I am an entrepreneur and a risk taker. I'm an optimist and a visionary. And I love technology.

I spend the majority of my time with one eye open for new ideas and solutions. Then fleshing them out into viable business models or tearing them down to start over.

I believe very strongly that ideas are fundamentally worth nothing and that action and passion are what make products and companies great. To that end, I expect everyone involved with me to share similar passion.

I believe in simple elegant solutions. In responsive environments and agile teams. And most importantly, in a focus on providing the highest value with the best user experience.

To borrow a line from Steve Jobs, "I have great experience, lots of energy, a bit of that 'vision thing' and I'm not afraid to start from the beginning."

 

1. I have been developing products, interviewing users, and marketing Web solutions for 13 years.
2. I understand what it takes to develop products from a business, technical, and user perspective.
3. I'm a great motivator, visionary, and leader.
4. I have started my own companies and developed my own ideas into products, and have been part of version 1 development as well as product refinement and market growth.
5. I have a great eye for talent and good ideas, and a great rapport with customers and business partners.
6. I am not afraid to make a decision.
7. I learn from my mistakes.
8. I have a passion for startups, cultivating great products and great people.
9. I believe that anything is possible and anything can be achieved as long as the reasons to do so are right.
10. I'm pragmatic enough to know when to say no, and foolish enough to push the limits in order to be great.

 

AuthorityLabs is the flagship product for the Gangplank incubator. It's fully-automated and powerful toolset allows users to track search engine data by keywords for domains of interest.

As the Product Manager for all Gangplank incubator projects, I was charged with working with the founders to refine and develop the business plan and market for the product, convey that direction to the development team in the form of features, and ensure timely launch.

We launched the alpha product in 30 days, the beta product in 60 days, and were generating revenue within 90 days of starting the project.

Throughout this process, I worked closely with the founders to identify the target market and develop a launch plan that would allow AuthorityLabs to hit the ground running.

 

This social research site for Health Care professionals is a first of its kind. Partnerships with UPenn, Vanderbilt, and one of the largest hospital systems in the U.S. position it to be the largest social site in the market.

I was responsible for the original product idea and design. I interviewed users, defined feature iterations, and orchestrated the design, development, and deployment of those features. I also collaborated with the CEO and VP of Sales to determine marketing and monetization strategies.

We launched the first version in September 2007 at the Health 2.0 conference, and promptly began the evolution to Version 2 based on user and sponsor feedback. Version 2 launched July 21, 2008 with a complete overhaul of the product value proposition to match the needs of our user base.

 

Designed to do one thing, and one thing very well, this online seating planner is a simple solution to one of life's most mundane pains. A 56% conversion rate also makes it one of the most well received.

SimpleSeating is a labor of love, that started as a challenge to solve a problem of usability in seating planning applications. I interviewed customers and we ran alpha and beta tests to design the best app with the greatest simplicity. We removed most of the features that traditional apps had and concentrated on the core needs of our users despite the constant pressure from peers to load up on the "cool" web 2.0 stuff.

By doing so, we have developed a loyal user base and a profitable low-overhead application. I have recently partnered with a new development team to complete version 2 of SimpleSeating that will provide extended functionality to deepen our market penetration.

SimpleSeating was voted one of the top 100 most useful websites by Women's Health Magazine.

 

TIMmy stands for Tactical Information Management system, but was really just a convenient excuse to use South Park references at will. It is a content management and syndication application that we designed and built from scratch because of the unique needs of the customer. TIMmy handled everything from the editorial process, to delivering the product to the reader, to tracking metrics on usage and readership.

TIMmy was the backbone of the entire company's business and replaced an antiquated system so the challenges of constantly updating features while maintaining usability was critically important. A great lesson to be sure.

With a small team we were able to design a fully functional system rivaling some of the biggest apps in the industry in just over 2 years. It continues to improve but now under the direction of another team.

 

Director of Product Management
Gangplank, LLC / Integrum Technologies, Inc. 2008 - Present

As part of this inspiring team, I help start web-based companies through mentoring, funding, and consulting. My responsibilities include product direction and planning to successfully launch viable revenue generating products as quickly as possible, as well as writing and implementing code to execute the products.. Recent projects include the Transit Trip Planner at http://valleymetro.org, Words With Friends iPhone game, 5th Dimension (http://go5d.com/), AuthorityLabs.com, AdvisorTLC (http://advisortlc.com) and many more.

Highlights:

• Agile/Scrum, Ruby/Rails, HTML/CSS, Javascript, MySQL
• Behavior Driven Development with Cucumber/Selenium/RSpec
• Work closely with product owners in weekly sprints to determine product direction and user requirements
• Project market research, launch strategy, and product development and marketing

 

Director of Digital Products
ConnectivHealth 2002 - 2008

As part of the executive management team, my responsibilities include determining product strategy, and executing the development and launch of new products and syndication tools including marketing strategy and revisions process. Analyze the business needs of the company and establish, plan, and administer the overall policies and goals for development projects, systems design and implementation, and internal support staff according to budget.

 

Founder/CEO
SimpleSeating 2006 - Present

Design, develop, and market SimpleSeating.com with a partner. My role in SimpleSeating.com was primarily idea generation, feature specification, and user interaction design. As a small start-up, I also wrote all of the html/css and significant ruby on rails code with AJAX and generated buzz for the product through blogger outreach program and traditional media and business development partners. Featured on CNET (news.com), Rev2.org, LifeHacker.com, and Brides Magazine.

"Steve is a fantastic product director. He has a sense of how things need to be completed and can execute in an effective and efficient way. Steve's ability to manage and motivate people positively shows the kind of respect he demands. Steve helped AuthorityLabs get to where it is in a way no one else could."

- Chase Granberry, Founder , AuthorityLabs

 

"Steve is a creative, driven, passionate and diverse individual. Working with him wasn't work at all - it was all about creativity, having fun, and exceeding our own expectations. In addition to being very good at creative product development -- and having exceptional IT skills -- he has a strong business savvy that is rare to find and nearly impossible to teach. I would not hesitate to hire Steve as a consultant or senior level manager. And if I were creating a new venture myself, he'd be one of the first people I would call."

- John Marchica, Founder and CEO, FaxWatch Inc (FWI)

 

"Although Steve has many unique and exceptional abilities, chief among them is the ability to envision simple and pragmatic web solutions and execute the transition from vision to reality. Steve approaches technology problems from the human perspective, architecting and implementing technology products that emphasize intuitiveness, user value, and simplicity over complexity or technological prowess. Furthermore, he's able to articulate his ideas with others and motivate them help bring them into reality."

- Joel Dudley, Bioinformatics Specialist at Stanford Medical Informatics & Health 2.0 Engineer and Consultant

 

"I have worked with Steve at VerusMed (formerly Faxwatch) for 5+ years. During that time, he has improved our publication delivery systems by recognizing inefficiencies and quality control issues in the previous systems. Steve designed and built subscription, content and syndication solutions that not only saved the company time and money, but allowed us to scale up our delivery quickly with less staff. Steve has also always met deadlines and provided me with reports, templates, and publication delivery recommendations, etc., for me to share with clients and has always exceeded expectations. Beyond his professionalism, the time we have worked together has been pleasant thanks to his positive attitude and sense of humor."

- Erica Brown, Therapeutic Category Director & National Account Manager