Ed-tech Startup Online Mentoring Platform 0-to-1 Project
AI-powered peer-to-peer course discovery platform for international students
Service
Product Strategy & Delivery
Release date
Feb 20, 2025
Client
TriumphED
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Problem
International students often spend more than 12 weeks and thousands of dollars struggling to choose the right course, misled by agents, overwhelmed by generic information, and lacking authentic guidance. A wrong decision on choosing the course, may lead to around AUD 50,000 lost including the tuition fee, accommodation, living cost and etc.
Solution
TriumphED, a platform connecting prospective students with mentors already studying in their dream courses. The system matched students with the right mentor, helping users find the right program in under 20 minutes.
My Role and Contribution
As a founding team member and product manager, I Led product discovery, strategy and development from 0 to 1, and contributed beyond product by driving early fundraising (investor outreach, pitch events), building the customer conversion funnel via WhatsApp, and establishing partnerships with education agents.
Key Contribution:
Product Strategy & Vision (0→1): Defined product vision, MVP scope, and user journey for both student and mentor sides.
User Research & Validation: Interviewed 150+ students from 11 countries, discovering “trust and real experiences” as key decision drivers.
Product Design & Delivery: Led cross-functional team (design, engineer) to ship MVP in 4 weeks, integrating mentor matching, booking, and AI summary system.
Go-to-Market Execution: Supported Marketing team to partner with student clubs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WeChat group communities, generating 3,000+ student leads and 600+ mentor sign-ups.
Achievements
Launched a fully functional MVP in 4 weeks, validated strong market demand.
Helped students reduce decision time from 12 weeks → 20 minutes.
Attracted 623 mentors and 3,157 student leads within 3 months.
Led an international team across product, design and tech.
Received $300K seed investment based on traction and early growth metrics.
Impact
Built and scaled a cross-border education product that transformed how international students make study decisions, proving my ability to turn pain points into scalable, data-driven products.
How I Deliver Products from 0 to 1
1.Customer Discovery
I conducted in-depth user research across Vietnam and Malaysia, interviewing students to uncover unmet needs in their study decision process. By analysing user concerns around trust, information overload, and financial uncertainty, I defined two core personas （ Mentee and Mentor ） to inform all downstream product decisions.
I also gathered feedback on existing solutions such as education agencies and course platforms, identifying a key gap in authentic peer-to-peer guidance, which became TriumphED’s unique value proposition.
2.User Journey Mapping
To make a MVP product, I mapped out the end-to-end journey from sign up → find a mentor → book a call → apply for university.
Based on the two key personas ( Mentee and Mentor ), I designed a user journey workflow to visualise how each interacts with the platform.
I mapped every process step, identified redundancies, and streamlined the flow to make the user experience more efficient.
Using this workflow, I then created a comprehensive mind map that broke down all related features into three priority levels:
• Must-have (critical for MVP launch)
• Should-have (important but secondary)
• Could-have (optional enhancements)
By aligning the team on these priorities, we finalised all MVP features for development and ensured a focused, efficient delivery process.
3.Roadmap Definition & Sprint Planning
As a startup with limited engineering resources, I created a detailed product roadmap and broke the release plan into five focused sprints, each tied to measurable outcomes.
Sprint 1 Landing Page：Increase Seed Users
The first sprint focused on launching a simple yet effective landing page that allowed users to register interest and sign up for early access. This helped us build our initial pool of seed users and validate market demand.
Sprint 2 Mentoring Booking Flow: Increase Mentoring Sessions
In the second sprint, I prioritised implementing the mentor booking process.
To optimise resources, we manually imported the first batch of mentor profiles into the backend, enabling real users to start booking mentoring sessions without waiting for full automation.
Sprint 3 Mentor Application Flow: Scale the Supply Side
The third sprint introduced the mentor application portal, opening up the platform for more mentors to join. This helped expand mentor diversity and improve matching quality for mentees.
Sprint 4 Mentee Prescreen: Improve Conversion Quality
During user research, we found that many sign-ups were from users not genuinely interested in studying abroad, resulting in low conversion rates.
To improve funnel efficiency and target the right audience, we introduced a prescreening process to qualify mentees before registration.
Sprint 5 Dashboard: Enhance User Experience
Finally, we built dashboards for mentors and mentees to improve visibility, simplify session tracking, and enhance the overall user experience.
4.Prototype Design & User Testing
I designed a detailed end-to-end prototype covering every core flow, from mentor search to session booking, meeting, and post-session feedback, all within three days.
To validate usability, I conducted user testing sessions with international students from countries similar to our target markets.
Through these tests, I identified key usability blockers and friction points, collected structured feedback, and iterated the prototype accordingly.
After refinement, I collaborated with the design team to align on:
• Branding guidelines
• Main visual identity pages
• Detailed subpage handoffs
The design review was conducted across three checkpoints, ensuring consistency, usability, and delivery quality before handover to development.
5.User Story & Team Communication
To ensure alignment between product, design, and engineering, I created a structured PRD (Product Requirement Document) following the agile framework used by most Australian tech startups.
Each feature module in the MVP was divided by Epic, Description, Acceptance Criteria, and Prototype reference, allowing developers to quickly understand user needs and implementation scope.
6.KPI Measurement & Data Tracking
To ensure measurable outcomes after launch, I built a data-driven KPI funnel connecting marketing, product, and sales metrics.
Each conversion step, from website visit to commission received, was tracked and optimised through a 14-day and 6-month cycle.
Funnel metrics and actions:
• MAU (Monthly Active Users)
Formula: New Visitors × Engagement Rate + Returning Visitors × Retention Rate
Action Plan: Email marketing, pre-launch campaigns, and webinar engagement
• Registration Rate
Formula: MAU × Registration Conversion Rate
Action Plan: Simplified sign-up flow, third-party login integration
• Booking Rate
Formula: Registered Users × Monthly Booking Rate × Avg. Calls per User
Action Plan: Mentor onboarding, automated reminder emails, referral system
• Consultation Conversion
Formula: Total Users × Consultation Rate
Action Plan: Post-session feedback forms, marketing follow-ups, sales calls
Through continuous tracking of these metrics, I could quickly identify drop-off points and collaborate with both marketing and engineering teams to refine user journeys, increase engagement, and optimise conversion rates.
Sia is very dedicated and works really hard. Whatever she’s told to do, she does it very well. She’s doing exceptionally well. When she joined our company, she immediately made a strong impact. She’s one of the most hardworking people we’ve ever seen and we really admire her drive. She always sees a problem and then brings us solutions. We really appreciate that about her.
TriumphED
