Imagine stepping into a world where each decision is meticulously crafted, where every product feature is a stepping stone to unparalleled success. This episode goes behind the scenes with Navya Rehani Gupta, Chief Product Officer of Peek, who has mastered Vertical SaaS product management in the bustling arena of travel software. Learn how Navya intentionally focuses on prioritizing feature requests, tying a revenue number to each one, emphasizing a culture of gathering and quantifying feedback, and understanding their customers’ problems to drive a commitment to innovation.
Podcast Takeaways:
- G2 recognizes Peek’s software as the leader in tourism activity software.
- Innovation and customer collaboration.
- Product prioritization in vertical SaaS and focusing on winning a category before expansion.
- Providing cohesive customer experiences across multiple products.
- Peek’s focus is on winning sub-verticals within the tour operator market.
- Balancing customization and scalability in product development.
- Tying ROI to product investments.
- Exploration of embedded finance within Peak’s platform.
- The importance of intentionality in product management and leadership.
- Commitment to supporting female founders and leaders in tech.
Listen to the full podcast.
Insights from Navya Rehani Gupta’s Career Journey and Peek’s Vertical SaaS Product Management Strategy
In a recent episode of the SMB Tech Innovators Podcast, host Brian Busch interviewed Navya Rehani Gupta, the Chief Product Officer at Peek, about her career journey, Peek’s unique position in the vertical SaaS market for tour operators, and the intricacies of product prioritization and customization. Their conversation highlights valuable lessons for anyone interested in the vertical SaaS industry, product management, and the strategic growth of tech companies.
Navya has had a diverse and impressive career trajectory. Trained as an engineer, she started her career in semiconductor engineering but later found her passion in product management. Initially, Navya worked on Wall Street, developing products for high-net-worth clients. However, she discovered she was more interested in understanding customer problems than coding solutions. This realization led her to pursue various roles in product management across different industries, including working in mobile gaming at Disney and in vertical SaaS in the beauty industry at StyleSeat.
Navya has been with Peek for seven years, leading product management, design, and analytics. Her contributions have been crucial to the company’s growth and success in the travel and tourism industry. With her diverse background and deep understanding of customer needs, she has played a key role in shaping Peek’s product strategy and innovation, helping to create one of the leading applications in travel vertical software.
Understanding Peek and Its Unique Market Position
Peek is a leading provider of travel industry software, offering a comprehensive platform for tour operators to manage and expand their businesses effectively. The company processes over a billion dollars in bookings annually and serves 10 million customers. Peek’s software includes an online booking platform, point of sale, automation tools, inventory management, dynamic pricing, and marketing analytics.
Navya emphasizes that Peek’s approach has always been customer-focused rather than competitor-focused. Peek aims to create the best product experience for its customers, earning it recognition as the number one leader in tourism activity software by G2 and a spot in the top 100 marketplaces. Peek’s commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction is evident in its prioritization of feedback and close collaboration with customers to develop features that meet their needs.
Product Prioritization: A Strategic Approach
For Peek, the process involves a unique equation tailored to their business needs and goals and the importance of product prioritization in a vertical SaaS environment. Navya outlines three critical steps in this approach:
- Win the Category: Dominating the existing category is crucial before expanding into new markets or product lines. Peek focuses heavily on customer retention and satisfaction, ensuring it ” wins its current customers’ hearts ” before pursuing growth opportunities.
- Expand Offerings: Once the category is secured, the next step is to offer multiple products that provide customers with a cohesive and streamlined experience. Peek integrates various tools and features to create a seamless workflow, avoiding the pitfalls of “shipping the org chart” and ensuring a unified customer experience.
- Extend Reach: Expanding into new markets or customer segments is the final step. This decision is based on a thorough analysis of the total addressable market (TAM), serviceable addressable market (SAM), and serviceable obtainable market (SOM). Peek evaluates potential expansion paths based on opportunity, product fit, and feasibility to drive revenue and reduce customer costs.
Balancing Customization and Scalability
One of the critical challenges in vertical SaaS is balancing the need for customization with the goal of scalability. Navya explains that Peek addresses this challenge by maintaining a clear platform vision, creating comprehensive workflows, and experimenting with new features and solutions.
- Clear Platform Vision: It is essential to define what problems the platform will and will not solve. This clarity helps make strategic decisions about where to invest resources and how to position the product in the market.
- Comprehensive Workflows: Peek strives to provide a holistic solution that addresses all aspects of a customer’s business. By integrating various tools and features, Peek ensures customers have a seamless and efficient experience.
- Experimentation and Innovation: Continuous experimentation and validation are essential for identifying new opportunities and improving existing features. Peek utilizes data-driven insights and customer feedback to steer its innovation efforts, ensuring that new developments align with customer needs.
Leveraging AI for Innovation
Navya emphasizes AI’s potential to enhance Peek’s product offerings. With its deep understanding of customer problems and vast amounts of data, Peek is well-positioned to leverage AI to create innovative solutions. However, Navya stresses that AI should be used to solve real, acute problems rather than just for the sake of innovation.
By integrating AI, Peek can develop more sophisticated and efficient tools that improve customer experience and drive business growth. This approach aligns with Peek’s commitment to delivering tangible value and staying ahead of industry trends.
Measuring ROI on Product Investments
Navya’s approach to developing a product ROI model measures the return on investment for Peek’s product initiatives. This model categorizes investments into three buckets: infrastructure, retention, and expansion. By assigning clear revenue numbers and expected returns to each investment, Peek ensures accountability and transparency in its product development process.
The disciplined approach helps Peek make informed decisions about resource allocation and project prioritization. It also fosters a culture of continuous improvement and strategic planning, ensuring that product investments align with the company’s long-term goals.
Embedded Fintech and Comprehensive Customer Solutions
Peek has successfully integrated embedded fintech solutions, such as payment processing and capital products, into its platform. Navya explains that these embedded products enhance the overall customer experience and contribute to higher customer lifetime value (LTV) and reduced churn.
When selecting embedded fintech vendors, Peek prioritizes solutions that address acute customer problems, have a clear business impact, and offer seamless integration. This focus ensures that fintech products complement Peek’s existing offerings and provide real value to customers.
The Future of Vertical SaaS Product Management at Peek
With the complexities and opportunities in the vertical SaaS market, Navya’s strategic approach to product prioritization, customization, and innovation has been instrumental in maintaining a clear vision, leveraging data and customer feedback, and continuously experimenting with new solutions. Peek continues to lead the way in travel and tourism software. As Peek looks to the future, its commitment to customer-centric innovation and strategic growth promises to keep it at the forefront of the industry.
Listen to Shaping the Future of Tourism Software with Navya Rehani Gupta and connect with Navya on LinkedIn.
