Stuart May
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Zürich, Switzerland
Toptal member since January 31, 2022
Stuart's been involved in startups and technology projects, working with banks, corporates, and NGOs using various technologies, including machine learning and blockchain. Complementary to technology, he is deeply interested in the human side, contributing to scaling psychometric and communication products with leading global and Swiss financial, insurance, and FMCG firms. Stuart enjoys the satisfaction of generating revenue and investment through a value-centered approach to business strategy.
Project Highlights
Expertise
Work Experience
Senior Product Manager | Employee Rewards Program
Reward Gateway, Limited
- Collaborated with senior executives on deriving feature priorities for product-led growth.
- Cooperated with senior executives to build a product roadmap to manage the migration of clients gained through a recent acquisition.
- Led strategic planning for the lead product's complete technical and operational restructuring for competitive positioning in the company's desired new markets.
- Led product incident management (IM) program development with senior client success and engineering executives.
- Redefined and restructured product operations for the lead product determining resource allocation.
- Managed competing internal incentives to create a strategic view that reconciled growth and scale challenges to provide investor-determined business returns.
- Managed a product team of product owners and designers, creating an environment where they could be maximally productive and engaged.
- Ensured a constructive succession strategy considering the nature of the relatively short-term contract engagement.
Product Manager, Freelance
Dental Axess AG
- Provided subject matter expertise on digital business models and transformation, directly advising the CEO and board.
- Jointly developed a strategic approach to digital product development, delivering IP and business value.
- Led the creation and deployment of the new B2B data management platform.
- Managed the internal transformation of the operations program, including ERP, CRM, and marketing.
- Spearheaded an MVP's go-to-market, launch, sales, and support to global customers and partners in our defined segment.
Chief Product Officer
advaisor AG
- Supported the business and technology in building proprietary AI technology and applications for enterprises.
- Co-developed technology-led pilots with leading insurance, financial, and infrastructure institutions.
- Supported co-founders in operational measures, enabling a CHF 500,000 seed funding round.
- Implemented agile development operations.
- Fostered the commercial relationship with Microsoft, leading to advaisor winning the Microsoft Swiss Startup of the Year award and achieving the gold partner status.
- Completed the F10 fintech acceleration program with corporate partners from SIX.
- Testimonial: "We know Stuart as an intelligent product development expert, who grasps complex problems very quickly and familiarizes with new areas of responsibilities with ease." – Dimitri Nabatov, co-founder and CEO at advaisor AG.
Product Manager, Freelance
Provenance – Banking Environment Initiative
- Enabled a transformative project through modeling the supply chain for digital trade finance solutions.
- Strengthened key account relationships and engaged partners to achieve business process innovation.
- Supported the design of the pilot, saving considerable costs and avoiding unnecessary development time.
- Delivered stakeholders' satisfaction across the international consortium of banks, corporations, and NGOs.
Product Owner, Freelance
Leading Brains
- Bootstrapped and automated processes to create a scalable platform for psychometric survey products.
- Achieved commercial piloting and sales to global corporations supporting hiring and innovation.
- Delivered a successful application to Innosuisse mentorship and funding.
Chief Operation Officer, Freelance
Halo Ethical Trade LTD
- Supported raising a £50,000 funding at Barclays PLC for a blockchain finance spin-out.
- Led multiple international stakeholders in a cross-border pilot.
- Delivered an application to the Barclays Techstars Accelerator, London, and benefited from mentorship, investor exposure, enterprise partnerships (SAP), and a £118,000 investment.
- Testimonial: “He has excellent coordination and collaboration skills and the ability to see the big picture, which will undoubtedly serve him well in any organization that employs him.” Shona Tatchell, Barclays Bank director and Halotrade founder.
Founder, Director
10k Teeth Ltd
- Won the Techstars Startup Weekend competition within a multidisciplinary team.
- Supported prototyping and manufacturing, leading the product to gain institutional certification.
- Led commercial partnership, acquiring three institutional clients and generating revenues in year one.
Project Manager
Mandulis Energy
- Supported the CEO, civil engineers, and legal advisors implementing distributed electricity grid projects and generating political and royal support for timber and biomass electricity projects.
- Managed in-the-field negotiations and planning for several electricity generation and grid sites, both commercial and public.
- Provided materials and contributed to negotiations realizing $150,000 in funding from NorgesVel.
Co-founder, Director
Focus14 AG
- Conceptualized and implemented a franchise business model for physical training and therapy suites.
- Raised CHF 150,000 from a business partner investor and existing clients.
- Completed the building project and launch on time and budget, tripling revenues in year one.
Project History
Banking Environment Initiative – Project Trado
https://www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/resources/sustainable-finance-publications/trado-new-technologies-to-fund-fairer-more-transparent-supply-chainsProvisioned a supply-chain finance blockchain solution in a complex global consortium to increase payments to suppliers and provide contractual stability for buyers.
• A system that helps correct the deep information failures of a global trade that prevents companies from entirely reducing their environmental damage
• A toolset that enables buyers and financiers to incentivize and reward sustainable production practices automatically
• A supply chain operating system that will drastically reduce the overheads of trade.
Dental Axess Xflow
https://dentalaxess.com/products/xflow/Achieved the product delivery of a data management platform for 2D and 3D dental patient image data.
I led the discovery and business model determination with the CEO, presenting to the board myself. Acquiring budget, I managed the product development with an external tech team and delivery of pilots. The positive feedback to user testing means we delivered the product to initial customers of the MVP and managed new customer support procedures.
10k Teeth
Led commercial and strategy activities to gain industry standards for production and then institutional clients in the first year.
Developed models for testing and clinical education approval while identifying key customer segments. Achieved a very lean production method which resulted in sales to three institutional customers bringing the company into profit in the first year.
Chief Product Officer
Collaborated closely with business and technology teams to develop proprietary AI technology and applications tailored for enterprise use, resulting in enhanced communication best practices.
• Co-developed and executed technology-led pilots in partnership with prominent insurance, financial, and infrastructure institutions, resulting in a successful proof of concept. Provided instrumental support to co-founders in the successful completion of a CHF 500,000 seed funding round with the aim of increasing funding opportunities. Implemented agile best practices for product and engineering operations. Completed the F10 Fintech Acceleration program and partnered with corporate partners from SIX, resulting in valuable industry connections, mentorship, and potential partnership opportunities.
• Maximized financial stability, enhanced market positioning, and demonstrated value to clients by leveraging B2B product expertise to drive revenue generation.
• Maximized visibility and boosted credibility by building a strong commercial relationship with Microsoft, resulting in industry recognition, awards, and attainment of Gold Partner status.
• Improved product quality and increased customer satisfaction by implementing agile development operations, enhancing team collaboration, increasing efficiency, and delivering projects on time and within budget.
Education
Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Business Administration (MBA)
University of Exeter Business School - Exeter, UK
Bachelor's Degree in Political Science
University of Exeter - Exeter, UK
Certifications
Professional Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I)
Scrum.org
Professional Scrum Master Level I (PSM I)
Scrum.org
Skills
Tools
Atlassian Suite, Slack
Paradigms
Scrum, Agile, Key Performance Metrics, User Testing, Agile Project Management, Agile Product Management, Requirements Analysis, Team Development, B2B2C, Business to Business to Consumer (B2B2C), B2C
Platforms
Blockchain
Industry Expertise
Healthcare, Education Technology (Edtech), Sustainability
Other
Innovation, Business Models, B2B, Digital, Product Ownership, Presentations, B2B Partnerships, Bootstrap, Technology, Product Operations, Remote Work, Product Management, User Metrics, Partner Management, User Requirements, Product Discovery, Startups, Ideation, Ideation Workshops, Revenue Strategy, Commercial Strategy, User Validation, Validation, New Products & Services, New Business Development, Product Roadmaps, Product Vision, User Feedback, Agile Delivery, Product Delivery, Budget Management, Pitch Presentations, Business to Business (B2B), Digital Product Management, Planning, Roadmaps, User Journeys, Web Platforms, Technical Requirements, Backlog Management, Consulting, Feature Roadmaps, Proof of Concept (POC), Backlog Grooming, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Wireframing, Conceptualization, Product Strategy, SaaS, Business Requirements, User Stories, Requirements, Product Owner, Requirements & Specifications, Feature Prioritization, Product Requirements Documentation (PRD), MVP Design, Business Planning, Functional Requirements, Go-to-market Strategy, Product Strategy Consultant, Software as a Service (SaaS), Analytical Thinking, Research & Critical Thinking, Web & Mobile Applications, Technical Product Management, Discovery, New Product Development, Client Delivery Management, Scope of Work (SOW), Microsoft Office, Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), IT Projects, Prototyping, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Project Management, Business Process Analysis, Blockchain as a Service, Web API, Startup Funding, Workshops, Team Leadership, Communication, Complex Problem Solving, Customer Discovery, Project Scoping, Team Building, People Development, Competitive Intelligence, Market Research, Machine Learning, Market Fit, Market Entry, Negotiation, Operations, Governance, Disruptive Innovation, Continuous Discovery, Budget Modeling, Digital Transformation, Mobile Apps, Web Applications, Web, APIs, Web Portals, Business Services, Edtech Design, Sprint Planning, Culture Management, Business to Consumer (B2C), User Experience (UX), Stakeholder Management, Fintech, Market Research & Analysis, Monetization, Feature Analysis, Enterprise SaaS, Iteration Management, Product Coach, UX Design, Market Strategy and Research Product Manager, Voice of the Customer (VoC), Cross-departmental Collaboration, Data Reporting, Loyalty Programs, Web App Development, Competition Research, Business Proposals, Pitch Decks, Investor Presentations, Chief Product Officer (CPO), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Finance, Marketing, Angel Investing, Key Account Management, Psychometrics, Human Resources (HR), Production, 3D CAD, Digital Production, Public Health, Sales, Customer Support, SaaS Product Management, Platform Design, App Development, Dashboards, Project Review, User Research, Pilot
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