Building something new! Follow my journey here.
Author: beech
Senior Product Manager
Product manager for Yahoo Finance’s Android app, having been twice promoted as an APM
Worked strategically to develop and successfully execute my vision and strategy for the Android and iOS apps
Launched one of Finance’s most successful features ever by ideating, designing and launching a brand new symbol discovery experience
Selected to lead a special project which was so successful I presented it to Yahoo’s 10,000 employees. The work saw me lead a team of 45 people where we took a highly innovative product from zero to one
In total led over 70 separate initiatives over two years for 24 engineers
Promoted to become the sole product manager for Yahoo Finance’s Android app, where in 3.5 months I increased its Play Store rating from 3.5 to 4.3 by rigorously focusing on the user, ultimately reaching an all-time high rating of 4.7
Ideated and launched a series of highly successful symbol screen improvements, including a new like bar experience, a financial literacy feature and an entirely redesigned information architecture
Significantly optimised performance and cost-effectiveness
One of six selected to join Yahoo’s prestigious APM program (0.3% acceptance rate), which offers the unique opportunity to drive the product vision, strategy, and roadmap for high-impact products across the company
Secured >$150k of advertiser spend by leading the effort to launch a new DSP ad format via defining the strategy, pitching to advertisers, guiding internal teams and managing external partner relationships
Led the rollout of an industry-first, patent-pending product, an ad text strength indicator, by determining its direction as well as leading UX, development and research teams. The feature resulted in a 27% CTR lift for advertisers and has been prominently featured by AdAge and MediaPost
Led the effort to launch a brand new ad format by defining the strategy, guiding internal teams, coordinating with fellow internal stakeholders and managing external partner relationships
Founder & Product Owner
Ideated, designed and built Today (thetoday.app), a free iOS & Android app which helps you to build habits from your to-dos through unique, timed tasks
Received over 500 Product Hunt upvotes, including an endorsement by Product Hunt’s founder, Ryan Hoover
YE Young Talent
As part of Young Enterprise’s No Time Like The Future report, which aims to detail the successes of entrepreneurs across the UK, I was very proud to be highlighted as one of six Young Talents of 2020.
In Young Enterprise’s own words, No Time Like The Future is about unleashing the amazing potential of the next generation by giving them the power to believe in themselves and discover those opportunities they didn’t know existed. Their report aims to launch this campaign by highlighting influential entrepreneurial figures such as Steph McGovern, Monzo Co-Founder Tom Blomfield and Chief Cashier of the Bank of England, Sarah John, alongside myself as one of six Young Talents of 2020.
You can read the full report here.
Product Associate
Product Manager for the B2C website of Revolut, one of the fastest growing fintech companies in the world
Ensured the team consistently achieved its KPIs by balancing its tasks with requests from other teams, whilst also reporting the team’s progress every week to the CEO and CTO
Significantly grew the number of new users through executing on a thorough SEO plan as well as improving conversion across all of the most viewed pages, including a 133% increase of the most visited page through ideating and executing on a series of structural and design improvements
Setup a comprehensive AB testing strategy which did not previously exist, through encouraging a bias towards testing, alongside developing and integrating testing tools to support teams across the company
Scoped out and executed on a major website rebrand by developing a vision for what the website should achieve, supporting the new design in Figma, planning the development work and analysing its success
Volunteer Membership Secretary
Grew mini and junior memberships by over 30% for Pit Farm Tennis Club through building relationships with prospective members
Collaborated with others on the team as well as external partners to ensure the continued growth of the 200+ junior section
Co-Founder
Co-founded startup that improved how businesses with a physical space understand & engage customers
Used by over 150 businesses, following pitches I conducted across the UK & at CES 2019
Built JS React Native app before hiring and managing a team to help further develop and market Intro
Secured investment and grant funding valuing the startup at over $500,000 prior to launch
Academic Dissertation Product Prize
Awarded prize for highest dissertation result of any Computer Science student for developing a product described by a senior professor as the closest to a marketable product that he had ever seen
Employed a rigorous agile methodology to build an Android app designed to rapidly speed up connecting with new people by consistently exposing the unique communication technology to users
Academic College Contribution Award
Awarded academic prize for launching and leading free coding classes to over 300 students
Founder & Product Owner
Developed code and designed UX for the Node.js and AWS-powered political probability service
We’re living in crazy, you might say uncertain, times. It is almost impossible to know what is going to happen next in the world of politics. Will This Happen uses unique Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms to combine a wide range of factors, like betting odds and people’s online reaction to events, to build a picture of how probability is changing.
Check out Will This Happen here
Founder & Product Owner
Used by over 1500 different students in the first month after launch with an advertising budget of £20
It was built from scratch by myself over just one day
The web app continues to be an invaluable tool for students looking to compare university module results
Check out Gradehack here
Website Developer
Built entirely from scratch, I worked directly with the client as a paid freelancer to wireframe every page, build the UI in Sketch and then develop the site utilising web languages including PHP, Javascript, HTML and CSS
Visit the site here
President
Lead the society through overseeing the society’s vision, activities and relationships with various stakeholders such as the Guild and sponsors.
Web App Developer
Received a 1st class grade for web app built from scratch as part of my degree
The site uses a custom built backend and frontend using SQL, PHP, Javascript, HTML and CSS
Fleetr uses D3, AJAX and other technologies to maximise the user experience
The site is accessible here
Special Recognition Award
Received Exeter University Think Try Do’s Special Recognition Award for an exceptional contribution to enterprise on campus.
Exeter Award
Completed an internship, skill development workshops and a mock interview on the way to achieving the award, presented by the University of Exeter,
International Internship Video Award
Designed, produced and edited a fast-paced, upbeat, 60-second video capturing what it meant to travel, study and intern
Won a worldwide internship competition with the top prize being a once in a lifetime set of tech seminars, networking events and career support in the U.S, collectively worth over $13,000
Entered with two lifelong friends, we were able to call upon the wide range of opportunities they have had whilst at university so far, including successfully pitching for investment for a new app and teaching over 200 fellow students how to code
See the winning video
Graphic Designer & Website Developer
Developed wide variety of web and print graphics for the society
Developed a uniform brand with numerous sub-brands to represent key annual events, with each event assigned its own logo and colour scheme, uniquely identifying the event while carefully selecting colours to ensure the colour scheme worked seamlessly with the society brand
Designed and developed the official site from scratch: http://exeterentrepreneurs.com/
Worked with Adobe Illustrator to build an innovative, unique and coherent design
Liaised with the society to ensure the appearance and user experience was appropriate for a young, tech-savvy audience
Coding Course Founder
Received two academic awards and led the teaching of over 300 students by running free coding courses alongside my university studies, in Python and website development (HTML, CSS, Javascript and jQuery)
Initially led the teaching of numerous Code First: Girls courses, whilst also managing a team of instructors
Then branched out into my own “Excode” courses, which I single-handedly designed and developed by building up and nurturing a 15-strong team of instructors and marketers, which are still successfully running
Centre Court Steward
Worked as a steward on centre court during the Aegon Championships ATP 500 tournament
Gained NVQ Level 2 qualification during the week
Ball Boy
Worked as a ball boy at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships
Previously worked in the Wimbledon Members Enclosure at the 2016 Championships, as a plate waiter to esteemed guests including Ian Hislop and Clare Balding
Head of Operations
Managed and liaised with other committee members and third parties
Ensured that all activities were executed to plan
Developed the official site from scratch: http://exeterentrepreneurs.com/
Created many web and print graphics for the society
Taught numerous coding classes for the society
UI & UX Designer
Worked in a small team to develop the concept and structure for an independent, impartial voter support website for the EU referendum.
Went on to develop initial graphical designs for the site.
1st Place In Hackathon
Won first prize in Exeter University’s largest hackathon, EXHACK
Created the fresh food delivery service bitebox over three days
Single-handedly created website for company from scratch
Lead Software Engineer
Developed a wide range of websites, utilising languages such as HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP, alongside advanced graphical design work using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator
Progressed to become a lead software engineer, taking responsibility for training new developers and reaching the top end of the earning bracket
Worked extensively both on individual and team-based projects, as well as constantly liaising with clients
Consistently worked alongside studies, up to 14 hours per week
BSc (Hons) Computer Science 1st Class
Awarded prize for highest dissertation result of any Computer Science student
Awarded two academic prizes for launching and leading free coding classes for over 300 students
Developed proficient skills in Java, Python, Swift, Javascript, C++, PHP, HTML, CSS and SQL
Including the modules:
Dissertation project (1st) – Java Android app designed to rapidly speed up connecting with new people
Data Structures & Algorithms (1st) – Python, Stacks, Queues, Abstract Data Types, Trees, Lists, Searching
Programming for the Web (1st) – HTML, CSS, Javascript, SQL, AJAX, PHP used to create web app
Software Engineering (1st) – Java, Software Development Lifecycle, Testing, Agile Development
Mobile & Ubiquitous Computing (1st) – Java, Mobile User Interfaces, Designing & Developing For Android
Social and Professional Issues of the Information Age (1st) – Software Security, Reliability
Frontiers of Computer Science (1st) – Essay-based research into innovative technologies
Product Design Award
Awarded Royal Grammar School Guildford’s Advanced Level Prize for Product Design. The prize was awarded having achieved the highest grade in the year for Product Design by designing and building a unique automatic cat food dispenser
Utilised PCB programming via Python, CAD and 3D printing
RAF Flying Scholarship
Received an RAF Flying Scholarship in 2014 with the aid of my Silver Wings award and application process
After a two week intensive course, achieved the highest level
As a result was given permission to complete a solo circuit around a live commercial airport
Freelance Coder & Designer
Worked with various clients to refresh their websites utilising HTML5, CSS3, jQuery and PHP
Designed and developed a 64 page professionally printed magazine using Adobe InDesign
Magazine Designer
Designed from scratch the layout and design for a 64 page professionally printed magazine
Went on to fully develop the design and add the magazine’s content independently using Adobe InDesign
Helped manage a team of editors to prepare their content for publishing
Website Developer
Over the summer of 2014, I created a new, tailor-made site from a basic responsive framework.
I continued to maintain and update the site, most recently adding a Competition page.
Client described my work as “efficient and impressive”.
Volunteer Design & Technology Teacher
Through the Schools Without Walls programme and Primary School Project (Saturdays)
Taught primary school children fundamental aspects of design and technology
Projects that were taught included the electronic speaker project, where each child was taught the key theory behind a speaker circuit, and then went on to wire their own
Media & IT Director
Developed www.allumez.tk, using a responsive design and e-commerce system
Created an award-winning promo advert: bit.ly/allumez-ad
Devised Allumez’s social media platforms and strategy
Designed hoodies, t-shirts and jackets for clients
Senior Tennis Coach
Often teaching three times a week to ages from 6 – 19
Most teaching has been singlehanded, from private lessons of 1 to group lessons of 12
Chief Sailing Instructor
Progressed to lead the instruction of children alongside managing the other instructors by consistently impressing employers and achieving numerous certifications
Have achieved RYA Power Boat 2 qualification
Have a valid First Aid certificate
Have achieved 7 day Dinghy Instructor qualification, after previously being awarded Assistant Instructor qualification
Secondary School Education
Attended the Royal Grammar School, Guildford for the full 7 years including Sixth Form
Awarded the Advanced Level Prize for Product Design, following the complete design and development of a unique automatic cat food dispenser
3 A-Levels (ABB in Maths, Physics and Design & Technology)
10 GCSEs (A*-B inc. Maths & English)