A-01 · Subject
Finding the customer problem worth building for.
I lead product organisations at the intersection of customer problems, business ambition and technical possibility.
Specification
| Ref. | Measure | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| S-01 | Active customers | 12 M | Across four product lines |
| S-02 | Net Promoter Score gain | +46 | After a discovery-led redesign |
| S-03 | Products to $100 M ARR | 3 | From zero, in five years |
| S-04 | Roadmap retired | 70% | To focus on what customers valued |
Modules of expertise
Career elevation
Stage 04 · 2020 — Present
Aldermoor Group
Leading product strategy, portfolio priorities and the operating model for discovery and delivery.
Stage 03 · 2016 — 2020
Fairhaven Holdings
Led product teams across discovery, launch and adoption.
Stage 02 · 2013 — 2018
Lumen Payments
Built the self-serve onboarding that tripled small-business adoption.
Stage 01 · 2008 — 2013
Kestrel Systems
Launched the company's first SaaS product and learned to measure outcomes rather than output.
Detail drawings
01Detail
The product portfolio had become a collection of commitments without a shared view of customer value. I worked with commercial and engineering leaders to identify the problems each initiative addressed, the evidence behind them and the capacity required. We reduced competing priorities and gave each remaining investment an explicit learning objective.
02Detail
A proposed feature had strong internal support but an unclear user problem. We ran a focused discovery programme with customers, observed the work surrounding the request and tested a smaller proposition. The findings changed both the product scope and the way the team described the value to customers.
03Detail
A launch met its delivery milestone but required a clearer path to adoption. I brought product, customer success and sales into a common review of onboarding friction, usage signals and customer expectations. Product decisions were then informed by the whole customer journey rather than release completion alone.
Board record
Non-Executive Director
Product & Customer (Chair)
2023 — Present
Advisory Board Member
Accessibility Standards
2021 — Present
Peer review
Gave the whole company a shared definition of what customers actually need.
Says no with more clarity and kindness than anyone I know.
Working notes
A feature list tells a team what has been requested, but not why one investment matters more than another.
Read the essayCustomer interviews and experiments should answer a question that matters to an investment.
Read the essayShipping a product moves the work into the customer's environment, where onboarding, expectations and existing habits shape its value.
Read the essayAn invitation
For board, advisory and leadership conversations where product strategy matters.
office@gabriellewhitmore.example