Stephen Joos, Product Manager in Denver, CO, United States
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Stephen Joos

Verified Expert  in Product Management

Product Manager

Denver, CO, United States

Toptal member since May 27, 2019

Bio

Stephen is a dynamic and strategic business leader with a track record of building and scaling innovative products across multiple industries. With extensive experience in product management, strategy, and business development, he has led transformative initiatives, including growing a mobility business to $100 million ARR in under a year, launching wireless carriers within a Fortune 20 company, and pioneering mobile fundraising solutions that generated millions for nonprofits.

Project Highlights

Fluid Truck
Transitioned a B2C marketplace to B2B, resulting in $100+ million in ARR in one year.
ZunZuneo and Humari Awaz | The First Mobile Social Networks
Led product development efforts to bring the 1st mobile social networks in Cuba & Pakistan to market with significant usage.
Mobile Giving
Led product design, development, and operations to launch a cross-carrier mobile donation solution that raised $75 million.

Expertise

  • Agile
  • Growth Strategy
  • International Commerce
  • Mobile
  • Mobile Payments
  • Partnerships
  • Product Management
  • Research

Work Experience

Vice President, Corporate Strategy

2022 - 2024
Fluid Truck
  • Secured $225+ million in funding through strategic initiatives and investor engagement.
  • Led product strategy alignment with corporate objectives, resulting in 20% revenue growth.
  • Spearheaded alliances across OEMs (Ford, GM, Stellantis), retail (IKEA, Target), logistics (Amazon, FedEx), and leading financial institutions.

Head of Product

2020 - 2022
Fluid Truck
  • Built the product function from 0 to 18 employees; scaled business to $100+ million in ARR in under 12 months.
  • Defined multi-year product roadmap and pivoted the business from B2C to B2B in 90 days, enabling 9-figure revenue growth.
  • Introduced the first-of-its-kind pay-as-you-go model, boosting retention and revenue with 70% of customers leveraging the payment feature.

Head of Product, Yahoo Mobile

2019 - 2020
Verizon
  • Led product, strategy, and design, and navigated complex regulatory hurdles to launch a brand new wireless carrier, Yahoo Mobile, in an unprecedented three months.
  • Introduced the world’s first wireless single sign-on (SSO) enrollment, streamlining user onboarding across platforms.
  • Owned and led all product functions, driving end-to-end strategy, development, and execution to successfully launch and scale the business.

Head of Product Growth and Strategic Initiatives

2017 - 2019
Verizon
  • Served as founding product lead on a team that launched Visible, Verizon's first digital-only direct-to-consumer (D2C) wireless carrier.
  • Created a peer-to-peer growth engine and innovative device swap program, resulting in an 8-figure contribution to customer lifetime value.
  • Built a pre-owned device category, exceeding projections by 80%.
  • Established strategic partnerships across music, finance, and insurance verticals.
  • Co-created Visible's nonprofit investment incubator, integrating social impact directly into the brand vision while providing strategic advice to emerging social enterprises.

Director of Product

2013 - 2017
GeoPoll
  • Designed and scaled an omnichannel consumer insights platform reaching 200 million users across 44 countries, successfully deploying 175+ million surveys and establishing market leadership in emerging markets.
  • Orchestrated product portfolio expansion and led cross-functional teams from C-suite to directors, resulting in 7 new revenue streams, including media measurement, micro-tasking, and advanced analytics tools, contributing to 60% of company revenue.
  • Spearheaded the company's international expansion by establishing EMEA headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, built the local product operations team, and adapted the platform for regional markets.
  • Supported business development efforts to secure key accounts with leading multinational FMCG, telecommunication, and media firms, including Coca-Cola, WPP, Colgate, P&G, and Vodafone.

Director of Product

2011 - 2013
mGive
  • Oversaw the end-to-end product development, SLA adherence, and administration of SMS, PSMS, mobile web, IVR, credit card, and client administration system in US, Canada, Haiti, Pakistan, and Cuba.
  • Conceived and executed on the go-to-market strategy for all products focusing on cross-functional coordination stakeholders throughout the product lifecycle in an Agile environment.
  • Scaled product to support over 15 million users, 2+ billion SMS messages, and $62 million in microtransactions and 1,700 nonprofit clients.
  • Oversaw additional product lines, including the launch of the first mobile social network in Pakistan (Humari Awaz) and Cuba (ZunZuneo) with material market penetration.
  • Developed a mobile money platform in collaboration with mobile network operators, banks, and the American Red Cross for a cash-transfer pilot in Haiti, post-earthquake.

Director of Operations

2008 - 2011
mGive
  • Collaborated with stakeholders to create industry standards for mobile messaging, transactions, and network provisioning processes for the mobile-giving channel.
  • Drove the end-to-end implementation of leading US and global direct messaging and billing carrier integrations with SLA creation and adherence.
  • Successfully managed multiple disaster response initiatives including the "text HAITI to 90999" initiative where $40 million was raised through PSMS micro-donations for Haitian disaster response.
  • Formed and maintained strategic partnerships within the telecommunication and payment space.

Project History

Fluid Truck

Transitioned a B2C marketplace to B2B, resulting in $100+ million in ARR in one year.

Fluid Truck enabled small businesses and consumers to access a commercial vehicle through a mobile app-powered self-service pickup. The company grew to 60+ markets, 9,000 vehicles, and $100+ million in ARR.

ZunZuneo and Humari Awaz | The First Mobile Social Networks

Led product development efforts to bring the 1st mobile social networks in Cuba & Pakistan to market with significant usage.

In non-internet-connected areas, it is difficult to access information, engage outside a small circle, and voice your opinion to the world.

I led efforts to launch a free SMS-based social network to allow information sharing between people facilitated by the social networking platform.

My efforts resulted in the following:
• Grew 800,000 subscribers, 1 billion messages in Pakistan.
• Expanded to 50% mobile penetration in Cuba.
• Changed behavior: the incidents were reported on the network as they happened in Pakistan, and the government increased internet accessibility in Cuba.

Mobile Giving

Led product design, development, and operations to launch a cross-carrier mobile donation solution that raised $75 million.

mGive was a cross-carrier platform that supported rapid donations through carrier-billing with 100% passthrough to participating charities. With my efforts, we launched a cross-carrier solution with 100% charity pass-through to support immediate SMS donations.

I enhanced the product to drive SMS engagement, donation diversification to support 1,700 nonprofit clients.

I led product development efforts to launch and grow the platform resulting in the following:
• Reduced client onboarding time by 10x.
• Reduced the donation transaction completion time to four seconds.
• Expanded the billing system capacity to support 75,000 transactions in one hour for an NFL promotion.
• The disaster response effort—text HAITI to 90999—led to a watershed moment raising $41 million for Haiti Earthquake relief.

Education

2019 - 2020

Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in Business Administration

Warwick Business School | WBS | The University of Warwick - Coventry, UK

2002 - 2007

Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration (Management Information Systems)

University of Colorado - Colorado Springs, CO, USA

Certifications

MARCH 2018 - PRESENT

PMC III

Pragmatic Institute

Skills

Tools

Trello, Slack, Jira, TFS

Paradigms

Agile Product Management, Agile Workflow, Scrum, Agile, Kanban, Waterfall Development

Industry Expertise

Nonprofits, Telecommunications

Platforms

Productboard

Other

Mobile Payments, Mobile, Product Management, SMS, Referrals, Loyalty Programs, Business Analysis, Requirements, Product Strategy, Product Roadmaps, Go-to-market Plans, User Research, Business Models, Product Design, Product Frameworks, Innovation, Product Ownership, Product Discovery, Product Delivery, BRD, Software Requirements Specifications (SRS), B2B, Data Analysis, End-to-end Implementation (E2E), Business to Business (B2B), Product Growth, Web, Android, Research, Media, Digital Advertising, Analytics, Growth Strategy, Business Development, Partnerships, Management, International Commerce, Global, Africa, Net Promoter Score (NPS), Content Management Systems (CMS), CRM Systems, Localization, Enterprise, Startups, Social Networking, International Payments, Mobile Money, Social Networks Development, Program Management, iOS, Advertising, Product Marketing, P&L Management, Salesforce, Seed Fundraising, Fundraising Strategy, Product Development, B2B Partnerships, Strategy, CX Strategy, Technical Product Management, Product Launch, Launch Strategy, International Business, Execution

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