Venkatesh Gopalakrishnan
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Bellevue, WA, United States
Toptal member since July 11, 2020
Venkatesh is a product professional who has guided and launched several cloud and SaaS products for leading tech companies like Microsoft, Oracle, and Okta. At Microsoft, Venkatesh created the first version of Azure Active Directory and spearheaded password-less identity with Windows Hello. At Oracle, he ran multiple programs to migrate on-prem apps to the cloud. Toptal clients can now leverage Venkatesh's 20+ years of tech industry experience to help them achieve their business objectives.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Azure Active Directory
- Cloud Architecture
- Cloud Computing
- Cross-functional Team Leadership
- Identity & Access Management (IAM)
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
- Product Management
- Product Strategy
Work Experience
Product Management Director
Okta
- Increased feature velocity and efficiency of the Universal Directory team by 60%.
- Trained and mentored three product managers and oversaw all feature development and roadmap for Universal Directory Projects.
- Delivered solutions for customers to reduce their dependencies on Active Directory and other on-premise servers in favor of modern cloud solutions.
- Drove the company's Microsoft-compete strategy and presented it to C-level executives.
- Created and conducted a webinar about modern directory architecture for the Oktane 2020 conference which was viewed by over 600 participants.
Product Management Director
Oracle
- Drove the product vision, execution, and GTM for solutions that enable customers to migrate on-prem applications to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
- Launched cloud migration solutions at key industry events such as Oracle Open World, and Collaborate 2018/2019 by leveraging strong partnerships and cross-functional collaboration.
- Hired and mentored a team of product managers and solutions architects to expand our solutions footprint by engaging directly with customers to accelerate adoption.
- Led the product management team responsible for delivering platform services such as identity, security, audit, logging, metering, and billing for the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
Principal Product Manager
Microsoft
- Launched a highly scalable cloud service to handle user logins for Office 365 in under six months.
- Led the design and delivery of biometric, password-free authentication for Azure Active Directory and Windows 10.
- Drove the deployment of 1 million Windows 10 users with password-less authentication within four months of launch with key customers including SkyWest Airlines, BASF, and FHI360.
- Modernized the identity experiences in Azure Active Directory with features including multi-factor authentication, building a mobile-friendly UX using responsive design, and customer configurable branding.
- Drove compliance with FISMA/FedRAMP, SOC, and HIPAA regulations—enabling sales to government and healthcare customers.
- Deployed authentication services for enterprise customers in China, and ensured compliance with overseas regulations.
- Managed and drove a project to achieve data center geo-distribution, enabling fault tolerance, and increasing availability from 99% to 99.99%.
- Drove industry partnerships between Fortune 500 companies (e.g., the Microsoft-Cisco NAP/NAC interoperability partnership).
Project History
Azure AD Join for Windows 10
https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Azure-AD-Identity/Win10AADJoinLed the product definition, design, and execution of Azure AD Join and Windows Hello functionality in Windows 10.
Azure AD Join is the cloud-equivalent of Active Directory Domain Join in Windows. It provides SSO and device management capabilities from Microsoft Azure and Intune. I led a cross-functional team that defined the product, worked with stakeholders to acquire buy-in and funding, and ultimately launched this feature for Microsoft. I also worked closely with the first ten Fortune 500 companies to get the solution deployed at their companies.
Oracle Cloud Migration Tools
https://youtu.be/k_NDrN8iqvELed the effort to create tools to automation migration of Oracle E-Business Suite, JD Edwards, and PeopleSoft to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
Many Fortune 500 companies run Oracle applications like E-Business Suite, JDEdwards, or PeopleSoft in their on-premise data centers. I led the initiative to help all these customers migrate these applications to IaaS in the public cloud. Specifically, I drove the projects to automate the migration path for these customers so that they could achieve these migrations in a hands-free manner.
Okta Universal Directory Roadmap
https://www.okta.com/video/roadmap-modernizing-the-enterprise-with-universal-directory-newscorp/Created and drove the vision, strategy, and roadmap for the Okta Universal Directory product
Okta is the leader in cloud directory and single sign-on solutions today. I ran a 1-year project to define the vision, strategy, and execution roadmap for Okta’s Universal Directory product, Directory Integrations with Active Directory and LDAP servers, and Microsoft 365 integrations. The linked presentation showcases the highlights from that project.
Consultation for Okta Integration
Provided design and architecture guidance to a SaaS startup looking to integrate their application with Okta.
A software startup was working to build Okta integration (SSO, provisioning) into their SaaS application because of customer demand. I was able to help them improve their design to work well with Okta and ensure they would be accepted into the Okta OIN catalog. This project required providing general architecture guidance, giving input on crucial design decisions (e.g., using OIDC vs. SAML), reviewing their architecture, and helping them validate their updated application against an Okta tenant.
Vericred API Product Evaluation
Produced a comprehensive evaluation of the Vericred Insurance Quoting API for a confidential client.
Vericred is an abstraction API layer that allows insurtech platforms to quickly harvest medical, dental, and vision insurance quotes from multiple insurance carriers. My client required a product evaluation of Vericred’s quoting API service. I worked with my client to understand the project requirements and expectations and evaluated the API based on business and technical fundamentals. I was able to suggest several pros and cons as well as identifying the key use cases that the client could leverage using this API. The entire package was returned to the client in the form of detailed documentation, user stories, suggestions for improvement, and a sample application.
Education
Master of Engineering Degree in Computer Science
Cornell University - Ithaca, NY, United States
Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering
Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Worcester, MA, United States
Skills
Tools
Azure Active Directory, Office 365, Google Workspace, Jira, Asana, Slack, Zoom
Paradigms
Agile Product Management
Other
Product Management, Remote Team Leadership, Team Building, Identity & Access Management (IAM), Cloud Computing, Cloud Architecture, Oracle Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Product-market Fit, Executive Presentations, Client Presentations, Customer Analysis, Customer Journey, Know Your Customer (KYC), Product Vision, Okta, Operating Systems, Distributed Systems, Product Strategy, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Enterprise Software, Security, Regulatory Compliance, Cloud Migration, Sales Presentations, Technical Hiring, Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP), SAML, OpenID Connect (OIDC), Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Teams
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