Nemawashi

M&A Advisor

IBM Global Business Services

Management Consultant

Kevin Marra

The Missionary Company

Missionaries > Mercenaries

We are a consulting firm that specializes in working with founders and executives to transform their companies into Missionary Companies.

Example list of clients we worked with:

Client 1: A Korean series-B startup in the manufacturing industry funded by one of the top VCs in Korea. We work with the CEO in a COO role, and work closely with the leadership team to create empowered teams. This includes defining the big picture (i.e., strategic context like mission, vision), setting a framework for goal setting, and creating a culture that empowers teams to solve customer problems in ways that work for the business.

Client 2: A top 10 e-commerce company in Korea with 1000+ people. We provide product training to transform their product, engineering, and design teams (50+ people) into empowered teams that build products that are loved by customers (and work for the business).

Client 3: A seed-staged US startup in the energy / battery space that acquired a manufacturer in Busan, Korea. We serve as a bridge between the US and Korea teams, providing help with both language and cultural support. 

Client 4: A seed-staged US startup in financial technology (FinTech). We provided subject matter expertise (SME) in the digital identity space (e.g., digital identity proofing, authentication) based on previous experience (i.e., Confirm, IDEMIA). We completed discovery (research, testing & development) around prospective industries where outsized value can be provided for customers. We developed a baseline for the user experience with the existing product through user testing and interviews, and identified key insights to develop improvements and new products

Client 5: A pre-seed staged, Seattle-based startup in artificial intelligence (AI). Consulting focused on developing the company's strategic context (e.g., vision, strategy, mission...) and objective key results (OKRs).

Learn more at https://www.themissionary.company/

Co-Founder

SKK GSB Sungkyunkwan University

Entrepreneurship course guest lecturer at Sungkyunkwan's Graduate School of Business (GSB), the #1 ranked MBA program in Korea. Lecture is conducted in Korean.

Guest Lecturer

United States Marine Corps

This is a unique team that is a start up within the Marine Corps. We are a team of innovative mavericks with the singular goal of getting warfighters access to the best, innovative solutions. 

I serve in the capacity of a COO / Operations Lead to execute the vision of the commanding officer. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Leading the effort to craft the narrative of the team to internal & external stakeholders
- Setting up a regular cadence to keep a team spread across the United States in sync and heading in the same direction
- Evaluating potential innovative companies by leveraging business experience
- Setting up the recruiting pipeline to bring in innovative Marines & Sailors
- Anything else that needs to get done for mission accomplishment

Innovation Project Manager, 4th Marine Logistics Group (MLG)

I was part of a 3-person AI Branch in the Science & Technology (S&T) Division within the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL). I worked on finding ways the Marine Corps could leverage AI by being a bridge between the private and government sectors.

Project Officer, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Branch

I served as the S-4A (aka Operations Lead) with the Deployment Processing Command / Reserve Support Unit West (DPC/RSU-West), which supported mobilizing, reserve Marines and Sailors.

Assistant Logistics Officer (S-4A), Deployment Processing Command

Neo.Tax

I was the 1st product hire, and led the product team. 

PRODUCT
- Led the product, design, and engineering teams to create a prototype (ahead of schedule) that was instrumental in raising the series A ($10MM).
- Led the development, launch, and post-launch rapid iterations of the redesign of the core product, which focused on compliance and usability. Even though the requirements from the IRS changed a month before launch, the compliance redesign had already addressed the requirements in advance saving time, energy, and headaches.
- Recruited and hired 3 product managers and intern; started the process from the initial set up of the ATS (applicant tracking system), created job descriptions, sourced applicants from my network, LinkedIn, AngelList, etc..., set up the interview process, and ultimately closed applicants,

OPERATIONS
- Led the defining of the vision, strategy, and regular planning cadence for the company to achieve an awesome series A. Gained buy-in from the executive team, communicated the plan across departments, and executed the plan. Teams were happy and motivated by clearly knowing what they had to deliver, and led to a successful series A. 
- Through external & internal customer discovery, identified a new strategic customer segment that would be pivotal in the long-term vision & strategy of the company (i.e., accountants); pitched to the executive team and gained buy in, leading to a shift in company strategy to place accountants as the core customer. 
- After the launch of the major redesign of the core product, worked across marketing, sales, customer success, and compliance to ensure our efforts were focused and aligned, and learnings were rapidly shared; resulted in +200% YoY growth in revenue.

Product Lead

Reggora

I was the 2nd PM hired, and launched the Software Quality and Support teams. I also launched the Marketplace team, the top priority initiative in the company, which aimed to optimize the matching of demand (lenders) and supply (appraisers).

Product Manager

IDEMIA

I led the Global IPV (Identity Proofing & Verification) Platform within Digital Labs. The team consisted of 50+ people located across the globe (US, France, and Poland) and was made up of Product Managers, UI/UX, software engineers, data scientists, R&D, integrators and business analysts. 

Whether integrating through our RESTful API or SDK, our IPV Platform enabled our customers to determine if their users are who they say they are, aka identity proofing, through remote document and biometric authentication. For example, by taking a photo of their driver's license & taking a selfie, our IPV Platform could determine the authenticity of the driver's license, and whether the right person was in possession of the document.

The IPV Platform was able to further prove users' identities by comparing the users' information from their government issued documents with other trusted data sources. The IPV Platform could compare users' information with data from the source of truth, such as DMVs in the US, to verify the authenticity of government issued documents or biometric checks. In the future, IDEMIA plans on extending this capability globally.

Head of Product, Global IPV Platform

Confirm.io (Acq Facebook)

Director of Product
•  Led the product vision and strategy by working with the executive team; established quarterly OKRs to clearly communicate what Product would (and would not) work on
•  Developed roadmaps for all of Confirm's products (API, SDK, internal tools, native app and web demos). 
•  Served as the account manager for several of Confirm's biggest enterprise customers; ensured they clearly understood how Confirm's products could solve their problems, and worked through POCs, feature requests, technical integration, legal, data privacy, pricing, etc...
•  Managed two direct reports on the Product team; supported them so they could add maximum value to the company in a sustainable manner (i.e. sense of continual growth & ownership, meaningful / impactful work).

Senior Product Manager
•  First PM hired by the Chief Product Officer.
•  Led "product discovery" by identifying the problems and needs of our target customers and their end users by working with Sales and Marketing, prioritizing the most important issues, and working with engineering to brainstorm the best solutions. 
•  Led "product delivery" by defining user stories and requirements, getting estimates from engineering, prioritizing projects based off of importance and LOE, defining delivery dates to communicate with our customers, and launching and iterating.

It was a blast to have so much ownership and authority to make changes in the company, and have the opportunity to work with and learn from so many functions within the company. Confirm.io had an executive team with an awesome track record, a product whose technology solution was better than its competitors, and was in a market that was not considered "hot," which allowed the company to build value under the radar. I feel extremely blessed to have been part of this team!

Confirm was acquired.

Director of Product

TripAdvisor

Senior Product Manager
•	1 of 4 Product Managers on the Mobile Experience team creating features on TripAdvisor's native iPhone, iPad & Android apps (+270MM downloads globally) that provide an awesome native mobile app experience (see the Projects Section for more details)
•	Experience with conducting user studies and analyzing data from SQL, Looker, Google Analytics, and Tableau to collect both qualitative and quantitative data to develop insights, prioritize opportunities, and test hypotheses through wire framing, rapid prototyping and development
•	Collaborate cross-functionally with engineers, designers, data scientists, localization, marketing, etc. to develop the best possible product

Product Manager, MBA Rotational Program
•	1 of 5 Product Managers in the MBA Rotational Program on four six-month rotations with teams across TripAdvisor’s B2C and B2B organizations
•	Owned the content quality roadmap for TripConnect Instant Booking and shipped multiple front-end and back-end features aimed at improving conversion by improving the user experience; worked cross functionally to resolve content quality issues such as rooms with insufficient cancellation policies, leading to the identification and blocking of +2MM rooms with content quality issues
•	Led the first site-quality survey of all 44 TripAdvisor points of sale which established a user satisfaction benchmark for future, ongoing surveys; this provided a new metric to measure the effectiveness of projects aimed at increasing overall site quality and credibility
•	Helped launch TripAdvisor Instant Book on mobile app, mobile web, and desktop as part of the initial, 6-person Instant Book team.

Senior Product Manager - Mobile Apps (iPhone, iPad & Android)

Symantec

Intern with Norton Anti-Theft in Symantec's consumer division.  Designed and supervised a usability study, leading to key insights that directed a redesign of the user flow of the Intel Anti-Theft feature

Product Manager Intern

Logistics officer with a reserve battalion serving in the capacity of an Operations Lead.  Successfully completed a combat deployment to southern Afghanistan.  My main accomplishments were:
•	Managed the creation and implementation of the transport strategy involving multiple outside agencies, which moved 650+ Marines and $4M of equipment to and from southern Afghanistan on time and within budget
•	Headed the successful, multinational effort to upgrade the defensive perimeter protecting 15,000+ personnel stationed at Camp Leatherneck, the largest Marine Corps base in Afghanistan
•	Led an understaffed, cross-functional team of 10 Marines (normally 60) in the design and execution of the battalion logistical plan, which resulted in vital support for 650+ Marines in a high-stress environment

Logistics Officer

After graduating high school, I completed the 12-week US Marine Corps Boot Camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego. Joined H&S Company, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion in Camp Pendleton, CA as a reservist. I served as a food service specialist (part of the logistics organization). 

With a desire to make a bigger impact as a leader, I applied to (and completed) Officer Candidate School (OCS) to become an officer of Marines.

Enlisted Marine / Officer Candidate

As a founder, you may have started with top-down management for a variety of reasons. You had the most business & customer context, and you needed to move quickly (survival mode!).

However, as the company grew, you realized that you could no longer directly communicate with and influence everyone in the company. That's when you and your team began experiencing the pain of information silos, teams working on the wrong initiatives, and general misalignment across the company. And you know that it's only going to get worse… EXPONENTIONALLY WORSE… as the company grows.

This is when you need a Transformation Coach. I will partner with you to transform your company into Empowered Teams.

- Instead of waiting on management to approve every step, Empowered Teams can innovate at a  fast pace in the right direction (i.e., they know the culture, the strategy, and business goals they need to make the right decisions)
- Instead of being given specific features to build, Empowered Teams are given important business problems to solve and are empowered to find the best solution that solves the customer problem in a way that works for the business.

I’ve spent the past 15 years working with teams across tech companies of all sizes, as well as the Marine Corps, to establish the right foundation, structure, and culture that creates Empowered Teams. 
If this resonates with you, I’d love to work with you!

You can find more information here: https://themissionary.company

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