I'm Pearl Oguchi. I find why your product isn't getting traction; before your investor asks the question you can't answer.

I spent 9 years at Meta, embedded in it. Engineering, product, delivery at scale, inside one of the most scrutinised companies on the planet, supporting billions of users. When I joined Meta London in 2016, I was the first Black person in tech there. I worked with recruting teams to change hiring processes, making it more inclusive; I co-founded the Disability@ Employee Resource Group, represented Meta at TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Africa, and ended up on the careers website as the face they wanted people to see.

I say that not to list credentials, but because the instinct that drove it is the same one that drives the work now. If something isn't right, you don't look away. You go towards it. You fix it.

That instinct - if something isn't right, you go towards it and fix it - is still what drives the work. In 2020 I founded Black Women in Tech. I actually imagined a handful of maybe around 20 women from around the UK would join, if i was lucky. 52,000 members later, built entirely organically, it's one of the most active communities of its kind in the world.

From 2018 to 2023 I was an elected borough councillor. Five years of public accountability — answering to real people with real problems. Most product strategists have never had to justify a decision to a room full of constituents. I have. It changes how you think about who technology is actually for.

I manage all of this with rheumatoid arthritis. It's taught me to be precise about what matters and ruthless about what doesn't. I'm the founder of Qube Catalyst. I find the product-user disconnect, why users aren't staying, why traction plateaus, why the deck and the dashboard don't match - and map what needs to change before your investor finds it first.

If that sounds like someone you want in your corner...

Let's Talk

Why Qube Catalyst exists

Most funded startups don't fail because the technology is broken. They fail because the technology they built doesn't connect to the people it was meant for. COVID accelerated digital development by a decade. AI has collapsed the barrier to building software almost entirely. More technology is being built by more people with less understanding of what good looks like than at any point in history.

The consequences are real. Products that harm the people they're meant to serve. Data breaches that destroy trust. AI systems that embed bias. Software that fails at the moment it matters most. And founders who signed off on something they couldn't fully verify because nobody independent was in the room. That gap between what you've built and who it's meant to serve is called the product-user disconnect. It is the most common and most expensive problem in funded technology. And it is the one least likely to be named clearly before it costs you your growth, your users, or your next round.

That is what Qube Catalyst exists to fix.
Our vision is a world where technology is built not just to function but to serve, where quality, safety, and human benefit are non-negotiable standards, not afterthoughts.

Our mission is to empower 10,000 technology builders, founders, and organisations across at least three countries to build software that is safe, ethical, and genuinely beneficial, by 2030.

We operate by six values. Boldness: we say the things others won't. Integrity: we tell the honest picture, always. Inclusion: the best technology is built when the widest range of voices shapes it. Excellence: good enough is not good enough when real people are using the software. Independence: we have no stake in the outcome except the right one. Humanity: technology exists to serve people, not the other way around.

The reality of funded startup product development

Most startup teams are talented and working hard. The problem isn't effort. Here's what actually happens after the funding lands:

Post-funding: The roadmap feels exciting. The team is shipping. Progress looks real. But the assumptions underneath the build; about who the user is, what they actually need, how they behave; are accumulating quietly. Nobody is testing them. Everyone is moving too fast to stop.

At scale: Features get added based on the loudest users, not the typical ones. The product grows in complexity. But traction doesn't follow. Retention is flat. The metrics your investors are watching aren't moving. And the honest conversation about why hasn't happened yet.

At the next round: Due diligence starts. Questions get asked about user behaviour, retention, product-market fit. And suddenly the gap between what was built and what users actually needed becomes very visible and very expensive.

For VCs: The portfolio company you backed looked solid at investment. The team is good, the technology works. But the product isn't getting traction and you're not sure why. Your founders are too close to it to see it clearly. You need an independent view not reassurance, but an honest picture of what's solid and what isn't.

Qube Catalyst steps in before the gap becomes a crisis. Independent, honest, with no stake in the outcome except the right one.

How Qube Catalyst works

Finding the disconnect

You've shipped. The team is busy. The roadmap is full. But users are signing up and not staying. Features are going out but engagement isn't moving. Your developers say it's working. Your metrics say something different. I go into the product the way your real users do. Not your power users or your team. The quiet majority who tried it, shrugged, and left. I find exactly where they're losing the thread and why. A specific, nameable gap between what you built and what they actually needed.

Naming it honestly

Most founding teams already sense something is off. They can feel it in the numbers. What they don't have is someone who will say it out loud, clearly, without trying to protect anyone's feelings or their own position in the room. That's what independence makes possible. I tell you exactly what the product is and isn't doing for your users, in plain language you can take into a board meeting or a team conversation. No jargon. No softening. Just a clear picture of where you are and what it means.

Mapping what changes

Knowing what's wrong is only useful if you know what to do about it. Not a list of everything that could theoretically be better. A prioritised view of what will actually move the needle. What to fix first, what can wait, and what your team needs to stop doing. Specific enough that nobody leaves asking what this actually means.

Connecting you to the right people

Sometimes closing the gap needs more than one kind of expertise. A CTO who can make decisions your founding team can't. A UX strategist who can fix the journey that's losing people. A growth specialist who can reach the users you aren't reaching. I connect you to the right person for your specific problem, brief them properly, and stay close enough to make sure the standard holds. The right expertise for the problem. Not a generalist covering everything and doing none of it brilliantly.

What changes when you work with Qube Catalyst

Before we work together, founders typically describe the same feeling; they're shipping, they're busy, they're doing everything they were supposed to do. But they can't shake the sense that something isn't connecting. The numbers aren't lying, but they don't know what the numbers are actually saying.

After, it's a different conversation. Not because everything is fixed, but because everything is visible. They know what the disconnect is. They know which assumptions were wrong. They know what to change and why. They can have the investor conversation with confidence instead of hope. They can make product decisions based on evidence instead of instinct and crossed fingers.

One founder described it as going from "building in the dark with a really good torch" to "finally having the lights on."

That's the shift. From hoping you're building the right thing to knowing and knowing what to do when you're not.

FAQs

It's the gap between what your product does and what your users actually need it to do. It shows up as low retention, flat adoption, high churn, or features that get built but don't get used. It's rarely about broken technology but about misaligned assumptions that accumulated during the build and never got challenged. Most teams are too close to their own product to spot it clearly. That's where independent oversight comes in.

A fractional CPO joins your team and leads your product function. A consultant advises on strategy. I do neither. I'm independent; I have no stake in your roadmap, no relationship with your team to protect, and no incentive to tell you anything other than the truth. I come in, find the gap, name it clearly, and map what needs to change. That independence is the entire value. An internal hire or a retained consultant cannot give you what someone with no agenda can.

Both. Founders come to me directly when traction is missing and they want an honest independent view before their next investor conversation. VCs and accelerators bring me in to provide independent product oversight for portfolio companies either proactively as part of their support programme, or when a specific company isn't performing as expected. The engagement looks different but the work is the same: find the disconnect, name it, map what changes.

That depends on the engagement. Start with a free 30-45 minute consultation and we'll talk through what you're seeing and what level of involvement makes sense. Some founders need a focused independent review. Some need ongoing oversight across key decision points. VCs typically want a portfolio-level assessment framework. I'll tell you honestly what I think you need and if it's not something I offer, I'll tell you that too.

No. My focus isn't on the code, it's on the product behaviour and the user experience. I look at what your product actually does when a real person uses it, not how it was built. I'll need access to the product itself, context on your key user journeys, and your honest account of what the metrics are showing. That's enough to find what needs finding.

Because your product team is inside the problem. They built it, they're proud of it, and they're accountable for it. That's not a criticism, it's the nature of being close to the work. Independent oversight isn't a replacement for a good product team. It's the thing that makes a good product team better, because it gives them an honest external view they can't generate themselves. The best teams actively want it.

VerAIQ is a free self-serve testing tool built specifically for non-technical founders who need to assess their app without a technical background. If you're responsible for a product you didn't build, whether that's an agency build, a freelancer project, or an AI-assisted app, VerAIQ walks you through the key questions to ask, helps you spot gaps before they become expensive problems, and gives you the language to have more confident conversations with your developers. It's not a replacement for independent oversight. It's the place to start when you're not quite ready for that yet.