Cristian Ureche

I worked with NEOM's tech and digital sector to invent the future of urban living. I created roadmaps, product visions, and OKRs for product initiatives to support the development of the cognitive city. I also coordinated with the highest-level stakeholders to synchronize product initiatives with strategic objectives.

I conceived the vision, mission, and product values, setting the north star for the entire product line. I developed MVP experiments and associated KPIs and owned the roadmap for all digital initiatives related to the product line. I also led the UX optimization initiatives and product interface revamp, identified market opportunities, and opened business accounts in seven countries. I then developed a network of partners—identifying additional revenue streams—and managed the annual budgets for product development, business development, and platform operations. Finally, the business received the following notable industry recognitions:

• French Tech Ticket Laureate, Paris 2017 – Selected out of 2,000+ worldwide startups
• Smart City Industry Awards, Bucharest 2016 – Best Mobility Solution
• Silicon Valley Open Doors, Dublin 2016 – Invited European Startup
• Best IoT Startup for Business, Bucharest 2015
• Panelist and Moderator for Smart City conferences, workshops, and exhibitions

Capterra is the world's leading software reviews and selection platform. In 2022, Capterra launched a new product initiative under my product leadership. The product had a 3x increase in traffic month over month until the end of my engagement.

I led a business analysis for the three business lines of the group concerning the strategy of adopting a digital transformation approach for the sales organization. I conducted sales process design workshops with key stakeholders, improving actions and adapting them to digital operations. I also performed a business suitability assessment for off-the-shelf CRM solutions—such as Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and Sugar CRM—and delivered a set of digitized sales workflows, including a CRM implementation strategy.

Mntrni is a two-sided marketplace for mentoring through video sessions and talent economy acceleration. It connects experts in business, research, and personal growth fields with users seeking professional advice. Mntrni provides mobile-friendly capabilities for a tailored and personalized experience.

I handled product road mapping and planning and managed the transition between different engineering teams, addressing technical depth. I also proposed a retention lifecycle framework optimization and customer journey enhancement.

I led the database redesign according to best practices and project needs in terms of performance and scale. I successfully migrated significant database content with minimum impact on service availability: with less than 12 hours of downtime for more than 500 million records in migration. I also coordinated a product revamp for the digital archive online viewer.

Cluj-Napoca Brained City was developed under the umbrella of CLUJ IT, a cluster-based organization formed by active organizations in the information technology field. The project had a budget of $2 million and is a reference for good practices in Eastern Europe.

I drove the product design and development of Smart Access Box hardware and software: the devices and the software platform, including embedded software and iOS and Android mobile applications. I also coordinated an international team spread across Switzerland, Romania, Moldavia, and China.