Aldo Cherdabayev
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
London, United Kingdom
Toptal member since May 14, 2020
Aldo is a senior product leader and startup veteran with deep expertise in product, design thinking, and business strategy. As a PM, he specializes in building 0–1 products and has successfully launched half a dozen startups to market. On the other end, Aldo also pivoted a legacy social network with 10 million users into a new healthcare data platform. Aldo's clients value his strategic skills, personable leadership style, and ability to cut through the noise to achieve results.
Project Highlights
Expertise
Work Experience
Product Management Consultant
Self-employed
- Helped build the first world-class mental health therapy app in MENA, going from idea to MVP in two months and reaching business growth of over 20% MoM. Developed a product strategy that retained clients three times longer than the competition.
- Developed a GPT-powered chatbot on WhatsApp and native mobile apps that utilized the training from mental health therapists to help millions of people access personalized and affordable care.
- Brought a mental health symptom tracker used by clinicians and clients from idea to market in four months. Led product discovery to test several hypotheses with users, building the winning MVP in two months. Managed teams: product, tech, and design.
- Enabled a Gen Z social network launch that provided an educational alternative to TikTok. Delivered market research, customer development, technical requirements, a social sharing feature discovery, and a monetization strategy.
- Executed the end-to-end product development for a leading modern art institution in Russia undergoing a major rebrand. Contributed to product strategy, team leadership, and product design.
- Guided the website's redevelopment, crafted a mobile strategy, and overhauled the visual identity of the biggest online portal in the architecture industry, with over one million monthly visitors.
- Advised first-time founders on the product, go-to-market, fundraising, and recruitment strategies. Enabled four startups to raise seed financing.
Head of Product
HealthUnlocked
- Served as the senior product leader at the largest health social network with over 1.5 million users, 10+ million monthly visitors, 300 condition-specific communities, and most top pharma companies as clients.
- Expanded the product organization and instituted modern product management processes, allowing the team to focus on user research, data-driven decision marking, and design thinking.
- Aligned stakeholders to unblock the product delivery process, balancing competing objectives (tech debt, UX improvements, and commercial targets) to deliver a clear roadmap that fulfilled high-impact business goals.
- Enabled the team to improve core YoY KPIs, increasing the news feed engagement by 17%, NPS from 70 to 83, user profile completion by 55%, and total revenue by 20%.
- Directly managed and coached a cross-functional product team of ten.
Founder | Head of Product
Shryne
- Created the first-ever social health analytics product that used social and communications data to diagnose mental health conditions and risk factors built on privacy by design principles.
- Developed the product vision, strategy, roadmap, and go-to-market strategy.
- Grew the B2C side of the product to over 100,000 users in more than 20 countries in Year 1.
- Created a mobile messaging app that integrated with Shryne's social AI platform in real-time, giving users personalized analytics within two seconds.
- Managed a fully distributed agile team of 20 engineers, product managers, data scientists, and designers across eight time zones.
- Partnered with experts at Columbia University to conduct social health research and recruited 50,000+ participants for a clinical research program.
- Developed an enterprise social platform for the office. The mobile and web apps used communication data to provide enterprise HR users with real-time analytics on employee happiness, engagement, and retention improvements.
Principal Graphic Designer
Diller Scofidio + Renfro
- Worked with Diller Scofidio + Renfro, a world-famous architecture firm and MacArthur Genius Award recipient with 39 years in operation, 200 employees, and over 30 major international projects completed.
- Coordinated the operations for competition design proposals, helping to generate five large-scale civic projects for the studio (including a major museum and high-profile art galleries in New York City).
- Produced, designed, and managed the research for three book publications, including a bestselling retrospective of the firm's High Line project in New York City (published by Phaidon).
Teaching Fellow
Columbia University
- Co-taught the Core Design Studios in the Master of Architecture program alongside senior faculty members.
- Led software and design skills labs and seminars to help students with project development and learning the industry best practices.
- Organized the studio schedule, syllabus, and final review juries.
Financial Analyst
BMB Munai, Inc.
- Produced quarterly and annual financial reports for the New York Stock Exchange-listed energy producer.
- Presented the company's financials at investor roadshows, helping the company to raise $60 million in debt financing.
- Assisted the CEO in conducting deal analysis and valuation modeling in preparation for the company's acquisition.
Research Fellow
FINCA International
- Led the field research of the micro-loan leader's operations in Russia across ten regional offices and 200 customers.
- Conducted field interviews with customers to collect UN guideline-driven humanitarian impact assessment data.
- Published a report and presented the findings at a conference in Washington, D.C.
- Won an industry award for excellence in NGO field research.
Project History
Teletherapy Marketplace for the Gulf Region
https://ayadihealth.co/0–1 product manager for the leading MENA teletherapy app, taking the marketplace from Figma to MVP within two months, then to 20%+ MoM growth since launch. Owned product discovery, delivery, design, and research.
As an end-to-end product manager, I introduced product and design thinking in the team and executed the strategy to validate the product direction, prioritize the roadmap, build an MVP in six sprints, and set up the B2B2C platform for 20%+ MoM growth.
In addition to product management, I coached the team on best practices in the product, operations, information security, metrics, analytics, content management, and marketing, and helped recruit the right talent to expand the team.
AI Chatbot for Mental Health
http://www.nuur.aiShipped an LLM-powered chatbot that reached 6+ million conversations within three months of launch and retained more than 30% of its users after a month.
Worked with a dedicated tech and UX squad to run continuous product discovery, rapid experimentation, and agile delivery to ship two releases per sprint, optimizing activation rate at 89%, day 7 retention at more than 50%, and day 30 retention at more than 30%.
The product launched on WhatsApp and reached over 6 million new conversations in its first three months.
Educational Social Media Platform for Gen Z
https://oxygean.com/Helped the client define, scope, and validate the MVP prior to major launch.
• Interviewed creators to understand their needs, validate opportunities, and test prototypes.
• Refined and prioritized MVP scope through feasibility studies and user interviews.
• Defined technical requirements and produced documentation to deliver core features within the ambitious time-to-market requirement.
• Designed core content creation features, such as filters, stickers, and special effects, and implemented them with the design and development team.
• Developed strategies for business and creator monetization.
• Helped the team plan the go-to-market strategy for a major marketing channel.
Behavioral Tracking for Therapists and Their Clients
https://www.waverider.ioEnd-to-end product and strategy ownership that took the product from the founders' vision to a pioneering product for patients with serious mental illnesses.
As product lead:
• Helped to refine the founders' broad vision of an all-in-one platform into launching with a product that solves a specific need—daily tracking.
• Ran product discovery to validate five ideas, using design thinking, no code MVPs, design prototypes, and user research to prioritize the highest-impact product idea.
• Engaged in continuous discovery and delivery, primarily through regular user interviews, to ensure that the launch is in line with user needs.
• Hired and onboarded the technical and design team to execute the product strategy.
• Set up end-to-end marketing automation to measure and optimize several channels, including email marketing, digital ads, and organic content.
Mental Health Analytics Using Social Data
https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/28/shryne-backs-up-your-online-relationships-and-memories/Founded the first-ever social health analytics product that helped 100,000 people improve their digital privacy, organize their memories, and use the data to better understand their social behaviors.
Education
Master's Degree (with Distinction) in Architecture (Design/Construction)
Columbia University - New York, NY, USA
Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics
Stanford University - Stanford, CA, USA
Skills
Tools
Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Jira, Microsoft Word, Adobe Creative Suite, Google Workspace, Confluence, Slack, Atlassian, Atlassian Suite, Trello, Google Analytics, Figma, Mailchimp, Snapchat
Paradigms
Agile Product Management, B2C, Agile UX, Agile, Scrum, Continuous Delivery (CD), Gamification, Agile Software Development, Agile Project Management, Design Thinking, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), Key Performance Metrics, Requirements Analysis, Rapid Prototyping, User Testing, Kanban, HIPAA Compliance
Platforms
MacOS, Mixpanel
Industry Expertise
Health & Wellness, Healthcare, Health, Psychology & Mental Health, Professional Services, Consumer Finance, Financial Services, Banking & Finance
Other
Product Strategy, Product Management, Product Design, Graphic Design, User Interface (UI), User Experience (UX), B2B, Business Analysis, Customer Research, Roadmaps, Team Leadership, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office, Microsoft PowerPoint, Go-to-market Plans, Product Vision, Finance, Mockups, Wireframing, Design, UI Design, UX Flows, UX Research, iOS, iOS App Design, Android UI Design, Web UI, Web UX, Web Design, Web Development Strategy, Web App Design, Mobile Web Design, Web UI Design, Responsive Web Design (RWD), eCommerce Design, eCommerce UI, Health IT, Digital Health, Data, Big Data, Mobile Data, Data Analysis, Data Analytics, UX Wireflows, Product Growth, Product Delivery, Product Planning, Product Marketing, Productivity, Product Launch, Digital Marketing, Product-market Fit, Communication, Commercial Strategy, Commercial Analysis, GDPR, Teamwork, Teams, Team Management, Delivery Management, Agile Product Delivery, Project Delivery, Social Networks, Social Networking, Social Networks Development, App Product Management, App UI, App UX, App Design, Mobile Apps, Mobile, Mobile UX, Mobile UI, Mobile Design, Project Management, Project Design, Project Development, B2B Product Management, Product Roadmaps, Feature Prioritization, Backlog Management, Competitive Strategy, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Competitive Intelligence, Product Owner, Operations, Coaching, Product Coach, User Metrics, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Healthcare Product Manager, Agile Leadership, Analytics, Entrepreneurship, Startups, Early-stage Startups, Head of Product, Product Leadership, Product Consultant, Product Strategy Consultant, Telemedicine, Product Ownership, Technical Product Management, Telehealth, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), User Flows, Digital Project Management, Digital Product Management, Native Mobile Apps, Product Analytics, Lean Product Manager, Customer Analysis, Customer Interviews, Scope, Project Scoping, Market Research, Market Research & Analysis, Market Fit, Journey Mapping, Onboarding, User Onboarding, A/B Testing, User Journeys, User Journey Maps, Stakeholder Management, App Growth, Growth Marketing Product Manager, Product Operations, User Requirements, Web App Development, Web Applications, Customer Journeys, Customer Development, Product Discovery, Feature Roadmaps, Market Strategy and Research Product Manager, Lean Startups, Healthcare IT, Healthcare Services, Android Design Guidelines, Customer Experience, Software as a Service (SaaS), User Personas, Functional Specifications, Requirements & Specifications, Websites, Sprint Planning, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Documentation, Sprint Retrospectives, Edtech Design, User Stories, Qualitative Research, New Product Development, Quantitative User Research, User Feedback, UX Design, Mobile UX Design, Mentorship & Coaching, Project Consultancy, User Validation Testing, Community, Business Plan Consulting, Cost Estimation, Revenue Strategy, Social Media, Feature Analysis, Field Research, User Interviews, Medical Software, Project Timelines, MVP Design, Feature Planning, Scope Management, Feasibility Studies, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Cross-functional Collaboration, Research, Specs, Consulting, Go-to-market Strategy, Web & Mobile Applications, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Prototyping, Lean, Product Research, Business to Consumer (B2C), Startup Consulting, Discovery Workshops, Project Planning, P&L Management, eCommerce, Responsive, Mobile eCommerce, Financial Analysis, Financial Modeling, Quality Assurance (QA), QA Testing, Windows, Recruiting, Recruitment, Pricing, Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), Technical Requirements, Project Budget Management, Marketing, SaaS, SaaS Product Management, Medtech, Fintech, Growth Hacking, Digital Marketing Product Manager, Electronic Health Records (EHR), Miro, Business to Business (B2B), Live Chat, Vendor Selection, Pricing Strategy, User Research, User Segments, Pitch Decks, Mobile App Development, Two-sided Marketplaces, Android, Web, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Technical Project Management, Corporate Finance, APIs, Technical Writing, Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Process Automation, Process Optimization, Instagram, Conversational AI, Machine Learning
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