I'm Pearl Oguchi. I help tech startups and scale-ups make the right product decisions that drive adoption, retention and growth, from MVP to scale. With over 22 years in technology, I’ve worked across startups, scale-ups, established firms and big tech, including 9 years at Meta leading product quality on Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and Meta Quest features used by billions. That gives me engineering-grade judgement on the question every founder faces: why isn’t this getting traction?
“Pearl spots the gaps that those of us deep inside the product simply cannot see.”
Founder, Kin.
“People say it's a great idea, but they don't sign up.”
“They sign up, look around and never come back.”
“We've rewritten the homepage three times and nothing has moved.”
“Investors keep asking about traction and I haven't got a good answer.”
There are two very different problems hiding under “we need more users”. If people who find you understand it and some stay, you have a distribution problem — stop changing the product. If people arrive and don't convert or don't come back, more traffic just burns money. The first job is knowing which one you've got. That's what I find.
Read the free guide: Why is no one using your app?
Not sure which one you've got? Take the traction quiz and find out in a few minutes.
Picture next month: you know exactly where people drop off and why. You've fixed the one thing that matters most. When an investor asks about traction, you answer with real usage data, not hope.
“The team waits for me before they can ship anything.”
“Sales promises one thing, engineering builds another, and I'm the referee.”
“Customers want more than we can build, and I'm the only one deciding what matters.”
“I need a head of product, but I can't justify a full-time hire yet.”
Imagine a roadmap the team follows without you in the room. Priorities everyone agrees on. Decisions made on evidence, not on who pushed hardest. And your week back for customers, investors and hiring.
“Half the cohort has built something nobody's using yet, and Demo Day is coming.”
“Our mentors are generous, but nobody's going through the products properly.”
“Our funders want to see outcomes, not attendance.”
“I need a specialist I can trust in front of my founders.”
Picture a cohort walking into Demo Day with real usage and clear answers to the questions investors will ask. And a programme report that shows exactly what changed.
Already trusted by: Venture Community · Fresh Mango · NatWest Accelerator · Innovate Cambridge
New users could land on an empty dashboard, and key guidance was hard to find.
Unclear roles and modes, a risky Cancel button, countdown pressure, and a video-call flow that could stall.
The team got a clear order of priorities for onboarding, notifications, and the core call flow before demo and beta.
Compatibility scores contradicted each other, and key account flows could leave users stuck.
Inconsistent score rules, an early facial-scan step, prompts that returned after refresh, and an incomplete password reset.
The team got practical priorities for consistent scores, clearer authentication, and safer activation.
Seeing something similar? Book A Discovery Call
I started in tech more than 22 years ago as a software tester. My job was to play the user, sitting down at a product the way a normal person would rather than as someone who knows what's underneath, and finding where it breaks. Since then I've worked on products people actually use, from a recruitment platform to media, holiday properties, climate tech and automotive tech. I then spent nine years at Meta working on product quality across Facebook and Messenger, where a small gap in the experience affects millions of people a day.
Now I work with founders and the programmes that back them. Most founders I meet think they have a marketing problem, and often they don't. Something in the product is quietly sending people away, and the team is too close to it to see it. That's the bit I find. I'll tell you what's actually wrong, even when it's not what you want to hear. Nobody likes being told their baby's ugly, so I do it kindly, and then we fix it together.
Outside client work, I founded Black Women in Tech, a community of more than 52,000 members, and I spent five years as an elected borough councillor.
Pearl Oguchi
Founder, Qube Catalyst
Work out which of two problems you've got before you change anything. Either not enough of the right people know your app exists, or the people who find it don't understand it, don't trust it, or don't get value fast enough to stay. They need opposite fixes. Start with four numbers from the last 30 days: visits, sign-ups, people who got real value, and people who came back the following week.
Look at what users do, not what they say. If the few people who find it use it and come back, keep pushing and get it in front of more of the right people. If people arrive, try it and leave, find the broken step first. Most products need one or two steps fixing, not a pivot or a rebuild.
Usually because they never reached the moment where it was worth coming back. Onboarding asks for too much too soon, or the good bit happens on day three and most people have gone by then. Watch five strangers use it without helping and you'll see exactly where they give up.
Only if the people who already find you are signing up and sticking around. If they aren't, ads just make the drop-off more expensive. Fix the leak first, then pay for traffic.
Go where your users already are, the communities and places they go for help, and talk to them one by one. But if your first 20 aren't coming back, 100 won't fix it. Make sure the people you have keep using it before you chase more.
Not sure which problem you've got? Take the 3-minute traction quiz.
"Pearl spots the gaps that those of us deep inside a SaaS product simply cannot see. She looked at the product over lunch and spotted a design flaw in 8 seconds. And she was completely right. Then she spotted a second. We stopped there and scheduled her to speak with the team. As we bring on early customers, design partnerships are everything. Brilliant, experienced, honest voices like Pearl's are how we make sure we hit that mark. If you're looking for someone to help coach you through those product gaps, she's your person."
I brought Pearl in at short notice to support the build for my trades app. She delivered exactly what we needed: a fast, focused review that flagged critical issues and gave my developer clear, actionable fixes ahead of user testing. Her approach was professional, efficient and incredibly helpful. Thanks to Pearl's input, we went into testing with confidence and clarity. I highly recommend ...
You told me the truth about things I needed to hear, and that kind of boldness is rare. Building FieldNote has required me to get uncomfortable every single day. Grateful to have connected with someone who understands exactly why that is necessary.
Qube Catalyst was an exceptional partner throughout the development and launch of the Reel Time Fishing Tournament mobile applications for both iOS and Android... and they exceeded expectations in every area. Pearl's contributions played a major role in helping us deliver a stable, polished, and user-friendly experience across both platforms.
Working with Pearl on a recent web application review was exceptional. Her precision, professionalism, and ability to spot issues that others miss made a huge difference. Pearl identified improvements, highlighted strengths, and delivered feedback that was both constructive and immediately actionable.
