Steven Burns
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Cleveland, OH, United States
Toptal member since May 18, 2021
Steven is a new product development expert with a decade of experience developing and commercializing new technology. He has developed and introduced several products, including the Keithley DMM7510, medical gas regulators, and innovative cardiovascular diagnostic equipment, that have resulted in multimillion-dollar sales growth. He also has experience in M&A, market research, and entrepreneurship. He has engineering (undergraduate) and management (graduate) degrees from CWRU.
Project Highlights
Expertise
Work Experience
Entrepreneur
Mstatt
- Obtained the SBIR funding to develop a dental diagnostic device.
- Lead an early-stage startup and created a product strategy.
- Interviewed 200+ potential customers to ensure product-market fit and develop product definitions.
Director of Product Management and Marketing
The ScottCare
- Developed and managed FDA-regulated medical devices (Class I and II).
- Mapped core and adjacent markets to identify M&A target areas. Identified dozens of potential acquisition candidates, initiated conversations, and evaluated financials.
- Created a new product financial model template and new product roadmap.
- Identified new opportunities to bring existing products into larger and more profitable markets.
- Managed and trained a junior product manager from a customer service role.
Marketing Manager
Western/Scott Fetzer
- Managed a $40,000,000 product line of FDA Class I medical devices and industrial products.
- Wrote a strategic plan and developed a corporate strategy to guide profitable growth.
- Created a product roadmap, managed yearly strategy process, and launched several products through the stage-gate process, enabling 6% average YOY growth in flat commodity markets.
- Managed a product manager and marketing communications associate.
- Defined and launched VA and VO revolutionary oxygen and acetylene regulators for HVACR brazing.
- Supported sales team with training, market analysis, pricing analysis, and new collateral.
- Managed M&A strategy and initiated conversations with several candidate companies.
- Wrote five technical application notes to improve demand.
- Made 2,500+ SKUs obsolete to improve operational efficiency and improve profitability.
Product Manager | Strategic Marketing Manager
Process Technology
- Developed a corporate strategy to guide profitable growth in differentiated markets.
- Achieved 7% average YOY growth in a flat market through new product development and product positioning.
- Managed $25-30,000,000 product line by managing pricing, profitability, and long-range forecasting.
- Created a product roadmap and yearly company strategy processes, which established a framework for growth.
- Developed a marketing stage-gate process to guarantee market needs are captured in new products.
- Initiated and guided new product development projects to meet new and existing customer and market needs.
- Identified and pursued new industry, application, and geographic markets for existing products.
- Identified and pursued potential M&A and private label targets.
- Improved product positioning, value propositions, and marketing content.
- Wrote several case studies based on customer applications.
Product Marketer | Product Marketing Engineer
Tektronix
- Worked through the stage-gate process as a marketing manager to bring Keithley DMMs and Picoammeters to market, resulting in around $5,000,000 in revenue gains.
- Helped define, refine, and qualify next-generation UI/UX in Keithley DMM7510, which won an ACE Award for its innovative features and groundbreaking usability.
- Developed product concepts, messaging, financial models, value propositions, collateral, and launch plans.
- Managed, analyzed, and grew $7,000,000 switching and accessories product lines.
- Collaborated with engineering teams in China and business partners in Taiwan on new product development.
- Reduced overhead by making thousands of model numbers obsolete during integration with Tektronix business.
- Increased revenue by organizing and overseeing multiple pricing realizations across $100,000,000+ business units.
- Performed product training on new and existing products for sales and applications engineering to support product launches and product line growth.
Strategic Intelligence Associate
Lubrizol
- Identified market characteristics in motorcycle motor oil markets in Asian countries to project future demand.
- Identified business risks from bio-based lubricants in order to support risk mitigation strategies.
- Uncovered flaws in lubricant demand models and developed new demand scenarios, resulting in better long-range demand forecasts.
- Identified business risks from vehicle electrification.
Project History
Cardiovascular Diagnostic Product Line Management
Created a product strategy and roadmap for a medical device company.
• Mapped core and adjacent markets to identify M&A target areas.
• Identified dozens of potential acquisition candidates, initiated conversations, and evaluated financials.
• Created a new product financial model and roadmap.
• Identified new opportunities to bring the existing products into larger and more profitable markets.
• Managed and trained a product manager.
Keithley DMM7510 Development
https://www.tek.com/tektronix-and-keithley-digital-multimeter/dmm7510Defined, developed, and created a go-to-market strategy for Keithley DMM7510 UI-centric high accuracy multimeter.
The DMM7510 combines a precision, high-resolution digital multimeter (DMM), graphical touchscreen display, and high-speed, high-resolution digitizer to create the first graphical sampling multimeter. With Pa-level sensitivity and 1-Msample/s sampling, it accurately measures ultra-low sleep mode currents and transmits drain currents from wireless devices.
NSF SBIR Funding
Obtained NSF SBIR funding to develop a dental diagnostic device.
Education
Master's Degree in Management
Case Western Reserve University - Cleveland, OH
Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Engineering
Case Western Reserve University - Cleveland, OH
Certifications
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification
Case Western Reserve University
Skills
Tools
Zoom, Slack
Industry Expertise
Medical Diagnostics, Electronics, Lean Six Sigma, Industrial Gases, Healthcare, Semiconductors, Medical Imaging, Oil & Gas, Utilities, High-tech Startups, Dental Care
Paradigms
Six Sigma, Agile Product Management, Rapid Prototyping
Other
WhatsApp, Microsoft, New Products, Medical Devices, NPI, Entrepreneurship, New Product Development, Product Development, Medical Product Manager, Product Management, Company Strategy, Market Entry, Product Roadmaps, Enterprise, Regulated Industries, Medical Applications, Market Research, User Research, Marketing, Market Research Analyst, Go-to-market Strategy, Product Strategy, Marketing Research & Analysis, Analytics, Data, Data Analysis, Strategy, Business Analysis, Technical Product Management, Technical Writing, Product Owner, Project Management, Organizational Leadership, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Engineering, Medical Billing, Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Medical Software, Product Coach, Startups, Mobile Apps, Manufacturing, Startup Funding, Early-stage Startups, Startup Growth Strategy Development
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