shelter share

ensuring compatible home sharing

My Role

: Product Lead & Product Designer

Collaborators

: UX Researcher & Brand Designer (1 No.s)

Customer Insight & Business Strategy (2 No.s)

My Responsibility – Product Lead
Developing a product idea
Defining product vision
Synthesizing customer insights
Product Design
Business Model
Design Investor Pitch Deck

UX Researcher & Brand Designer
User interviews
User research documentation
Product Video
Product Poster
Branding Design

Customer Insight & Business Strategy

User Interviews
Guerilla Research
Pricing Strategy
Revenue Model

Duration

7 Weeks

Organization

: Startup Investor Showcase – 22 @ Carnegie Mellon University

Result

: 2nd place of 60 ideas. Invited for start up accelerator programs.

Duration

: 7 Weeks

THE PROCESS

PROBLEM OVERVIEW

90% of the people above the age of 65 want to live in their homes and neighborhoods for as long as possible. However, this desire is becoming less and less achievable, as they need to be taken care of and their houses are eventually becoming financial liabilities. According to AARP, 90% want to give out their rooms for rent, but only 2% are doing so.

So, this is led to around 5 million empty bedrooms in homes of baby boomers, rooms to go unused.

On the other side we have 209,000,000 young homeless adults in the United States.

SHELTER SHARE

A platform that pairs older homeowners with young renters.

Shelter share is an intergenerational home-sharing platform.

Shelter Share makes it safe and simple for families to share an extra room with a young person for an extended period of time. Furthermore, housemates can barter for essential services like food shopping, dog walking, snow shoveling, and tech support in exchange for a lower rent.

Customer Segment 1 – Older population

Remain in their neighborhood and house
Passive source of revenue
Social connection
Helping hand

Customer Segment 2 – Younger population

Subsidized rent
Cross-generational relationship & learning

Research Methods:

35 Online Surveys responses

12 Guerilla Research Interviews

Indirect storytelling

> Cooked a meal.
> Washed dishes
> Spent time 5 hours with the elderly.

Left image: Indirect Storytelling

Finding 01

Elderly – 73% seek care services.

Finding 02

Elderly – Do not plan for care receiving.

Finding 03

Elderly – Have an affinity with technology.

Finding 04

Young – Need affordable short-term lease.

Insight 01 – Validation
Businesses need validation from both segments.
Insight 02 – Application
MVP to be a desktop web application – suited for both customer segments.
Insight 03 – Business Opportunity
Short-term lease agreement - a competitive edge.

Product Manager

User Interview
Guerilla Research
Pricing Strategy
Revenue Model
Business Model Canvas

Duration

7 Weeks

Research Methods:

Customer interview:

Total Nos – 9

Customer segment 1-

Older population (65+): 4 No.s

Customer segment 2-

Younger population (22 to 34): 5 No.s

Left image: In-depth interviews.

Finding 01

Elderly – Security and Privacy concerns.

Finding 02

Elderly & Young – Compatibility & house rules

agreement.

Finding 03

Elderly & Young – Need to know each other

personally prior to cohabitation.

Insight 01 – Feature Need
Background check and dispute resolution as features.
Insight 02 – Feature Need
Compatibility test & House rule agreement as features.
Insight 03 – Feature Need
Meet & Greet built-in video call & chat features.

Product Manager

User Interview
Guerilla Research
Pricing Strategy
Revenue Model
Business Model Canvas

Duration

7 Weeks

Shelter Share distinguishes itself from its competitors by offering compatibility matching, a feature that none of the other services offered.
Shelter share, in contrast to its rivals, goes above and beyond the transactional nature to match homeowners and home seekers based on the compatibility survey that the user completes.