VISA Sprint Finalist

90-Day Strategic Plan: Product Owner

Bridging Visa's Scale with Featurespace's Innovation Post-Acquisition
Prepared by: Naoise Law | Former VISA Sprint Finalist | Fraud Detection Experience

Executive Summary

Context: Visa completed the acquisition of Featurespace in December 2024, integrating ARIC Risk Hub's AI-native fraud detection into Visa's Risk and Identity Solutions unit. With 259 billion transactions annually and $24B+ in check fraud losses alone, the integration represents a critical evolution in fraud prevention.

My Unique Value: As a VISA Sprint Finalist who built Vis(AI)D for SME protection, I understand Visa's innovation priorities. Combined with my Bank of Ireland fraud pattern detection experience and technical skills demonstrated through winning hackathons, I bring the rare combination of understanding fraud from both sides - detecting it manually and building systems to prevent it.

90-Day Mission: Accelerate ARIC platform integration while maintaining Featurespace's innovation velocity, focusing on three pillars: Integration Excellence, Product Velocity, and Customer Success.

Month 1: Deep Dive & Discovery

Focus: Master ARIC Platform

Understand integration challenges, map stakeholder landscape, identify quick wins

Key Outcome: Integration Roadmap

Month 2: Accelerate & Integrate

Focus: Ship First Features

Launch MVP integrations, optimize team velocity, reduce false positives

Key Outcome: 15% Performance Gain

Month 3: Scale & Own

Focus: Drive Strategic Initiative

Own major feature release, establish metrics framework, present to leadership

Key Outcome: Q2 Strategy Approved

Month 1: Foundation & Discovery (Days 1-30)
Week 1-2: ARIC Platform Mastery & Integration Assessment

Technical Deep Dive into ARIC Risk Hub

  • Adaptive Behavioral Analytics: Shadow engineering team to understand how ARIC profiles 100 billion payment events annually
  • Automated Deep Behavioral Networks: Map the ML models detecting fraud patterns - similar to my Bank of Ireland mortgage fraud detection
  • Real-time Processing: Understand latency requirements for 259B Visa transactions vs. current ARIC capabilities
  • Multi-tenant Architecture: Review ARIC White Label configuration for secure data segregation

Integration Landscape Mapping

  • Visa Systems: Map touchpoints with Visa's existing fraud prevention suite
  • Data Flow: Document how ARIC will ingest Visa's transaction data (using my SEIC data pipeline experience)
  • Customer Impact: Identify which of the 100,000+ businesses need migration support
  • Regulatory Requirements: Understand PSD2, PCI-DSS implications for integrated platform
Week 2 Deliverable: "Integration Impact Assessment" - 20-page technical document mapping all integration points, dependencies, and risks. Include specific recommendations for maintaining sub-100ms latency while processing Visa's transaction volume. Present to both Featurespace engineering and Visa Risk Solutions leadership.
Week 3-4: Customer Discovery & Quick Win Identification

Customer Research Sprint

  • Enterprise Clients: Interview 5 HSBC/NatWest stakeholders about ARIC adoption challenges
  • SME Segment: Connect with 10 SMEs (leveraging my Vis(AI)D project insights) about fraud pain points
  • Check Fraud Focus: Deep dive with 3 US banks on $24B check fraud problem
  • Scam Prevention: Analyze ARIC Scam Detect adoption with APP fraud victims

Quick Win Opportunities

  • False Positive Reduction: Identify top 5 rules causing unnecessary friction
  • Onboarding Acceleration: Map current 3-month implementation to find 30% reduction opportunities
  • UI/UX Improvements: Using Figma, design 3 dashboard enhancements for case management
Target Metrics by Week 4:
  • Complete 20+ customer interviews with documented insights
  • Identify 5 quick wins with <30 day implementation
  • Map integration dependencies for top 10 enterprise clients
  • Establish baseline: Current 3:1 false positive ratio for improvement tracking
Month 2: Accelerate & Integrate (Days 31-60)
Week 5-6: First Feature Ships & Integration MVPs

🚀 Priority Integration: Visa Token Service + ARIC Behavioral Analytics

Combining Visa's tokenization with ARIC's individual profiling to detect token fraud patterns - a first-in-market capability addressing the rise in digital wallet fraud.

Sprint Deliverables (Using My Agile Experience)

  • Epic Creation: Break down integration into 15 user stories with clear acceptance criteria
  • API Documentation: Write technical specs for Visa-ARIC data exchange (REST/GraphQL)
  • Performance Testing: Ensure <100ms latency at 10,000 TPS (transactions per second)
  • MVP Release: Deploy to 5 pilot customers by end of Week 6

Check Fraud Solution Enhancement

  • OrboGraph Integration: Optimize image forensics partnership for check washing detection
  • Pattern Library: Build repository of 50+ fraud patterns from my Bank of Ireland experience
  • A/B Testing: Run experiments on detection threshold optimization
Week 6 Deliverable: Ship "ARIC + Visa Token Intelligence" MVP to 5 pilot customers. Target: Detect 95% of token fraud with 2:1 false positive ratio (better than current 3:1).
Week 7-8: Team Velocity & Process Optimization

Agile Process Implementation

  • Sprint Cadence: Establish 2-week sprints with clear velocity metrics
  • Daily Standups: Implement cross-team standups (Cambridge + San Francisco)
  • Backlog Grooming: Prioritize 100+ integration tasks using RICE framework
  • Retrospectives: Facilitate bi-weekly retros focusing on integration friction

Cloud Migration Acceleration

  • AWS Architecture: Design multi-region deployment for global redundancy
  • Kubernetes Orchestration: Implement auto-scaling for demand spikes
  • Cost Optimization: Identify 20% infrastructure savings through efficient resource allocation
Week 8 Success Metrics:
  • Team velocity increased by 25% (story points per sprint)
  • Integration deployment time reduced from 3 months to 6 weeks
  • Cloud infrastructure costs optimized by 20%
  • Customer satisfaction score improved to 4.5/5
Month 3: Scale & Strategic Ownership (Days 61-90)
Week 9-10: Strategic Feature Ownership - SME Protection Suite

🎯 Strategic Initiative: "ARIC Shield for SMEs"

Vision: Democratize enterprise-grade fraud protection for 30M+ SMEs globally

Personal Connection: Building on my Vis(AI)D project insights about SME vulnerability

Target Market: SMEs processing <$10M annually, currently unprotected or using basic rules

Product Strategy & Roadmap

  • Tiered Offering: Design 3 tiers - Starter ($99/mo), Growth ($499/mo), Scale ($2499/mo)
  • Self-Service Onboarding: Build wizard reducing setup from 3 months to 3 hours
  • Pre-trained Models: Package industry-specific models (retail, hospitality, e-commerce)
  • Visa Network Effect: Leverage Visa's 100M+ merchant relationships for distribution

Technical Implementation

  • Simplified API: Create RESTful API requiring only 5 endpoints vs. current 50+
  • No-Code Dashboard: Build Zapier/Make.com integrations for non-technical users
  • Real-time Alerts: Implement WhatsApp/SMS notifications for fraud attempts
  • Behavioral Learning: Start protection immediately, improve accuracy over 30 days
Week 10 Deliverable: Complete PRD for "ARIC Shield for SMEs" with go-to-market strategy, pricing model, and technical architecture. Present to Visa leadership with projected $50M revenue opportunity in Year 1.
Week 11-12: Scale, Measure & Present Strategic Vision

Metrics Framework & Performance Dashboard

  • North Star Metric: Fraud losses prevented per $1M processed (target: <$100)
  • Operational Metrics: Time to detection (<50ms), False positive ratio (<2:1)
  • Customer Metrics: Implementation time (<30 days), NPS (>70)
  • Business Metrics: Revenue per customer, Churn rate (<5%), LTV/CAC (>3)

Q2 Strategic Roadmap

  • Expansion: Launch ARIC in 5 new markets (focusing on APAC growth)
  • Innovation: Develop GenAI features for fraud explanation and prevention recommendations
  • Partnerships: Integrate with 10 major PSPs (Payment Service Providers)
  • Platform Evolution: Build marketplace for fraud intelligence sharing between institutions
Week 12 Final Deliverable: Present "ARIC 2025: From Acquisition to Market Leadership" to Visa executive team. Include 3-year vision, Q2-Q4 roadmap, resource requirements, and projected ROI of $500M+ from fraud prevention improvements.

Risk Mitigation Strategy

Integration Complexity Risk:

Challenge: Merging ARIC with Visa's systems without disrupting 259B annual transactions

Mitigation: Implement gradual rollout with canary deployments, maintain parallel systems for 6 months

My Experience: Managed $1.5B AUM at SEIC with zero downtime during system migrations

Cultural Integration Risk:

Challenge: Maintaining Featurespace's innovation culture within Visa's corporate structure

Mitigation: Preserve Cambridge team autonomy, implement "Innovation Fridays" for experimentation

My Experience: Successfully bridged startup/corporate cultures during UN Global Compact project

Customer Retention Risk:

Challenge: Preventing churn during platform migration (currently 0% churn rate)

Mitigation: Assign dedicated success managers, offer migration incentives, guarantee no service disruption

My Experience: Maintained 40+ investor relationships at SEIC during major operational changes

Technical Debt Risk:

Challenge: Accumulating technical debt while racing to integrate

Mitigation: Allocate 20% of sprint capacity to refactoring, implement automated testing from Day 1

My Experience: Built maintainable systems in 5-day hackathons that scaled beyond MVP

90-Day Success Metrics

Month 1 Targets:

  • ✓ Complete technical assessment of ARIC platform with 50+ page documentation
  • ✓ Interview 20+ customers across enterprise, SME, and financial institution segments
  • ✓ Identify 5 integration quick wins implementable within 30 days
  • ✓ Establish baseline metrics for all KPIs

Month 2 Targets:

  • ✓ Ship first Visa-ARIC integration feature to 5+ pilot customers
  • ✓ Reduce false positive ratio from 3:1 to 2.5:1
  • ✓ Increase sprint velocity by 25%
  • ✓ Complete cloud migration plan with 20% cost savings identified

Month 3 Targets:

  • ✓ Own and deliver SME Protection Suite PRD with $50M revenue projection
  • ✓ Present Q2 strategic roadmap to Visa leadership with full buy-in
  • ✓ Achieve 4.5/5 customer satisfaction score
  • ✓ Establish myself as go-to Product Owner for ARIC platform evolution

Why I'm Uniquely Positioned for This Role

1. Direct Visa Experience + Fraud Detection Background

As a VISA Sprint Finalist, I've already demonstrated my ability to build solutions that Visa's innovation team values. My Vis(AI)D project focused on protecting SMEs - exactly the market segment where ARIC can expand. Combined with detecting fraud patterns at Bank of Ireland that saved €2M+, I understand both sides of the equation.

2. Technical Depth with Business Acumen

My 92% accurate sentiment analyzer uses similar ML techniques to ARIC's behavioral analytics. But I also managed $1.5B at SEIC, so I understand the business impact of false positives and the importance of balancing security with customer experience.

3. Integration Experience at Scale

During Bank of Ireland's KBC acquisition, I managed the integration of thousands of mortgage files while maintaining compliance and detecting fraud. I know how to handle complex integrations without dropping the ball.

4. Proven Sprint Velocity

Won hackathons, delivered for UN Global Compact, pitched to Visa - I consistently deliver under pressure. Give me 90 days, and I'll show you what 3 years of impact looks like.

JIRA/Confluence
AWS/Kubernetes
Python/TensorFlow
REST/GraphQL APIs
Figma/Miro
GitHub/GitLab
Datadog/Splunk
Tableau/PowerBI