Skillz - Road To Pro (Assignment)

New Skillz users land in a static, transactional lobby after completing the tutorial with only one clear action: 'Play a Match.' There is no overarching goal, no sense of progression, and no explanation of how Z currency, Ticketz, and Bonus Cash fit together. Early sessions feel hollow and many users churn before forming a habit or understanding the value of cash competition. In casual real money gaming, users who don't feel rewarded or know what they're progressing toward typically churn within their first few sessions — before experiencing their first win, reward, or sense of long-term mastery.

Road to Pro is a platform-wide 10-step progression journey that takes new users from Novice → Pro. Each step links a core action — play a match, win, customize profile, enter a cash match — to an incremental reward in Z currency, Ticketz, cosmetic unlocks, or a non-withdrawable Pro Trial Bonus Cash grant. The journey teaches the Skillz economy through doing, not static instructions. Progress is tracked at the platform level across all participating titles, reinforcing Skillz as an ecosystem with a persistent identity — not a collection of isolated games. The UI follows an esports aesthetic with a vertical neon path, active node glow, and gold completion states.

I ran a structured solution exploration across three options: Social Referral Hub, Cosmetic Store Revamp, and Road to Pro. Using an Impact vs Effort matrix and competitor analysis of Papaya Gaming, AviaGames, and MPL, I recommended Road to Pro as the highest-impact, scalable intervention for D0–D3 cohort churn. I designed the reward structure to be intentionally modest — anchoring motivation in visible progress and cosmetic status rather than raw payout — to protect the Z/Ticketz economy from inflation and abuse. Key risk mitigations included a 24-hour Pro Trial Bonus Cash expiry, a non-withdrawable constraint, and a match liquidity guardrail metric to ensure users enter matches rather than browsing the progression map.

Delivered a complete PRD submitted to Skillz Inc. as a feature proposal. The document covers problem space, competitor analysis, solution exploration with impact/effort scoring, full feature specification, 10-step milestone and reward map, high-fidelity UI descriptions with 8 wireframe screens, success criteria, KPI framework, trade-off analysis, and go-to-market messaging. Primary hypothesis: D7 retention increases 5–10% vs control; first cash match entry increases 5–10% without harming match liquidity.