product. In them, all aspects of the product, from quality to customer support readiness, are evaluated against pre-established exit criteria. This process ensures that all necessary conditions are met before launch, even if it requires delays to maintain high customer experience standards.

38:11 - Compliance as a Collaborative Partner, Not a Barrier

When discussing the challenges of compliance in fintech, Vishal describes how Affirm integrates legal and compliance teams into the product development process. Rather than seeing these functions as roadblocks, Affirm treats them as collaborative partners. This proactive approach ensures that compliance considerations are factored into product decisions from the start, preventing delays and fostering innovation within regulatory boundaries.

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Previous guests include: Shruti Patel of US Bank, Steve Wilson of Contrast Security, Bethany Lyons of KAWA Analytics, Tanya Johnson Chief Product Officer at Auror, Tom Eisenmann of Harvard Business School, Stephanie Leue of Doodle, Jason Fried of 37signals, Hubert Palan of Productboard, Blake Samic of Stripe and Uber, Quincy Hunte of Amazon Web Services

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