Relevant Coursework: Competitive Strategies, Marketing, Design Thinking, Innovation Management, Digital transformation, Negotiations, Finance, Software Business management, Brand Management
Positions: Research Assistant (Fuqua School of Business) | Teaching Assistant (Department of CS)
Hi there,
I'm Akash Kathavate.
A Product Manager with
4+ years of Experience
• B2B & SaaS Enthusiast
• AI/ML Practitioner
• Recent Duke University Graduate
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Hi there!
I am a curious learner fascinated by products that solve core customer needs using Technology.Technology, to me, is an incredible power to build, innovate, and transform businesses and consequently the lives of people. While the need remains an important factor, I aim at leveraging technology to cater to the digital transformational changes.
I have over 4+ years of experience with many different roles in Software development & Product Management from my time at Bidgely technologies and SAP America. I have worked and collaborated with engineering teams to build enterprise SaaS software solutions that improved the company product roadmap and supervised scrum team to design and develop Enterprise Products. I believe that creativity, leadership quality, Technology, and Strategy form the crux of my personality.
Work Experience
I have been building beautiful software products for 3.5+ years now, in different capacities.
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Product Manager @ SAP America
June 2023 - Present
● Generative AI: Leading development of the "SAP Digital AI Launchpad," overseeing the engineering of 1250+ prompts; Implementing Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) to enhance operational efficiency and cultivating $500M pipeline
● Design Thinking: Facilitated a Design Thinking Sprint of an AI platform, engaging stakeholders from 7 regions, increasing 460+ FTEs' productivity by 46% by crafting cutting-edge experience
● API Integration: Engineered integration of AI Launchpad with external APIs, simplifying management of 1000+ tasks for 100+ sales executives, streamlining workflow operations
● Digital transformation: Orchestrated pilot programs for business teams, leveraging work flows using new digital tools to elevate client onboarding and to uncover 3,000+ business opportunities
Product Manager @ Bidgely Technologies
January 2020 - July 2022
Bidgely is an AI-powered SaaS Company enabling energy companies and consumers to make data-driven energy-related decisions
● Product Lifecycle Management: Accelerated customer onboarding by 2 months, leading a Scrum team to implement an automation interface for white-labeled solutions, yielding annual savings of approximately $1M
● Customer Empathy: Catalyzed a 30% boost in home profile survey completion for 5M users through targeted research and interviews up to 30 users, leading to a successful website UI revamp, Resulted in a 40% surge in user engagement
● Product Roadmap: Developed product roadmap by implementing ROI-driven strategies and meticulous prioritization for 7 new feature offerings, driving $5M in annual revenue
● Data-Driven Decision-Making: Formulated the "Data Builder" module, enabling real-time data generation and extraction of 40+ attributes from 50M unique customer records, reducing data exploration time by 4 weeks
● A/B Testing: Spearheaded the implementation of an A/B testing API, boosting email click-to-open rate by 14% through new feature efficacy evaluation
Software Developer @ Bidgely Technologies, Bengaluru, India
January 2019 - December 2019
● Software Development Life Cycle: Collaborated with PMs to migrate customer-facing dashboards from Angular to React, augmented the interface, improved overall experience, and reduced bounce rate by 25% in 4 months
● System Design: Redesigned an email creation framework for a modular system, sped up ideation and deployment of 10+ email types, leading to a refined architecture and a 40% infra performance increase
● Cloud Technologies: Streamlined user metrics visibility for a 2M consumer client by formalizing an end-to-end paper report generation flow on AWS, reducing the engineering team's biweekly workload by 60 hours
Community & Web Developer @ BMSCE Alumni Network
September 2020 - June 2022
• Rebuilt the alumni network of my alma mater to facilitate peer networking, mentorship, technical talks, campus placements, and reunions to bring together alums across all the batches all over the world.
• Established regional chapters in the USA, Europe, Gulf, and Oceania. Onboarded 2,500+ members in a span of 6 months.
Product Manager @ BloomAI
August 2022 - January 2023
● Market Opportunity Analysis: Managed a team of 5 to analyze the B2B Financial industry's competitive landscape for anInsights as-a-Service product, projecting a $3.5Bn increase in the Total Addressable Market ● User Research: Conducted over 20 stakeholder interviews to develop empathy maps and target personas, revealing micro-insight platform needs and pain points
Product Strategy and Partnerships @ The Product Folks
June 2021 - June 2023
• Working alongside a team of 6 putting together a one-of-a-kind membership program for the Indian tech/product community. This is aimed to support and upskill members across industries and career stages. We aim to provide a single kit for our members from deploying their projects on the cloud to setting up chatbots to running marketing campaigns or building their own startups and get the teams together.
• Devised a virtual networking platform facilitating 1:1 connections for 8,000+ Product Managers, VCs and marketers
• Onboarded 80+ partners by directing a 6-member team to establish a membership program for the TPF community aimed to provide a single marketplace for members to access deals and offerings
Education
Education has fueled my development of diverse perspectives, empowered me to collaborate with like-minded individuals, and provided the space to discover my true passion, ultimately shaping me into a Product Manager
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Duke University | Fuqua School of Business
Masters in Engineering Management
August 2022 - May 2024
GPA - 3.82/4.0
GPA - 3.82/4.0
BMS College of Engineering
B.Tech- Telecommunication and Engineering
August 2015 - August 2019
GPA- 3.97/4.0
GPA- 3.97/4.0
Relevant Coursework: Project Management and Finance, Data structures, IPR and cyber law
Skill Sets
Ready to own the complete product lifecycle, from problem discovery to launch and beyond," I leverage my diverse product management skillset to ensure customer-centric solutions and continuous improvement.
Generative AI
I'm excited to explore the potential of generative AI, building upon my understanding of prompt engineering and data analysis to unlock its full potential in various applications.
Product Lifecycle Mastery
With a keen eye for customer needs and market trends, I'm ready to take ownership of the entire product lifecycle, from ideation to launch and beyond, ensuring success through every stage.
Unlocking User Insights
I'm passionate about uncovering user needs and motivations, honing my research and interview skills to design experiences that deeply resonate and drive engagement.
API Integration Expertise
I'm adept at bridging the gap between systems, utilizing my understanding of APIs to streamline workflows and empower stakeholders with seamless access to vital information.
Digital Transformation Champion
With a forward-thinking approach, I'm ready to lead teams in adopting innovative technologies, embracing change, and unlocking new opportunities for businesses.
Building Collaborative Teams
Fostering collaboration and effective communication is key to my leadership style. I'm eager to learn from others, onboard partners efficiently, and build vibrant teams that achieve shared goals.
Product Innovation Trailblazer
Combining creative thinking with strategic vision, I'm excited to explore innovative approaches to product development, designing solutions that address real-world challenges and deliver impactful results.
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Data-Driven Decision Making
Leveraging data as my guiding light, I'm eager to translate complex information into actionable insights, optimizing product roadmaps and fostering data-driven cultures.
Technology Enthusiast
I believe in pushing the best idea forward. There is no 'I' when you are building a great product.
MY PROJECTS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Grabchai Platform
Developed a virtual networking platform of 2,000+ users. Facilitating weekly curated 1:1 meetings across verticals such as product,VCs, marketing, tech, etc.
Canva Innovation Analysis
Canva Innovation Analysis
Analysis of Canva revealed a dynamic innovation engine driven by user insights, data, and swift iteration. This results in sustainable, impactful solutions users adore. Includes recommendation in-terms of innovation strategy
Analysis of Canva revealed a dynamic innovation engine driven by user insights, data, and swift iteration. This results in sustainable, impactful solutions users adore. Includes recommendation in-terms of innovation strategy
Battle for the Enterprise Metaverse - Salesforce
Analysis on Salesforce and its competitive strategy in the enterprise world
Tesla : A "Force for Good" ?
Analysis of Tesla and shift to sustainability in Automobile Industry - Adoption of EVs
E-Sentience : Design Thinking Challenge
Design Thinking analysis for our client - E-sentience to analysis customer feedback on analysis cortisol levels for athletes
Nomadify Product Pitch
Nomadify capitalizes on the hybrid work revolution and connects people to places to spark creativity
We connect people to places and experiences
to spark their creativity and widen their perspective
to help them do their best work
We connect people to places and experiences
to spark their creativity and widen their perspective
to help them do their best work
Marketing Plan
WordEye
WordEye
Wordseye Marketing Plan :
Powering the next generation of3D content and experiences.
Powering the next generation of3D content and experiences.
Asset Tracking and Deforestation detector system
• Research project on “Use of Low power hybrid networks for asset tracking” using LoRaWAN a crowd sourced project by Toweca labs, sponsored by maanasa, a Switzerland based company.
• Designed a hybrid real-time system for asset tracking. Won the “Best Project Award”.
• Designed a hybrid real-time system for asset tracking. Won the “Best Project Award”.
Business Analytics Specialization Capstone Project
PROBLEM STATEMENT :
Promotion/Ad blockers obstruct all advertisements in the sites for the end-clients. This influences the potential ads of the publicists showed in the GYF platforms from arriving at their planned clients. The main reason behind this is because most of the benefit of Companies like GYF, Google, Yahoo, YouTube, etc. influences their income which directly affects the revenue of the company.
Promotion/Ad blockers obstruct all advertisements in the sites for the end-clients. This influences the potential ads of the publicists showed in the GYF platforms from arriving at their planned clients. The main reason behind this is because most of the benefit of Companies like GYF, Google, Yahoo, YouTube, etc. influences their income which directly affects the revenue of the company.
Leap Finance GTM for Credit cards and Design of Landing page
PROBLEM STATEMENT :
Indian students studying abroad do not get access to credit cards to manage their day to day expenses. The reason for this because they don’t have a credit score with any local credit bureau. So for banks and other financial institutions, there is more risk when they engage with Indian students.
We at Leap Finance have identified this as a big opportunity to help Indian students with their regular credit needs by providing them with a credit card when they are studying abroad.
Indian students studying abroad do not get access to credit cards to manage their day to day expenses. The reason for this because they don’t have a credit score with any local credit bureau. So for banks and other financial institutions, there is more risk when they engage with Indian students.
We at Leap Finance have identified this as a big opportunity to help Indian students with their regular credit needs by providing them with a credit card when they are studying abroad.
BMSCE Alumni Club Website
Developed a virtual networking platform of 2,000+ users. Facilitating weekly curated 1:1 meetings across verticals such as product,VCs, marketing, tech, etc.
Blogg
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