Hey, I’m Saloni!

I help teams make sense of complex behavior and evidence to shape product direction and priorities amid ambiguity.

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My Research Lens

Grounded in real-world constraints

Human Centered

I focus on understanding real needs and constraints, especially where assumptions don’t hold up in real-world use.

Holistic

I take a systems-level view, considering product, context, and constraints together rather than in isolation.

Data-Informed

I draw from qualitative and quantitative evidence to support judgment, especially when trade-offs aren’t obvious.

Collaborative & Strategic

I work closely with product, design, and business partners to shape direction as decisions are being formed.

Action-Oriented

I focus on research that leads to clarity and movement, helping teams decide what to prioritize and what to let go.

How I Approach Research

  • Defining the Problem

    I work closely with teams to clarify the problem space, surface assumptions, and align on what truly needs to be answered.

  • Observing Real-World Behavior

    I study behavior in real contexts to understand patterns, constraints, and where existing assumptions break down.

  • From Evidence to Direction

    I synthesize evidence to clarify trade-offs, shape direction, and support prioritization decisions.

Featured Projects

Business Financing: Designing for Cash Flow Reality

Why: Examined how SMBs think about unpaid invoices and loan terms, where financing products misaligned with real workflows, and how the application experience created friction.

Outcome: The work reshaped how the team thought about invoice financing and application flow, clarifying where the product was misaligned with real cash flow behavior and guiding subsequent product focus. This contributed to a 17% reduction in churn and a $4M+ annual launch.

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Macroeconomy: Economic Pressure and Repayment Behavior

Why: Investigated what drives loan repayment behavior at scale, comparing Tala’s product to alternatives like Fuliza to understand how users prioritized repayment.


Outcome: The research shifted how the team understood repayment behavior under economic pressure, clarifying how borrowers prioritized which lenders to repay first and prompting a rethink of how repayment mechanisms were structured. This led to to a ~6% increase in repayment rates.

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Banking-as-a-Service: Clarifying Product Direction for SMBs

Why: Explored how SMBs think about banking products to understand where a Banking-as-a-Service platform could realistically fit into their financial workflows.


Outcome: The study clarified how different SMB segments evaluated banking products, helping the team determine which use cases were worth pursuing and how the platform should fit into existing financial workflows. This shaped how the product was defined and positioned moving forward.

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What My Peers Are Saying

Ashley Brooke Karr

Product Designer, Researcher , Strategist at Ashley Karr, LLC (Formerly Product & Research Manager, Digital Payments at BILL)

“Saloni is one of the most thoughtful and strategic researchers I’ve worked with. She brings structure to complex problem spaces, asks the right questions early, and has a strong ability to translate research into clear direction for teams. Her attention to detail, storytelling, and collaborative approach made her a trusted partner across product and research.”

Zarreen Ali-Khan

Graphic Design Manager at Eagle Family Foods (Formerly Senior Design Lead at Tala)

“Saloni was a standout partner on our User Research team at Tala. She brought clarity to complex, multi-market research efforts and was consistently generous with her time and thinking. Her ability to connect research findings to broader brand and product considerations made a real difference in how teams approached the work.”

Get in Touch

I’m always open to a conversation, whether you’re hiring, exploring research support, or simply want to connect.

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • What sets my work apart is how I frame problems and connect evidence to decisions. I bring a behavioral research lens that helps teams move beyond surface-level findings and understand what’s really shaping behavior. By combining qualitative and quantitative data, I help teams clarify tradeoffs, challenge assumptions, and make more confident product and strategy choices.

  • I focus on ensuring research is tied to real decisions from the start. That means aligning early on what the research needs to unlock, pressure-testing assumptions as evidence emerges, and staying close to how teams plan to act on the findings. My goal is not just to generate understanding, but to help teams gain clarity around tradeoffs, priorities, and where to move next.

  • I work as a thought partner rather than a handoff point. That means staying close to teams as problems are framed, evidence is gathered, and decisions take shape. By engaging early and often, I help teams align on assumptions, navigate tradeoffs, and move forward with shared clarity.

  • I focus on making research useful at the moment decisions are being made. That means framing findings around tradeoffs, implications, and choices rather than outputs. By staying close to product and strategy conversations, I help teams understand what the evidence supports, where uncertainty remains, and how to move forward with confidence.