Anya Ruvinskaya
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Miami, FL, United States
Toptal member since November 4, 2022
Anya has over 10 years of background in product management, including education, finance, and social impact. She led product teams at BetterUp, Spotify, Minecraft, and Microsoft. Anya also has expertise with early-stage startups and is currently on the board of advisors of several. She is interested in creating outstanding, mission-driven products and experiences. Anya has an MBA and MA from Wharton Business School and the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile
- Discovery
- Management
- New Products
- Product Management
- Startups
- Strategy
- User Research
Work Experience
Product Strategist
Self-employed
- Launched two MVP products in the Web 3.0 space within six weeks.
- Conducted over 30 user interviews as part of a foundational user research study to determine target personas.
- Established Agile product development process and advised on strategy and roadmap for two global startups, doubling the engineering velocity.
- Rated as a Product School top instructor, based on reviews, among the cohort of 20 professionals.
- Led projects on design, product, UX, Agile, and user research.
- Engaged in angel investing, advising startups, consulting, speaking engagements, and mentoring.
Director of Product
BetterUp
- Grew product organization by 2.5x and directly managed seven product managers and teams across the US and EU.
- Launched two new product lines and incubated a third in wellness and HR technology.
- Led integration of an acquired startup, including tech and team.
Interim Head of Product
Leal
- Restructured the organization into four cross-functional, product-focused development teams.
- Established product discipline within teams and developed four product managers.
- Created processes to optimize product development, Agile rituals, prioritization of opportunities, and OKRs.
- Advised and formulated a process for people performance evaluation, optimizing for fairness and driving results.
Founder in Residence
Entrepreneur First
- Formed a deep tech startup with a technical cofounder, serving as CEO.
- Explored personalized health and wellness ideas, such as ML-powered recommendations based on DNA testing, vitals, and habits, as well as optimization of cognitive functioning by stimulating eye movements to recalibrate the brain.
- Advised founding teams in media, entertainment, and education industries, along with product management and customer discovery.
Product Lead
Spotify
- Developed the vision and strategy for building new products and capabilities to serve better creators, including managing Agile product roadmaps with a cross-functional team of 20 people.
- Mentored and managed a team of three product managers on an interim basis.
- Led payments marketplace strategy across the company, including work with senior leadership and external partners.
- Launched an automated payment process unlocking an unlimited number of artists to earn a living for their work. Reduced payment time in half, created transparency and self-serve management, and reduced manual work by 95%.
- Built a process for artists to self-promote on the platform, improving the average click-through rate by around 25%.
Senior Product and Business Manager
Microsoft
- Managed the Minecraft mobile and PC versions with over $100 million in revenue, including forecasts and monthly P&L reporting.
- Expanded Minecraft's user base by 15%, including launch on new platforms such as Oculus Rift.
- Grew Minecraft in-app purchase revenue by 2.5x and solidified monthly release cadence of new content.
- Spearheaded Minecraft's design and execution of new business opportunities, product research, and pricing.
- Oversaw Minecraft's expansion and key partnerships in emerging markets, such as Brazil, Mexico, Russia, and more.
- Increased deployment and activations of educational tools by 700%, leading diverse global teams and managing a $6 million budget within a worldwide public education sector.
- Developed a student strategy, increased program budget by 50x, and launched a global Student Ambassador program.
- Presented in executive business conferences to business leaders, government officials, and other public servants on prospective business opportunities and hosted foreign delegations in the US and internationally.
Project History
Direct Upload | Spotify for Artists
https://tcrn.ch/3VA1LoELed three product squads to launch a stealth flagship beta product, allowing independent artists to upload, distribute, and promote their music directly with Spotify, including getting paid directly by Spotify for the first time.
Minecraft Marketplace
Expanded in-app purchase revenue by 2.5x and solidified monthly release cadence of new content.
NFT Marketplace for an AI 3D Animation Startup
Launched an NFT marketplace from zero to one to launch within two months, including a fast follow iteration.
Braindow
https://tiebwrzj8khp.umso.co/Created and tested a startup idea, including customer discovery and fake door test, within two weeks.
Education
Master's Degree in International Business
The Lauder Institute, University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, PA, USA
Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA)
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, PA, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration
Stony Brook University - Stony Brook, NY, USA
Skills
Tools
Trello, Zoom, Google Docs, Jira, Asana
Paradigms
Agile, Agile Project Management, Requirements Analysis, Instructional Design, B2B2C, Rapid Prototyping, Marketplace Platforms, Business to Business to Consumer (B2B2C)
Industry Expertise
Health & Wellness, Holistic Wellness, Real Estate
Platforms
Oculus Rift, PC
Other
Google Meet, Entrepreneurship, Startups, Analysis, International Affairs, International Growth, Product Management, User Research, Management, Ideation, Roadmaps, Feature Prioritization, B2B, Discovery, New Products, Strategy, New Product Development, Customer Discovery, Competition Research, SaaS, Market Research & Analysis, User Needs, B2B Product Management, Data-driven Decision-making, Feature Analysis, Audience Targeting, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, User Flows, Feature Planning, Iteration Management, Analytical Thinking, User Experience (UX), Digital Product Management, Conceptualization, Product Conceptualization, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Two-sided Marketplaces, Business Planning, Pitch Decks, Go-to-market Strategy, Business Strategy, Business Administration, Product Strategy, Product Positioning, Revenue Strategy, Business Models, Software Implementation, Product Launch, Digital Services, Business Architecture, Business Analysis, Project Management, Use Case Analysis, UX Audits, Business to Consumer (B2C), Continuous Discovery, SaaS Product Management, Software as a Service (SaaS), Notion, Emerging Markets, Startup Funding, Business Development, Consulting, Market Research, Technical Product Management, Market Strategy and Research Product Manager, Pricing Models, Pricing Strategy, Product Customization, Markets, Revenue Modeling, Monetization Models, Algorithms, APIs, Content Strategy, Content, Writing & Editing, Training Content, Mockups, Wireframing, Mobile Apps, Fundraising, Financial Modeling, Head of Product, Chief Product Officer (CPO), Director of Product, Business Cases, Web Applications, Mobile App Development, Video Games, Mobile Game Development, App Store, Google Play Store, App Store Acceptance Process, Website QA, Language Learning, Languages, Finance, Media, Web3, Non-fungible Tokens (NFT), User Interviews, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Early-stage Startups, Product Development, Cross-functional Collaboration, Cross-cultural Management, Leadership, Performance Evaluation, Human Resources (HR), Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), Music Product Manager, Music Production, Cross-departmental Collaboration, Acquisitions, iOS, Android, Mobile, Virtual Reality (VR), Games, Education, Marketing, Partnerships, Sales, Desktop, Stripe Payments, Online Payments, CEO, Customer Development, Experimental Design, Technology, Editorials, Data Science, Natural Language Processing (NLP), B2B Lead Generation, Healthcare IT, Product Design, Branding, Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT)
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