What does Yanju Lawal do as a Fractional Chief Product Officer?

As a Fractional CPO, Yanju Lawal embeds directly within growth-stage scaleups and transforming enterprises on a 6 to 12-month retainer basis. She aligns product strategy with commercial objectives, institutes high-governance delivery cycles, structures product-engineering teams, and mentors senior talent.

When should an organisation engage a Fractional CPO instead of a full-time hire?

A Fractional CPO is optimal during pivotal inflection points: scaling from Series A to C, navigating complex regulatory or public-sector expansion, commercialising emerging AI capabilities, or restructuring product operations before making an executive permanent hire.

What is Yanju Lawal’s Evidence Ladder framework?

The Evidence Ladder is a 5-tier validation approach designed by Yanju Lawal to de-risk capital deployment. It forces product assumptions, customer willingness to pay, and compliance requirements to be verified with behavioural evidence before expensive production code is commissioned.

Advisory // Engagement Models

Strategic product leadership for the decisions that shape your business.

Whether you need an embedded CPO, board-level roadmap governance, or a focused commercial sprint, I help teams uncover real demand and build what actually drives traction.

01 / 6–12 month executive retainer

Fractional Chief Product Officer (CPO)

Embedded executive leadership connecting product strategy directly to revenue, commercial traction, and delivery.

Product strategy aligned to commercial objectives
Cross-functional alignment across product, technology, and revenue teams
Disciplined discovery-to-delivery governance
Senior talent coaching and capability building

02 / Non-executive & strategic advisory

Commercial Roadmap Governance & Board Advisory

Equipping founders, leadership teams, and boards to validate genuine market demand, govern roadmap trade-offs, and make sure engineering effort goes only into what drives commercial traction.

Commercial demand validation: testing real customer problems and willingness to pay before committing capital, so decisions rest on evidence rather than intuition.
Roadmap governance and feature prioritisation: clear frameworks so engineering builds what moves the commercial needle, not a growing backlog.
Systems thinking and product mindset: moving teams from reactive feature delivery to outcome-led product practice.
Executive coaching and mentoring: helping founders and emerging product leaders sharpen commercial judgement and make tough calls with confidence.

03 / 6-week intensive

Commercial Validation Sprint

A focused discovery sprint validating market demand, feasibility, and unit economics before committing major engineering or capital investment.

Rapid demand testing and problem-solution fit
Feasibility, regulatory, and delivery risk review
Clear go / pivot / stop recommendation

Direct Booking

15–30 min

Organisational Discovery Call

An exploratory dialogue for organisations considering an engagement.

24–48 hours

Written Advisory Inquiry

Share your organisation’s context and receive a considered reply within two business days.

Speaking & Media

Talks and workshops I have delivered.

Each session can be tailored to your audience, format, and sector.

Yanju Lawal leading a design thinking workshop at a national business forum — Leading a design thinking workshop at a national business forum, Birmingham

Topic 01

Technology Is Not the Hardest Part. Clarity Is.

Design thinking workshop · National business forum, Birmingham 2026

Audience

Founders, business owners, and product teams under pressure to adopt AI.

Central question

Are we solving a real problem for our customers, or rushing to adopt the latest tool?

Participants leave able to

• Reframe “which tool?” into “which problem?”
• Use design thinking to define the problem before building
• Treat AI as an accelerator, not a strategy

Topic 02

From Idea to Value Proposition: Keeping the Customer at the Centre

University enterprise programme · Founder and researcher mentoring

Audience

Student entrepreneurs, PhD researchers, and early-stage founders.

Central question

How do you turn a promising idea into a value proposition that real customers recognise and want?

Participants leave able to

• Anchor a proposition in genuine customer pain
• Test assumptions quickly and cheaply
• Keep customer feedback at the heart of the venture

Topic 03

Design Thinking Strategies for Product Management

Product education platforms · Professional product communities

Audience

Product managers, designers, and aspiring product leaders.

Central question

How do product and design work together to build things people actually need?

Participants leave able to

• Run discovery that uncovers real user behaviour
• Bring design and product together as one team
• Move from discovery to delivery with confidence

Topic 04

Breaking into the UK Job Market

Global talent and diaspora career series

Audience

Global talent, career changers, and professionals relocating to the UK.

Central question

How do you position your experience so UK employers can see your value?

Participants leave able to

• Tailor your CV to the role and its success profile
• Answer “why this role?” with clarity and confidence
• Build the networks that open doors

Speaker bios

Short bio · 43 words

Yanju Lawal is a UK-based product leader with more than 16 years of experience across startups, enterprises, and government. A recipient of the UK Global Talent endorsement in Digital Technology, she uses design thinking to help teams solve the right problems and deliver.

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Medium bio · 95 words

Yanju Lawal is a UK-based product leader with more than 16 years of experience turning complex challenges into accessible, high-impact digital products across startups, enterprises, and government. She is a recipient of the UK Global Talent endorsement in Digital Technology. Working across regulated sectors including FinTech, EdTech, HRTech, and GovTech, she is known for design thinking, value proposition clarity, and building multidisciplinary teams. She facilitates design thinking and value proposition workshops for universities, product communities, and national business forums, mentors emerging product leaders, and is the author of a job application and interview preparation workbook.

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Full bio · 234 words

Yanju Lawal is a UK-based product leader with more than 16 years of experience turning complex challenges into accessible, high-impact digital products across startups, large enterprises, and government. She is a recipient of the UK Global Talent endorsement in Digital Technology, recognised for her contribution to the global tech ecosystem, and consults through an invite-only network of senior global tech talent. Yanju brings together user experience, service design, product marketing, and end-to-end discovery and delivery. She is sought after for building and leading multidisciplinary teams in highly regulated sectors, including FinTech, EdTech, HRTech, and GovTech. Her background in physiology and public health (a BSc in Physiology and an MSc in Public Health from the University of Lagos) shapes a diagnostic approach: understand the real problem before building the solution. Design thinking sits at the heart of her work. She has facilitated design thinking and value proposition workshops for product education platforms, university enterprise programmes, PhD researchers from leading UK universities, and national business forums. Through Malvorah, she helps early-stage teams close the gap between vision and traction. Yanju also gives back. She serves as a Non-Executive Board Member, has trained and mentored aspiring product managers since 2020, and has led the programme and content team for one of the UK’s largest tech community events for three consecutive years. She champions women’s financial independence and career progression through her job application and interview preparation workbook.

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