Scott is available for hire

Scott Lee

Verified Expert in Product Management

Product Manager

Location

Milan, Metropolitan City of Milan, Italy

Toptal Member Since

February 11, 2022

Scott has eight years of experience as a product manager, consultant, and entrepreneur working with worldwide markets on behalf of large groups such as LVMH, Kering, and Richemont, as well as pre-seed to scale-up startups like Blablacar, Cheerz, and Snips (bought by Sonos). He has an interest in transversal and multidisciplinary projects. Scott is happy to jump into a pitch deck design and strategy debate with a founder to integrate and set up an analytics environment for future endeavors.

Websites Mobile Design Product Management Documentation Product Owner Lean Software as a Service (SaaS)Mobile Applications Push Notifications SaaS Apps Product Consultant Technical Project Management Mobile Payments Agile Stakeholder Management

Project Highlights

Skin Diagnostic and Production Platform for Skincare Startup

Led the design, creation, and implementation of a fully customized skin diagnostic, analysis, production, and sales platform for a skincare startup.

MVP to v1 Evolution of a Hybrid AI-based Recruitment Marketplace

Led the internalization and transition of an MVP-level project to v1: established a team of UX designers and remote developers to take over the existing project and managed the technical transition from a white-label to an in-house solution.

Discovery of a Hidden Payment Problem Costing 2-3% of Total Conversion

Discovered a major payment fault due to bad configuration in the FR and IT market leading to a loss of 2-3% on payments, investigated and diagnosed the payment fault with confirmation from Stripe, and proposed a detailed plan to fix it.

Expertise

Agile Marketplace Platforms Product Management Product Strategy Stakeholder Management Startups Technology Strategy & Architecture

Work Experience

Co-founder

2022 - PRESENT

VirtualRoad

Launched a startup with a former coworker in the VR edtech space.
Conducted market research, identified different market segments, and chose a precise segment.
Created the first one-pager, deck, and biz dev funnel to launch beta.

Senior Product Manager

2022 - PRESENT

Cat Person Inc

Created the new tech team roadmap less than a month after starting.
Launched a major project to assess, estimate, and evaluate the priority of technical debt across the platform with clear business cases to demonstrate the need for refactoring.
Simplified and revamped product roadmap inherited from a predecessor with a project management background. Organized existing to-do list around three major pillars with clear strategic objectives, new estimations, and KPIs.

Technical and Product Consultant

2021 - PRESENT

Asiance

Proposed solutions architecture across ERP, CRM, eCommerce, and operations for all three major luxury groups–LVMH, Kering, Richemont—for the South Korean market.
Worked with Valtech to propose a comprehensive Salesforce-based solution for a major luxury group migration project to move multiple maisons onto one system.
Created a new UX and web services offering for a major automotive group entering the Japanese market, Hyundai-Kia.
Led the redesign and significant improvements of two upcoming SaaS offerings for Asiance. Reused existing assets to improve new clients' acquisition, increase client revenue, and diversify offerings.
Built the complete technical guide to implementing KakaoTalk on an API level with the clienteling and CRM operations of a major global luxury group.

Product Manager

2022 - 2022

Oyova Software LLC

Worked with a Toptal team to deliver a detailed roadmap and estimates for a potential project.
Created a new product concept for a marketplace concept.
Delivered a mixed roadmap and planned it for both web and mobile.

Product Manager/Owner

2022 - 2022

Free2Move (Stellantis Group)

Created the first version of a multiproduct/transverse loyalty program across major EU markets and the US.
Launched several major refactoring projects to address UX and scalability issues.
Created and led the product strategy for GDPR and security compliance for the product team working with stakeholders to develop a project backlog and roadmap.

Product Consultant

2021 - 2021

Omnes Education Ltd

Took over and revamped the strategic programs roadmap from BCG and Accenture into an actionable, user-centric document.
Assessed the buy-versus-build feasibility of different solutions and integration, focusing on user adoption.
Conducted user interviews across five schools in three countries, documented stakeholder feedback, and created new personas.

Head of Product

2019 - 2020

Online Recruitment Marketplace

Took over and managed an MVP-level project to the v1 step with major changes, which involved multiple stakeholders and external partners across Europe and the United States.
Created a new roadmap, balancing technical needs for refactoring and architecture, the UX, and the business requirements.
Selected new external UX and tech partners to build the next iteration in a fully distributed team across Europe, the United States, and South Africa.
Built and managed a remote team of 4-6, including 1-2 UX designers, 2-3 developers, and one project manager.

Product Manager

2018 - 2019

Cheerz

Discovered a major conversion issue and led a project to replace Stripe to fix payment failures for 3-4% of all attempted payments in 2018.
Created a product team of UX designers and product managers and implemented testing processes with acceptance criteria and testing plans.
Served as the senior product manager and built a new monetize squad in a digital photo startup, working in French, English, and some Russian.

COO/CTO

2017 - 2018

Laboté

Created a new software platform to handle custom production and sales cycles based on fully customized skin profiles.
Hired and built a team of remote developers and UX designers on a minimum budget (less than 50,000 EUR) for an entire responsive website, custom back end, custom back office, and skin diagnostic quiz.
Implemented new workflows and processes to handle multichannel sales and delivery options.
Took over the CTO and COO roles after being scouted by Otium Capital.

Co-founder

2016 - 2017

Startup (Self-employed)

Prototyped two startup ventures, working remotely with cross-border teams.
Prototyped the MVP, created the go-to-market strategy, and successfully pitched Tomorrow, a B2C marketplace concept, to investors.
Crafted the UX for a future native app and interim chatbot, worked on user personas and profiles, and pitched Hoken, a new insurtech concept similar to Lemonade and predating Luko.

Product Manager

2016 - 2016

BlaBlaCar

Conceived and implemented the entire product redesign across the company, including the UX, components, and design system.
Managed the full-stack team, including UX designers and data analysts split between France and Poland.
Identified and addressed crucial UX flow problems in the core mobile product.

Product Manager

2015 - 2016

Sonetin

Built a new product and go-to-market strategy and pitched to incubators for an attempted pivot before shutdown.
Implemented a new data-driven digital marketing strategy using data warehouse and analytics tools.
Implemented a new product-centric approach and roadmapping in the company.

Business Developer

2014 - 2015

Snips (Acquired by Sonos)

Prepared pitches and secured VC and grant funding from Europe and the United States, ending in a $6 million close.
Elaborated on multiple business strategies and business models over six months.
Created and managed the IP framework with patent lawyers, engineers, and public authorities in the United States and European Union, working in English and French.

Project History

Skin Diagnostic and Production Platform for Skincare Startup

Led the design, creation, and implementation of a fully customized skin diagnostic, analysis, production, and sales platform for a skincare startup.

Laboté is a skincare startup specializing in fully customized skincare products. Its value proposition is that each skincare product, such as day cream, night cream, and serum, is unique and based on a skin diagnostic. Users onboard and respond to a questionnaire, which is processed into a skin profile that's validated by a licensed pharmacist. Product formulas are tweaked to match a particular skin profile with a one-to-many relationship between a user and their skin profile.

I created the system architecture, hired a UX designer, and built a distributed team on less than 50,000 EUR. In addition to creating significant complexity in terms of SKUs and product history, fully traceable records were required, as skincare is regulated by food and drug authorities. A custom platform was required to piece all these systems together, and at least 60% was new code.

Technical Implementation Guide for KakaoTalk for a Major Luxury Group

Collected client feedback about the platform and systems architecture and brand needs, created a new technical implementation guide on the API level as a blueprint, and proposed a modular systems architecture.

One of the three major luxury groups was facing challenges in its South Korean market strategy with KakaoTalk, the Korean equivalent of WeChat and the primary internet platform used locally. Brands could not integrate their eCommerce, CRM, and ERP systems with KakaoTalk, leading to decreased user engagement and marketing challenges.

Since the luxury brands used a mishmash of different providers, the project required a feasibility study across the brand-specific systems and KakaoTalk's own APIs. The result was a comprehensive implementation guide on the API level in conjunction with a Salesforce-based middleware layer.

MVP to v1 Evolution of a Hybrid AI-based Recruitment Marketplace

The client was a hybrid, AI-based marketplace matching company for tech professionals. The premise was to use AI to provide a first matching, screening, and qualification and then use recruiters to provide the soft touch and coaching required to close the deal.

The platform was originally based on a white-label solution proposed by an American startup specializing in AI tech for recruitment. This startup eventually built a heavily modified and effectively forked version of their platform for the client.

The project was to take over this platform and carry out very necessary UX improvements, internalize development with in-house resources, and partially integrate with the corporate parent group's systems for additional synergies. This last part required significant change and stakeholder management, especially as the startup was financed by the parent group through a traditional budget process.

The project was discontinued due to the aftereffects of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Discovery of a Hidden Payment Problem Costing 2-3% of Total Conversion

Cheerz used Stripe across its major markets for card payments, with France and Italy being two crucial markets. Unfortunately, due to some obscure, deeply embedded configuration issues, 2-3% of all payments failed at the very end of the conversion. These failures were caused by problems between the PSP, acquiring bank, and issuing bank, with certain details lost in transit.

The project involved detailed data analysis of payment records in Stripe's own logs and the back office, requiring cross-matching to verify and sample payment issues. These issues were flagged, confirmed in a discussion with Stripe in which their product team admitted this bug, and a new plan of action proposed the use of ProcessOut, an alternative PSP, as a backup in case of failed payments.

I prepared and presented complete specifications and a roadmap before the handoff and my departure.