Fractional CPO

Your technology is strong.
Your product is hard to sell.

I work with PE-backed and founder-led businesses in regulated financial services — closing the gap between strong technology and commercial traction.

Work with me See how I work
20+
Years in product
$50M
Revenue delivered at HSBC
24
Markets scaled at HSBC
$160M
Market opportunity opened
"Somewhere between product and commercial outcomes, the connection has broken — the CRO has quietly stopped trusting the roadmap and the exec team knows something is wrong but can't agree on what."

I diagnose fast. Whether it's a prioritisation problem, a commercial clarity problem, a structural one — or something the leadership team hasn't been able to name yet.

Then I land the decisions and reset product around the levers that actually matter: revenue, churn, and cost efficiency. Without the overhead of a full-time executive hire.

About me
What I do
Three things I fix.
All of them commercial.
Work with me
01
Commercial product positioning in regulated markets
Reframes complex products so banks, insurers and asset managers understand why they should buy. Translates technology into value framed around cost, risk, compliance and revenue. Removes AI and feature theatre that undermines credibility with regulated buyers.
PositioningRegulated marketsCommercial framing
02
Product-led growth and cost discipline
Reset feature-driven roadmaps into outcome-led portfolios. Link product investment directly to ARR, churn reduction, adoption or operating leverage.
ARR focusChurnRoadmap reset
03
Hiring & team design
Build a product function that scales. From defining roles to conducting interviews to onboarding your first PM.
HiringOrg designOnboarding
How I work

What changes in the first 90 days.

Changes
  • Leadership has a shared, evidence-based view of what is creating value and what is not.
  • Clear product priorities are agreed, including explicit decisions on what will not be pursued.
  • A small number of outcomes are defined and tied directly to ARR, churn reduction, adoption or cost efficiency.
  • The roadmap is reset around those outcomes, with real trade-offs.
  • The product is materially easier to explain and sell to regulated customers and investors.
  • Delivery focus tightens, waste is reduced and execution risk is visibly lowered.
Typical outcomes
  • Roadmaps reset around ARR, adoption, churn or cost levers rather than features.
  • Products that are materially easier to sell to regulated customers.
  • Delivery organisations simplified, focused and able to scale without scaling cost.
  • Improved investor and board confidence through reduced execution risk.
Michelle Wright
About Michelle

Twenty years in the room where the hard decisions get made.

I spent two decades building products inside some of the world's largest financial institutions — HSBC, LSEG, Barclays, RBS. The last two years as CPO of a VC-backed FinTech, reporting to the CEO and board.

I've scaled platforms from 8 users to 8,000 across 24 markets, delivered $50M in revenue in two months, and opened a $160M market opportunity with a team of four.

Now I work fractionally — bringing that experience into regulated businesses where product isn't yet driving the commercial outcomes it should. I work directly with CEOs and boards. I diagnose fast and don't do unnecessary process.

Experience20+ years · HSBC, LSEG, Barclays, RBS
SectorBanking · Payments · Insurance · Asset management
Sweet spotPE-backed or founder-led · £5m+ ARR · Regulated
Work with me
Writing
Thinking out loud,
in public.
All articles
Apr 2026
We swapped the motor but nobody redesigned the factory
93% of developers use AI coding tools. Team productivity has improved 10%. The bottleneck was never the build.
AI & Product
Mar 2026
The build problem is solved. Product thinking is the new moat.
Andrew Ng's teams are now proposing one PM to 0.5 engineers. The new constraint isn't building — it's deciding what to build.
AI & Product
"Michelle doesn't just diagnose the problem — she lands the decisions that everyone else has been avoiding. That's rare at any level."
CEO · PE-backed B2B FinTech · London
Ready to talk?
If product is where your growth thesis is getting stuck.

I work directly with CEOs and boards. If you're in regulated financial services and product isn't driving the outcomes it should, I'm easy to reach.

Get in touch