Drawing the regulatory line on purpose. Which features would make this regulated?

01 · The question

Which features would make this a regulated activity?

Before we built, I needed that answer. A platform on the wrong side of the line comes with a different cost, timeline and scope. I wanted us to decide where the line sat, not discover it later.

02 · How I worked it

Two steps, before the roadmap was set.

1. Map the featuresI led the discovery on what would count as regulated activity, feature by feature.
2. Confirm the boundaryI took that map to my partners in legal and compliance, and together we confirmed where the line sat.

03 · Why it was a product decision

The boundary shaped what we built.

Some features sat close to the line. Deciding them early meant we designed with the boundary instead of running into it after launch.