Roger Norton
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Toptal member since October 20, 2020
Roger has been running product and operations for high-growth tech startups for 10+ years. Focusing mainly on emerging markets, he co-founded and served as COO for Trixta, a developer tools platform; built and ran Playlogix, a startup studio; and developed Lean Iterator, a product validation process used by top local accelerators and a listed financial company. Roger lives at the intersection of building startups and creating agile, digital products in innovative, fast-moving businesses.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile Product Management
- Agile Workflow
- Interim CPO
- Product Management
- Product Owner
- Product Strategy
- SaaS Product Management
- Startups
Work Experience
Chief Operating Officer
Trixta
- Played a key role in raising over $1.7 million for the company.
- Participated in Techstars Blockchain Accelerator 2019 in New York City.
- Managed and grew a team of 14 that included 10 software developers.
Co-founder
Lean Iterator
- Led more than 50 corporate executives through three-day innovation design workshops in collaboration with the Hasso Plattner d-school of Design Thinking.
- Developed a validation process curriculum and assisted with the design of three different accelerators that had 80+ early-stage entrepreneurs participating.
- Designed an innovation lab for a listed financial services company where they invested $1.5 million in 70 product ideas, resulting in the successful launch of three new businesses in six months.
CEO and Entrepreneur in Residence
Playlogix
- Scaled the team from three to 15 people, increased revenue by 700%, and shipped 50 projects—all within 5 years.
- Managed a team of eight that built six native software platforms in 12 weeks for a domestic worker marketplace.
- Conceptualized, tested, and launched a mobile Forex wallet for a listed company in 18 months, which traded over $500,000 in the first three months.
- Launched a tutor-matching and payments portal with one developer in three weeks for less than $8,000.
Project History
Domestly | Domestic Worker Marketplace
Led the eight-person team to build six native applications in 12 weeks.
Our small, focused team used the designs provided to develop and ship the following platforms in two-times six-week build phases:
- React web app for accounts and booking
- Native iOS and Android apps
- J2ME mobile-friendly, domestic worker web app for low-end phones
- AngularJS admin CMS web app
- Java web app back end
This required extreme project precision, constant backlog adjustments, and ongoing re-scoping and re-prioritization. Constant team communication and collaboration were critical. We hit the deadline, which was followed by one week of intense pre-launch testing.
Shyft | Mobile Forex Wallet
http://www.getshyft.co.zaLed the team that scoped, prototyped, and built the mobile app as a new product launch for a listed financial services company. The app facilitated over $500,000 in transaction value in the first three months after launch.
THE CHALLENGE
A listed corporate bank chartered the team to “Solve the Forex needs for our retail customers.” Before proceeding with development, we conducted a series of 30 customer interviews, created click-through prototypes, tested the final design.
This project required intense corporate-level communication and thorough documentation. We compiled complex documentation for enterprise-level integration with the internal bank APIs and external service providers. My responsibilities included designing and briefing another development agency on back-end requirements. Finally, we built and integrated native iOS and Android mobile apps.
The product generated over $500,000 in Forex transaction volume in the initial three-month trial period before we handed it over to the bank’s team to run and maintain.
Skills
Tools
Google Workspace, Trello, Slack, GitLab, Pivotal Tracker, Asana
Paradigms
Agile Product Management, Agile Workflow, Design Thinking, Agile Project Management
Industry Expertise
Startup Accelerators, High-tech Startups, Sales & Marketing
Platforms
Blockchain
Other
Product Management, Lean Product Manager, Lean Startups, Value Proposition Design, Interim CPO, Product Leadership, Emerging Markets, Startups, Pitch Decks, Team Leadership, Company Strategy, Business Strategy, Product Owner, Software Development Management, Web Product Management, Startup Consulting, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Product Strategy, Team Management, App Product Management, Technical Product Management, Mobile Product Management, Fundraising, Customer Development, Customer Analysis, Agile Leadership, SaaS Product Management, Pitch Deck Consultant, Customer-centered Product Development, Software Consulting, Customer Research, Ideation Workshops, Business Plan Consulting, Mobile/Web Project Management, Customer Journey, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Distributed Systems, Pricing Strategy, Customer Support, Community Management, Innovation Labs, Digital Product Design, Product Discovery, Customer Interviews, Mobile Prototypes, SaaS, Early-stage Startups, Product Strategy Consultant
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