About
My name is Michael, I am married +2, passionate about music, technology and since 2016 I got into the world of investing.
I am an experienced technology product manager and an active tech community member and contributor.
Career - Product Management
In the last two years I was working at ROX Financial as the Chief Information Officer. We are looking to expand access to differentiated commercial real estate investment opportunities. I am also working with several startups in various roles and also served as a mentor in the TechStars accelerator.
Before ROX, I spent 10 years working on Viber. I started as Viber’s Head of Product, I was responsible for the long-term vision of the Viber platform, product planning and design. I have been a key member of the executive team working alongside with the founders since the launch of the company in December 2010. The company gained over 1 billion users since its launch and constantly improving the product and delivering new experiences. In February 2014, Viber was acquired by Rakuten.
One year into the acquisition, I became the COO of Rakuten Viber. As Chief Operating Officer, I was responsible for the operational running of the fast-moving business. For 2 years, I was serving as an "interim CEO", leading the company and performing a search for a new CEO. In the end of 2018, I decided to start a new venture, and during 2019 I remained as an advisor at Rakuten Viber.
Prior to Viber, I was a Product Manager at iMesh, one of the world’s first peer-to-peer file sharing services. My love to product design and user experience drove me to start ‘UX Storytelling’, a hub designed for the UX and product management community to share stories and ideas.
Before that, I established a design and development studio called YAM and with another partner, we provided web design and development services.
Advisory and Consultancy
I really enjoy working with early stage startups and share from my own experience. At the same time, I am also learning from entrepreneurs, it is inspiring and aspiring.
I also worked with larger organizations where the work is different and more mature, but the leaders tend to have a similar drive to the ones in the early stage companies and I found this exciting.
Investing
Investing for me started from curiosity and turn into something I am truly passionate about.
You can read more about it here.