Circles Financial System: Innovating On Decentralized Finance
Saraswathi Subbaraman
Problem
Despite its resonance across cultures and the backing of influential figures, UBI faces significant hurdles in policy and international collaboration. As Head of Product, I address the widespread interest in Universal Basic Income (UBI) and its sluggish adoption by governments worldwide. My role is to lead a team in designing and developing a technological solution, and implement a blockchain-based basic income.
Solution
A complementary money system called Circles, based on individualized cryptocurrencies and a social graph of trust between these currencies. Our money system was made to distribute money in a way that can, over time, lead to greater access to wealth while functioning like a globally accessible Universal Basic Income.
My Role
As Head of Product for Circles UBI, I was crucial in facilitating and executing the design of our platform, as well as overseeing the development, enhancement, and overall success of the Circles Wallet.
- Product Vision and Strategy:
- Developed and communicated a clear vision for Circles, aligned with our company's mission.
- Formulated a product strategy for a local, decentralized Basic Income distribution.
- Design Facilitation and Presentation:
- Facilitated design workshops to move forward and iterate on product features, as well as regular collaborative sessions to gather insights and ideas.
- Presented progress and held feedback sessions with the core design team, dev team, and larger team.
- Attended relevant events to form partnerships and present our research and progress.
- Market Research and User Feedback:
- Stayed updated on industry trends, blockchain tech, and economic theory.
- Analyzed user feedback to understand needs and expectations for product development.
- Feature Prioritization:
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to prioritize features based on user impact and strategic goals.
- Balanced short-term and long-term priorities, considering blockchain evolution.
- Product Development and Roadmap:
- Worked closely with the development team to define, plan, and execute the product roadmap.
- Ensured timely delivery of features while maintaining a balance of quality and speed.
- User Experience (UX) and Design:
- Collaborated with UX designers to create a seamless, user-friendly Circles experience.
- Iterated designs based on user feedback and usability testing.
- Blockchain Integration:
- Oversaw Circles' integration with smart contract-enabled blockchains for security, scalability, and compliance.
- Stayed informed about blockchain tech advancements and assessed their impact on Circles.
- Community Engagement:
- Fostered a strong and engaged Circles user community that included user testing and focus groups.
- Organized iterative user testing and actively communicated with users, addressing concerns, and incorporating feedback into development.
- Monetization Strategy:
- Developed and executed a monetization strategy aligning with Circles' mission and user values.
- Regulatory Compliance:
- Stayed informed about regulatory developments in cryptocurrency and blockchain.
- Ensured Circles adhered to relevant legal and compliance requirements.
- Performance Metrics:
- Defined key performance indicators (KPIs) for Circles' success and impact.
- Regularly assessed and reported on metrics, using insights to guide product improvements.
- Team Growth, Hiring, and Mentorship:
- Led team growth initiatives, actively participating in hiring processes.
- Provided mentorship to team members, fostering a collaborative and innovative work environment.
Takeaways
My work was a critical force here: shaping the product's UX and visual design, mapping local economy and collaborating with aligned stakeholders, ensuring we stayed mission-aligned as our audience grew, revealing and meeting user needs, while remaining competitive in the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies.
This product was one of the first I organized from scratch - building the initial design and development teams, bringing the project to launch through organizational transitions, and supporting ongoing maintenance after its release. Doing this meant wearing many hats, from Head of Product to Product Manager, Product Design Lead, Change Manager, and finally Product Advisor. As Product Director I brought on many of our core hires, including our Dev Leads, and was central in initializing our administrative team, alongside various contract design hands. As the Principal Product Designer, I was often a one-person team, which meant leading and organizing brand development, graphic design, user research and testing, iterating on UX/UI design, coordinating with developers for implementation, and sharing materials with stakeholders. I am beyond grateful to have had the opportunity to try on so many hats, however, I would not recommend that one person wear all of them, as ultimately limited capacity can lower work quality and lead to burnout. This project was formative in my career and the culmination of deep learning in product leadership and design, cryptography, economics, and computational design. Beyond the technical complexities, I learned about organizing open-source volunteer labor, hiring people for nearly every role, giving hard feedback, managing multiple transitions, and launching a groundbreaking product. I am proud to have stewarded Circles and seen it flourish.
