Paul is available for hire
Hire PaulPaul Sims
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Atlanta, GA, United States
Toptal member since May 4, 2020
Expertise
Bio
Paul is a Harvard MBA with 20+ years of experience generating growth as an executive in private equity-backed companies, startups, and Fortune 500 businesses. He has P&L ownership experience and has run $100 million digital products growing >50%. His expertise lies in SaaS, marketplaces, automotive, tech, insurance, and fintech. His recent P&L experience includes building a digital channel to #1 market share in 24 months and turning around a $200 million P&L in a Fortune 500 insurance company.
Project Highlights
Digital Transformation
Led the analysis and then design of the digital transformation plan for private equity-owned 30-year-old $200-million auto warranty company.
EU Based VC-Backed 2-sided Digital Marketplace
Helped the executive team with a new, fast-growing entrant to properly develop and plan the go-to-market plan for a new product with a strategic pricing strategy.
Online Vehicle Exchange
Oversaw the research, definition, and development of a new online platform including reporting, UI, transaction features for the main site along with five private label sites. It was for the largest wholesale automotive online auction marketplace.
Expertise
- Automotive
- B2B
- Company Strategy
- Go-to-market Plans
- Insurance
- Marketplaces
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Startups
Work Experience
President
2020 - PRESENT
Agile Strategic Consulting
- Created a comprehensive digital transformation plan for a $200-million private equity-owned auto warranty company.
- Developed a growth plan for a private equity-owned specialty insurance company.
- Developed a comprehensive digital marketing lead generation program with three facets: Local social media advertising, webinars, an online referral tool and launched pilots with local offices for a private equity-owned financial services firm.
- Assisted the executive team of a UK-based series A marketplace startup to design the business model for a new product launch aimed at their current customers.
- Developed a new $25 million extended warranty program for a manufacturer including qualitative and quantitative market research, internal interviews, 5-year financial forecast, D2C and dealer channel sales processes, and go-to-market plan.
SVP of Digital Automotive and National Accounts
2018 - 2020
Assurant
- Grew the digital automotive business to four digital automotive clients with #1 market share in the industry through creating new modified versions of products for the digital clients' needs and setting up partnerships.
- Revitalized a $200 million P&L from a multi-year decline—exceeding the revenue plan by 40% and income by 14% by implementing new processes and revamping the customer relationship.
- Developed a new product offering value to consumers on insurance products even if they never make a claim.
EVP of Digital Automotive and National Accounts
2017 - 2018
The Warranty Group (Acquired by Assurant)
- Built the digital automotive distribution channel business from the ground up serving online dealers, marketplaces, and shared economy companies. Achieved two initial enterprise clients and a robust pipeline of potential partners.
- Built the company’s first digital platform for online automotive service contract sales for B2C and B2B2C.
- Managed a $200 million P&L, establishing new processes for improved service and stabilizing existing client relationships.
Chief Operating Officer (COO)
2014 - 2016
Kredible Technologies
- Raised two rounds of funding from the largest angel group in the Southeast with investors on both coasts. Sold the company to WisdomTree.
- Built a product and development team and established an agile software development process.
- Co-invented a pending patent for a natural language processing and machine learning system.
Co-founder and Customer Strategy Officer
2011 - 2014
DealerMatch (Acquired by Cox Automotive)
- Wrote the business plan and raised over $45 million through multiple rounds for a socially enabled, big data B2B marketplace that disrupted the (20 million US transactions) wholesale used car industry.
- Built and led inside and outside sales, product, customer success, and marketing teams.
- Built the largest wholesale automotive community globally with 2 million vehicle listings from 32,000 car dealers. Annual revenue run rate of $7.2 million in month-to-month subscription revenue within 24 months. 40% quarterly revenue growth.
- Collaborated with the product team to build an integrated web/iOS/Android platform used by 1,700 subscribing car dealerships nationwide.
- Co-invented five pending patents covering core technology applicable to marketplaces across multiple industries, including a first-of-its-kind marketplace behavior prediction tool leveraging 70 million data points.
Director of Online Dealer Operations (Product)
2007 - 2011
Manheim
- Managed the product management team of nine. Responsible for the evolution of an online portfolio of mature, semi-mature, and new growing B2B businesses through product lifecycles, including $100 million revenue growing >50%.
- Staffed and managed the product management team. Grew annual revenues of 30% for Simulcast, a live online video auction broadcast product with ~2 million vehicles across 109 operating locations, and 600,000 vehicles sold.
- Staffed and managed product management team for the Online Vehicle Exchange product suite. Grew annual revenues of 60% with over 200,000 annual vehicle sales.
- Collaborated and managed product plans across six teams, including two IT organizations.
Co-founder and Director of Product Management
2005 - 2007
Ove
- Grew the wholesale automotive online auction marketplace to an $18 million revenue and 17,000 B2B customers in 18 months.
- Defined processes, procedures, pricing, and customer solutions strategy.
- Managed research, definition, and development of the new online platform, including reporting, user interface, transaction features for the main site, and five private label B2B platforms: BMW, Ford, Toyota, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz.
Director of Business Development
2002 - 2005
Philips Consumer Electronics N.A.
- Helped take the division from a $350 million loss (‘01) to their first break-even quarter (Q1 ’05) in ten years through reorganization, new businesses, and strategic go-to-market changes.
- Developed new, higher-margin channels via non-traditional consumer electronics retailer, Bose, and home builder partnerships.
- Established, managed co-marketing, and sales partnerships with four of the top six cable companies.
General Manager of eBay-AutoTrader.com Auctions
1998 - 2001
AutoTrader
- Managed full P&L for the creation and launch of eBay-AutoTrader.com (the internet's largest used car auction site—a joint-venture with eBay), including the hiring and managing of customer service, business development, sales liaison, and IT.
- Built revenues to over $6 million annual run rate in less than nine months through the development of marketing and field sales-force plans, comprehensive customer service processes, and customer-centric web-based tools.
- Created a national dealer customer base of ~650 through behavior analysis, segmentation, and sales efforts.
- Jointly managed a marketing budget of $14 million with advertising agencies and both companies’ marketing teams.
Associate Consultant
1996 - 1998
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
- Conducted competitive bench-marking, including stock flow, inventory management, and pricing. Resulted in a changed pricing strategy, SKU category allocation, and category management for a Fortune 200 apparel retailer.
- Analyzed customer response to delivery channel changes for a super-regional bank, resulting in increased customer affinity and a delivery channel rollout model.
- Researched and analyzed the legal market for a top 100 corporate law firm to identify growth practices.
Project History
Digital Transformation
Led the analysis and then design of the digital transformation plan for private equity-owned 30-year-old $200-million auto warranty company.
DELIVERABLES
• Analyzed the (external) market trends and (internal) strengths/weaknesses of the client organization, tech, go to market, profitability and market share.
• Identified gaps in competitor strategic moves.
• Designed three new growth business opportunities.
• Created a new digital strategy for the company which was approved by the board.
• Analyzed the (external) market trends and (internal) strengths/weaknesses of the client organization, tech, go to market, profitability and market share.
• Identified gaps in competitor strategic moves.
• Designed three new growth business opportunities.
• Created a new digital strategy for the company which was approved by the board.
EU Based VC-Backed 2-sided Digital Marketplace
Helped the executive team with a new, fast-growing entrant to properly develop and plan the go-to-market plan for a new product with a strategic pricing strategy.
This 2-sided marketplace was growing quickly but was competing against entrenched incumbents and a large digital entrant. I helped the executive team evaluate a new product idea.
DELIVERABLES
• Analyzed the competitors' likely moves, pricing, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Helped the team understand the impacts of different product bundling strategies
• Helped the team develop the optimum pricing strategy
DELIVERABLES
• Analyzed the competitors' likely moves, pricing, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Helped the team understand the impacts of different product bundling strategies
• Helped the team develop the optimum pricing strategy
Go-to-market HR Tech Software Platform | Kredible
Developed a go-to-market plan for an HR-tech company with an online presence optimization software tool to serve job seekers resulted in partnerships with several universities and the largest outplacement firm globally.
Kredible was a 25-person technology startup that had been serving the corporate market for client-facing sales professionals, but the CEO wanted to evaluate options to expand their market. I was brought on as a strategic consultant and analyzed possible use cases and ways to go-to-market, and developed a plan which was implemented. The CEO hired me as COO, after which I rolled out the proposed plan.
Online Vehicle Exchange
Oversaw the research, definition, and development of a new online platform including reporting, UI, transaction features for the main site along with five private label sites. It was for the largest wholesale automotive online auction marketplace.
I conducted surveys and interviews with car dealers nationwide and used these insights to guide the platform's development and guide the sales strategy.
I also worked with an Agile development team using Ruby on Rails to develop and launch this platform. I then defined processes, procedures, and pricing to handle hundreds of thousands of high ticket purchases. These private-label B2B platforms included BMW, Ford, Toyota, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz.
It grew to $18 million in revenue and 17,000 B2B customers in 18 months.
I also worked with an Agile development team using Ruby on Rails to develop and launch this platform. I then defined processes, procedures, and pricing to handle hundreds of thousands of high ticket purchases. These private-label B2B platforms included BMW, Ford, Toyota, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz.
It grew to $18 million in revenue and 17,000 B2B customers in 18 months.
Education
2001 - 2002
Master of Business Administration Degree in Business
Harvard Business School - Boston, Massachusetts, USA
1989 - 1996
Bachelor's Degree in Economics
Brigham Young University - Provo, Utah, USA
Certifications
FEBRUARY 2019 - PRESENT
Licensed Property and Casualty Insurance Agent
Georgia Department of Insurance
Skills
Tools
Google Docs, Apple Keynote, Jira, Slack, Google Workspace
Paradigms
Marketplace Platforms, Agile
Industry Expertise
Marketplaces, Automotive, Financial Services, Insurance
Other
Customer Analytics, Two-sided Marketplaces, Disruptive Innovation, Digital Transformation, Fundraising, B2B, Microsoft Office, Product Strategy, Go-to-market Plans, Company Strategy, Startups, Startup Funding, Intrapreneurship, Entrepreneurship, P&L Management, Google, Software as a Service (SaaS), Loyalty Programs, SaaS, Fintech, Business Strategy, Digital Strategy, Growth Strategy, New Business Development, Pricing Strategy, Competitive Strategy, Competitive Intelligence, New Product Development, Market Research & Analysis, Strategy, Business Consulting, Social Media Strategy, Organic Social Media, Leadership, Chief Operations Officer (COO), Business, Administration, Economics, Product Management, Product-market Fit, Product Marketing, Research
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