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
Since January 2022, I am leading the product team at PeerSpot - our Buying Intelligence Platform is where technology professionals go to get practical, reliable information on enterprise tech solutions. PeerSpot provides in-depth reviews, online forums, direct Q&A support, and more, giving professionals the confidence to make the right decision.
Earlier in my career, I was a Product Manager at iMesh, one of the world’s first peer-to-peer file-sharing services. and then I spent 10+ years working on Viber. I started as Viber’s Head of Product, 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 the founders since the company's launch in December 2010. The company has gained over 1 billion users since its launch and constantly improved its product and delivers 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.
My new venture was something very different and new for me, I was working at ROX Financial as the Chief Information Officer. We were looking to expand access to differentiated commercial real estate investment opportunities. We participated in the Citi Bank accelerator and raised funds from Citi Bank and large Real Estate players. You can learn more about what we worked on in this Business Insider article. Unfortunately, this project wasn't simple, we reached our first IPO during Covid and did not succeed to complete it.
Advisory, Consultancy and more
During my career, I also enjoyed participating and initiating different activities:
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My love for 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.
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I co-established a design and development studio called YAM Designs, we provided UX advisory. We have worked with several startups and I also served as a mentor in the TechStars accelerator.
I enjoy working with early-stage startups and share my 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 find this exciting.
Investing
Investing for me started from curiosity and turned into something I am truly passionate about. You can read more about it here.