Sammy Mati.
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Wowzi

Lead Product Manager case study

Visit wowzi.co ↗

Evolving creator commerce for scale.

Wowzi connects African creators and brands at scale. I helped evolve the product and how it was built through research, strategy, UX leadership, and cross-functional delivery.

Role
Lead Product Manager
Product
Creator mobile app + advertiser web platform
Focus
Strategy · Research · UX · Team leadership

Wowzi at scale

Company-level figures describe the environment I worked within, not individual achievements.

200K+
Creators onboarded
$6M+
Earned by African influencers
$3M+
Funding raised
Global brands
Coca-Cola · WPP · Mastercard · Netflix · P&G

01 · The challenge

Evolve the product—and the way it was built.

Product

An established experience carrying growing complexity.

  • Inconsistent UI and interaction patterns
  • No cohesive design system
  • Creator and advertiser journeys needing continued improvement
  • Discovery and research needing a stronger role in decisions

Organization

A product organization building stronger internal ownership.

  • Development primarily delivered through an offshore consultancy
  • A new internal software capability taking shape
  • UX and QA needing clearer internal ownership
  • Product, Engineering, and Data operating as partner functions
Established productResearch + strategyReusable design foundationInternally owned delivery

02 · My role

Product direction from discovery through delivery.

I owned product direction and delivery across the creator mobile application and advertiser web platform, initially reporting to the CEO and later to the CTO as the organization evolved.

Direct team3 UX Designers · 2 QA EngineersEngineering and Data were cross-functional partners, not direct reports.

Product strategy

Vision, roadmap, prioritization, requirements, planning, and stakeholder alignment.

Discovery and research

Creator and advertiser interviews, product feedback, market research, and competitive analysis.

Product and UX

Journeys, flows, information architecture, design-system direction, and validation.

Delivery

Cross-functional planning, engineering collaboration, QA, UAT, release planning, and iteration.

03 · Understanding the marketplace

Two sides, one connected product.

Creators

Discover → Apply → Participate → Submit → Earn

Find relevant opportunities, understand requirements, submit content, follow progress, and understand earnings.

Brands

Create → Select → Manage → Review → Measure

Define campaigns, select creators, manage execution, review content, and track performance.

Creator mobile app

From onboarding to finding the next campaign.

Wowzi creator app identity-verification flow
Creator verification
Wowzi creator app screen for linking social profiles
Social profile setup
Wowzi creator app showing available campaign opportunities
Campaign discovery

Advertiser web platform

Campaign setup, creator selection, and performance in one view.

Wowzi advertiser platform showing creator discovery and selection for a new campaign
Creator discovery and campaign setup
Wowzi advertiser platform campaign reporting interface
Campaign reporting and creator performance

Product screens illustrate the creator and advertiser experiences. Sample campaign content is shown as interface context, not as a claimed outcome.

04 · Discovery

Evidence, not assumptions.

Creator and advertiser interviews, stakeholder conversations, usability feedback, competitive research, business requirements, and product data informed decisions.

  1. 01User interviews
  2. 02Observation and feedback
  3. 03Problem identification
  4. 04Competitive analysis
  5. 05Opportunity definition
  6. 06Prioritization
  7. 07Design and validation
  8. 08Delivery and iteration

Competitive lens

Creator discovery · Campaign creation · Onboarding · Campaign management · Content submission · Payments · Analytics

05 · Key initiatives

Three connected areas of product leadership.

01

Product and design-system transformation

Problem

The product had accumulated inconsistent patterns and repeated design decisions.

Approach

Research → UX exploration → reusable foundation → engineering collaboration → implementation

My contribution

Led product direction and worked with UX to establish a coherent foundation across mobile and web.

02

Creator experience

Problem

Creators needed clearer ways to discover, understand, and participate in campaigns.

Approach

Interviews → journey mapping → product prioritization → development → QA and UAT

My contribution

Owned product direction with UX, Engineering, and QA across the creator experience.

03

Advertiser experience

Problem

Brands needed effective workflows for creating and managing creator campaigns.

Approach

Advertiser research → competitive analysis → workflow mapping → product definition → delivery

My contribution

Led product development across the advertiser web platform.

06 · Impact

Stronger foundations for product and delivery.

These are qualitative outcomes. No individual product metric is claimed without a verified source.

Closing reflection

At Wowzi, my role evolved beyond managing a roadmap. I helped shape the product, the product team, and the way the organization built software.
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