Laszlo Kardos
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Budapest, Hungary
Toptal member since July 16, 2020
Laszlo has been a product leader for the past decade. He worked at global businesses like Skyscanner, Prezi, PwC, and Reward Gateway. He's led teams of up to 30 people while working in Tokyo, London, San Francisco, and Budapest. Laszlo is experienced and knowledgeable in the travel industry. He built and served as CEO of two startups and was part of two acquisitions. He is a software engineer by trade who speaks English, German, Hungarian, and a little Japanese.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile Product Management
- Blockchain
- Data Analytics
- Lean Development
- Marketplaces
- Product Growth
- Prototyping
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Work Experience
Director of Product Management
Reward Gateway
- Redesigned and improved the product organization structure and product development process.
- Onboarded and managed 11 product managers, ensuring they understood the company's philosophy, values, and product principles, and had the technical skills needed to succeed.
- Collaborated with the engineering team, which includes the director of engineering and CTO, to align work with the overall product strategy and vision.
Growth Product Manager
Reward Gateway
- Grew the revenue by 30x in net ARR and the number of paid clients by 15x in two years with strategic growth focused on product management.
- Increased the average client size by more than 130% in two years by prioritizing specific activation-related growth product features.
- Explored and evaluated the opportunity to expand the business into the blockchain space and communicated it to the executive leadership.
- Launched over 20 large product features and improvements in two years.
Co-founder and CEO
Trekhunt
- Conceptualized, designed, and built the MVP of Trekhunt, an online travel marketplace for outdoor activities and adventures.
- Led the team of 12 people to build the platform and scale it from zero to 220,000 organic visitors.
- Introduced Agile product development processes and trained a team of engineers about how to take ownership of product development initiatives.
- Trained, managed, and mentored 11 people with various backgrounds, including engineering, finance, sales, and design.
- Doubled booking conversion rates by introducing new product features that channeled visitors to the right points in the funnel.
- Prototyped, user-tested, designed, and A/B tested 80% of the features of Trekhunt.
- Did over 200 hours of user interviews to understand key user needs related to outdoor adventures. Built a process of collecting these insights and turning them into valuable features.
- Designed and built marketing automation tools for Google Ads and Facebook Ads that sped up new digital campaign deployments from zero by 80%.
- Designed, built, and launched the Trekhunt Magazine by writing the first blog posts. Created a process of working with external content writers to organically scale the blog up to 220,000 visitors per month within three years.
Blockchain and Token Engineering Consultant
profession.hu - Contractor
- Worked with the executive leadership on a potential job market-related decentralized spin-off organization.
- Simulated several token economy models and scenarios with cadCAD to assess the non-linear dynamics of a potential decentralized job network.
- Designed and evaluated various NFT issuance models incorporated into the aforementioned decentralized token economy.
- Provided financial models for various fundraising scenarios for the project, for example, ICO.
- Designed and evaluated in programmatic simulations various fungible crypto token issuance models and semi-autonomous monetary policy contracts.
Co-founder and Managing Director
Motomoshi
- Designed the Android application from scratch and led a product team of three to develop and launch it in five European markets.
- Redesigned and led the development of the web platform of Motomoshi, which resulted in a 250% growth within a year of monthly active users.
- Introduced the premium version of Motomoshi on Android and led the product to a 4.6+ rating on the Play Store.
Senior Product Manager
Skyscanner
- Established product management processes in the big data tribe that was responsible for the big data platform of Skyscanner.
- Trained and mentored a product manager with a financial background in the big data tribe.
- Led the product development of the big data platform, which enabled data analysts and data scientists to both analyze and build data products on top of the platform, enriching the core product of Skyscanner.
Product Lead and Senior Product Manager
Skyscanner Japan
- Led the product and product organization of a newly founded joint venture of Skyscanner and Yahoo! Japan.
- Built a product team from scratch by hiring designers and product managers; established product development processes and kicked off major product initiatives.
- Led the development of a key product initiative that introduced travel discovery features and expanded the funnel to appeal to more users earlier in the travel cycle.
- Built partnerships with key Japanese and Korean businesses such as LINE, JTB, Kosoku, and Yahoo! Japan by negotiating with decision-making executives.
Senior Product Manager
Skyscanner
- Led the rebuild of both the Android and iOS apps of Skyscanner from the ground up within nine months.
- Trained, managed, and mentored a junior product manager who co-led a feature team in the organization.
- Trained, managed, and mentored two product researchers who eventually became senior researchers in Skyscanner.
Senior Product Manager
Distinction
- Established product management practices and culture in the organization by working with co-founders and key people in the team.
- Introduced product research and user testing in the organization, improving the process of developing new products.
- Implemented the Google Design Sprint methodology by establishing a small team that continuously ran sprints and shared their experience and knowledge with the rest of the organization.
Product Manager
Prezi
- Revamped the entire Prezi sharing experience by leading a small cross-functional team of six that doubled the number of presentation shares.
- Led the workgroup team and introduced the shared folder experience inside the product, enabling users to organize their presentations into dynamic folders.
- Refurbished the Prezi for Teams experience inside the product that enabled thousands of small businesses to start using Prezi for business purposes.
Senior Consultant
PwC
- Established cloud computing consulting, a new service type in the risk assurance services (RAS) business unit in the Hungarian office that got traction on the local market.
- Built a small tool to generate Excel-based audit evidence reports for the risk assurance services and speed up documentation of audits by 75%.
- Coordinated with executives and senior management for PwC to enter the pan-European nonprofit organization EuroCloud and led the security working group inside the local organization.
Software Engineer
Robert Bosch
- Reverse-engineered an officially undocumented FPGA programming protocol and built a custom programmer for the internally built testing hardware for electronic parking systems (EPS), which decreased the programming time by 90%.
- Led the project of building a parking system parameter downloader in Java from scratch that sped up the development team's efforts and is still in use after 10 years.
- Worked with German and Hungarian engineering managers and developers to understand their needs for speeding up EPS development, and derived a roadmap and software architectural plan based on these insights.
Project History
Building, Launching, Growing, and Managing Trekhunt
https://trekhunt.comLed the design and development of Trekhunt, an online travel marketplace for outdoor activities and adventures from zero to over 200,000 monthly visitors.
I conceptualized, designed, and developed the MVP of the product, built the team and raised funds for further development, established the product development processes, and trained and managed a cross-functional team of 12 engineers, designers, sales associates, and a small back office team.
Token Economy Simulation for A Decentralized Job Marketplace
Designed and simulated various token economy models and scenarios with cadCAD using Python to assess the non-linear dynamics of a potential decentralized job network for the client.
I took on a long-term consulting role and, working with the executive leadership, designed, constructed, simulated, and evaluated various economy models, including various token issuance models, semi-automatic parametrized monetary policies, and unique NFT strategies.
Designing, Managing, and Growing Motomoshi | Car Expense Tracking
Designed the Motomoshi Android application from scratch and led a product team of three to develop and launch it in five European markets and reach a 4.6+ rating on the Play Store.
I managed the design, development, and launch of the Android application with a team of three and reached a 4.6+ rating on the Play Store. I also managed the entire product on the web, which increased its monthly active users by 250% after the product improvements I oversaw.
BlockSci-based Bitcoin On-chain Metric Development
Designed and implemented new parametrized Bitcoin on-chain metrics and built an active Bitcoin on-chain pipeline to get them using BlockSci.
Education
Master of Science Degree in Computer Engineering
Budapest University of Technology and Economics - Budapest, Hungary
Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Engineering
Budapest University of Technology and Economics - Budapest, Hungarry
Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Engineering
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology - Karlsruhe, Germany
Certifications
Cardano Developer Associate
Emurgo
Problem Solving Certificate
Hackerrank
Certified Scrum Product Owner
Scrum Alliance
Skills
Tools
Trello, ETL, Jira, Tableau, Google Data Studio, Google Analytics, Confluence, MATLAB, Slack, Figma, Sketch, Git, Apache Airflow, Grafana, BigQuery, Jupyter, Kafka Streams, Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS), HubSpot, Google Docs
Paradigms
Scrum, Kanban, Agile, Agile Product Management, Marketplace Platforms, Agile Project Management, Iterative Development, B2C, Keyword Research, Requirements Analysis, Mobile App Design, Usability Testing, Agile UX, Model View Presenter (MVP), Acceptance Testing
Industry Expertise
Marketplaces, Automotive, Bitcoin
Platforms
Google Ads, Blockchain, Mixpanel, Jupyter Notebook, ProductPlan, Cardano, Firebase
Other
Computer Science, User Journey Maps, Wireframing, Development, Lean Development, Product Management, User Research, Prototyping, Technical Product Management, User Stories, UX Testing, APIs, Product Strategy, Dashboards, Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), SEO Tools, Growth Marketing, SQL, New Product Development, User Conversion, Website Conversion, New Products, Product Ownership, MySQL, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Technology, Data Analytics, Product Roadmaps, Requirements, Project Estimation, Google, User Experience (UX), Mobile Apps, A/B Testing, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Mobile UX, Mobile App Development, Product Growth, Startups, Project Management, Lean Product Development, User Requirements, Data-informed Decisions, Discovery Workshops, Software as a Service (SaaS), Growth Hacking, Website Audits, Market Research, Business Requirements, Stakeholder Management, Product Design, Product Discovery, Product Vision, Wireframe to Product, User Interviews, User Feedback, SaaS, SaaS Product Management, User Needs, Product Strategy Consultant, Data Analysis, Performance Marketing, Data, Performance Analysis, Go-to-market Strategy, Product-market Fit, Team Management, Agile Product Delivery, Reporting, Business Analysis, Product Owner, Cloud, Google SEO, Website Traffic, Technical Project Management, New Products & Services, Business Cases, Go-to-market Plans, Business to Consumer (B2C), Consumer Applications, Backlog Management, Scope Management, Mobile Applications, Feature Roadmaps, Distributed Team Management, Digital Product Management, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Websites, Web App UX, Roadmaps, Timelines, Monetization, Feature Prioritization, Market Research & Analysis, Cost Analysis, Project Timelines, Cost Management, Resource Management, Cost Estimation, Data Research, Vendor Selection, API Integration, Value Proposition, Business Models, Business Model Canvas, Value Proposition Design, Design, Project Delivery, Program Management, Web Product Management, Strategy, Developer Relations, Product Launch, IT Project Management, Team Leadership, Web & Mobile Applications, Project Planning, Presentations, Estimations, Communication, Revenue & Expense Projections, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Functional Requirements, Hypothesis Testing, Data-driven Decision-making, Software Development, Data-driven Dashboards, Web, JavaScript, Engineering Management, Facebook Ads, Node.js, Front-end Development, On-page SEO, Growth, Organic SEO, Content Marketing, Growth Strategy, SEO Content, Customer Acquisition, B2B, Big Data Architecture, Data Visualization, eCommerce, Affiliate Marketing, Mobile, UX Design, Marketing, UX Wireframes, MVP Design, App Growth, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Subscriptions, Mobile User Acquisition, Partnerships, Business Partnerships, Business Strategy, Strategic Partnerships, Pricing, IT Business Analysis, Apps, Marketing Analytics, Web 3.0, Fintech, Trading, User Interface (UI), User-generated Content, Consulting, Revenue Strategy, Software Consulting, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency, Databases, Statistical Data Analysis, Literature Review, Science, Marketing Automation, SEO Marketing, Digital Marketing, Contract, Google Apps, User Surveys, Seos, Growth Marketing Product Manager, Product Coach, Monetization Models, Web Design, Negotiation, Pricing Strategy, Customer Experience, Computer Vision, Fuzzy Logic, C, C++, Algorithms, Genetic Algorithms, Neural Networks, Embedded Software, Robotics, Corporate Finance, Accounting, Predictive Analytics, Investments & Risk Management, Multivariate Testing, Image Processing, Game Theory, Machine Learning, Embedded Systems, Personas, Jobs to be Done (JTBD), WordPress, FPGA, Embedded C, Java, New Business Development, Business Consulting, IT Audits, Risk Assessment, Excel VBA, Big Data, UX Research, New Product Business Cases, Product Leadership, Design Sprints, Mixpanel API, Android, iOS, Localization, Internationalization, Hiring, Team Building, Design Leadership, Platforms, Apache Kafka, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Organization, UI Design, Business Administration, Management, Seed Fundraising, Fundraising, Facebook Ads API, React, Next.js, Small Business, UX Prototyping, Backlog Grooming, User Personas, Scrum Product Owner, Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Native Mobile Apps, Lean Startups, Quantitative User Research, Two-sided Marketplaces, Validated User Research, Lean Product Management, Job Stories, Business Development, User Journeys, Design Workshops, Redshift, Amazon Athena, Journey Mapping, Google BigQuery, Data Science, Front-end Design, Google Ads API, Mobile UX Design, Google Material Design, Branding, UI Branding, Logo Design, PostgreSQL, Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Lifetime Value (LTV), Google AdSense, Startup Growth Strategy Development, Ahrefs, Search Engine Development, Facebook Pages, Amazon Kinesis, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), AWS Lambda, Serverless, Serverless Framework, Business, Organizational Leadership, Organizational Structure, Organizational Design, Search Engines, Startup Funding, Early-stage Startups, Web UI Design, Chargebee, Subscription Pricing, Sales Growth, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Customer Success, Tokenomics, Asset Tokenization, Non-fungible Tokens (NFT), Cryptocurrency, Crypto, CAD, Financial Modeling, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO), Business Planning, Simulations, Python, Economics, Brand Strategy, Haskell, Functional Reactive Programming, Smart Contracts, Financial Analysis, Algorithmic Trading, Capital Raising, Cryptocurrency Wallets, Enterprise SaaS, Launch Strategy, People Management, Director of Product
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