# Michael Novack — AI Product Leader · Director, Lyft Business > AI Product Leader. Director of Product at Lyft Business. Ships AI tools you can use on this site — Field Kit (three live AI product tools) and Ask Enzo (streaming agent). 15+ years shipping AI-first products at scale: Hims & Hers, Dropbox, Agtonomy, Serve Robotics (Postmates), Just Eat Takeaway, PwC, WWF. Open to Head of AI Product, VP Product, and Chief Product Officer roles. *Generated: 2026-05-11T02:58:26.601Z • Canonical: https://builtbymikey.com* This document is the deep-context companion to `/llms.txt`. It is the single best place to ground an LLM-powered conversation about Michael Novack: who he is, what he has shipped, and what kinds of roles he is best suited for. ## Identity - **Name:** Michael Novack (Mike Novack, Michael J. Novack) - **Current role:** Director of Product, Lyft Business - **Positioning:** AI Product Leader, Head of AI Product candidate - **Location:** Toronto, Ontario, Canada (frequent SF; open to US relocation) - **Specialization:** AI-first product strategy, agents, evals, model routing, marketplaces, payments, autonomous systems, product-led growth - **Open to:** Head of AI Product, VP Product, Chief Product Officer, Director of Product (full-time, fractional, advisory) - **Email:** hi@builtbymikey.com - **Schedule:** https://www.builtbymikey.com/schedule - **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljnovack/ - **GitHub:** https://github.com/michaelnnovack - **Resume (markdown):** https://builtbymikey.com/resume.md - **Structured profile (JSON):** https://builtbymikey.com/api/profile - **Now:** https://builtbymikey.com/now (current bets, updated every few weeks) - **Notes:** https://builtbymikey.com/notes (short essays on AI product judgment) ## Career summary Michael ships products that take ambiguous business problems and turn them into measurable outcomes. He has done this from 0→1 (Agtonomy autonomy stack, Serve Robotics sidewalk delivery) and at scale (0 → 1B+ deliveries at Just Eat Takeaway, $100M+ GLP-1 platform at Hims & Hers, $8M+ expansion revenue at Dropbox). He is an AI-first product leader. He has shipped ML personalization, recommendation systems, computer vision, Level 4 autonomy, and — currently — applied generative-AI tools (`/field-kit` and the chat agent on this site) using the Anthropic Claude API and the Vercel AI SDK with Zod-validated structured output. ## Expertise areas ### Product Strategy *Turning user problems into product decisions that actually matter* Strategy starts with what users struggle with, not what we think they need. I watch how people use products, read support tickets, run interviews: whatever gets to the truth. Then comes the hard part: saying no to good ideas so we can execute great ones. The best roadmaps are short, focused, and ruthlessly prioritized around impact. **Skills:** User Research, Strategic Prioritization, Market Analysis ### AI-First Product Development *Shipping products where intelligence creates genuine user value* AI works when it solves a problem users actually have, not when it's a feature looking for a use case. I build with LLMs, design agent workflows, and integrate models into product experiences. The work is understanding where AI removes friction (automation, personalization, prediction) versus where it adds complexity. Good AI products don't announce themselves. Users just notice their job got easier. **Skills:** Agent Architecture, Prompt Design, Model Integration ### Growth & Scaling *Building repeatable systems that compound over time* Growth isn't a hack. It's finding the moments where users get value, then removing every obstacle between them and that moment. I focus on activation (do they experience value fast?), retention (do they come back?), and referrals (do they tell others?). Sustainable growth comes from products people genuinely want to use, not from optimizing signup flows. **Skills:** Experimentation Design, Metric Definition, Growth Analytics ### Team Leadership *Getting out of the way so teams can do their best work* Good leaders set direction, not tactics. My job is to make the problem clear, explain why it matters, then let the team figure out how. I care about outcomes, not processes. And when things go wrong (which they always do) I want teams to surface problems early, not hide them. Trust is built by admitting uncertainty, not projecting confidence you don't have. **Skills:** Team Building, Context Setting, Performance Coaching ### Business Operations *Removing the friction that slows teams down* Most operational problems are communication problems. Too many meetings, unclear ownership, decisions that require five approvals. I look for the bottlenecks (where does work get stuck?) then simplify until the path forward is obvious. The best process is one nobody notices because it just works. **Skills:** Process Optimization, System Design, Automation Strategy ### Strategic Finance *Using numbers to make better decisions, faster* Finance isn't about spreadsheets: it's about understanding tradeoffs. Should we invest in this feature or that market? What's the actual cost of moving faster? I build models that answer these questions clearly, so teams can make confident decisions without waiting for perfect information. The goal isn't precision, it's clarity. **Skills:** Financial Modeling, Capital Allocation, Strategic Planning ## Technical domains - **AI/ML systems** — LLMs, generative AI, classification, recommendations, computer vision, Level 4 autonomy, RAG, AI agents, structured output via Zod. - **Marketplace architecture** — two- and three-sided marketplaces, supply-demand balancing, multi-country scaling, platform economics. - **Payment & fraud systems** — payment orchestration, fraud detection, dynamic pricing, dual-path payment design, conversion optimization. - **Autonomous systems** — fleet management platforms, operator UX, real-world deployment economics. - **Product-led growth** — self-serve onboarding, activation funnels, behavioral analytics, revenue attribution. ## Case studies Each case study below mirrors the structure on the website at `/work/{id}`. Problem → Approach → Outcome → Metrics → Stack. ## Lyft — Business Travel as a Competitive Advantage **Role:** Director of Product • **Updated:** 2026-05 • **Link:** https://builtbymikey.com/work/lyft-business-travel • **Company:** https://www.lyft.com/business > Accelerating business travel via product-led growth ### Problem Business travel ground transportation is fragmented and expensive for companies to manage. Employees default to personal ride choices, finance teams lack visibility into spend, and existing enterprise solutions create friction that drives low adoption. ### Approach Leading product strategy for Lyft Business, focused on expanding enterprise adoption and improving the core business travel experience through product-led growth motions. ### Outcome Currently in progress. Focused on building the product foundations that will scale Lyft's business travel platform. ### Key metrics - Leading product strategy for Lyft Business travel platform - Driving enterprise adoption through product-led growth ### Stack & techniques `Product-Led Growth`, `B2B Platform`, `Travel Optimization`, `Enterprise Solutions` ## Hims & Hers — GLP-1 Launch & Platform Modernization **Role:** Senior Director of Product • **Link:** https://builtbymikey.com/work/hims-glp1-platform • **Company:** https://www.hims.com > Launching weight loss GLP-1s while rebuilding payment and personalization systems ### Problem Hims & Hers was growing quickly, initially focused on hair loss and erectile dysfunction medication, but was starting to lean into GLP-1s. Our platform wasn't built to support this yet. The demand was high, but we faced serious challenges: • Fraud was skyrocketing as treatment costs jumped from $30 to $1,500, threatening our ability to serve legitimate customers at scale • Payment conversion was tanking because our fraud rules were too aggressive, blocking real customers who wanted treatment • We couldn't personalize experiences, so every customer got the same generic flow regardless of their needs or likelihood to convert • Every pricing experiment required custom engineering, making it impossible to move fast and find the right price points for different customer segments ### Approach I led three platform initiatives that ran in parallel: • Payment funnel optimization: Split the payment flow into two separate paths. One optimized for fraud detection on high-risk transactions, another for conversion on everything else. This let us catch fraudsters without punishing legitimate customers. • ML-powered personalization: Built a classification model that analyzed users during their intake questionnaire and personalized their entire onboarding experience. High-intent users got streamlined paths to checkout, while exploratory users saw more educational content to build confidence. • Dynamic pricing infrastructure: Launched a CDP-powered incentives system that automatically served targeted discounts based on customer data. This unlocked rapid pricing experiments across different segments without needing engineering for each test. ### Outcome The platform transformation enabled Hims & Hers to successfully enter the GLP-1 market while building infrastructure that would support the company for years: • **Market entry:** The GLP-1 launch generated over $100M in incremental revenue in its first year, establishing Hims & Hers as a legitimate player in the weight loss medication space • **Payment economics:** We solved the fraud-vs-conversion tradeoff by reducing fraud 23% while simultaneously improving conversion 8%. The key insight was that you don't need to sacrifice one for the other with the right architecture • **Personalization:** Personalized onboarding lifted conversion 18% and lowered acquisition costs, but more importantly, it made the experience feel tailored rather than generic • **Pricing velocity:** Dynamic pricing drove 31% improvement in lifetime value. We could test new pricing strategies in days instead of months, running experiments 40% faster than before • **Platform foundation:** These weren't just one-time wins. The platform capabilities we built became the foundation for every future product launch at Hims & Hers ### Key metrics - $100M+ incremental revenue from GLP-1 platform - 23% reduction in fraud while improving payment conversion 8% - 18% lift in onboarding conversion via ML personalization - 31% improvement in LTV through dynamic pricing experiments - 40% faster experiment velocity via incentives platform ### Stack & techniques `Payment Orchestration`, `Fraud Detection`, `ML Classification`, `CDP Integration`, `Dynamic Pricing`, `A/B Testing` ## Dropbox — The Next Phase of Growth via Multi-Product Adoption **Role:** Director of Product & Strategy • **Link:** https://builtbymikey.com/work/dropbox-multi-product-adoption • **Company:** https://www.dropbox.com > Transforming single-product users into multi-product power users ### Problem Dropbox had become synonymous with cloud storage, but that perception was actually limiting growth. The company had acquired and built amazing products like DocSend, HelloSign, and Capture, yet users weren't discovering them. We faced critical challenges: • 90% of users only touched core storage, completely missing the adjacent products that could make their workflows more powerful • Our acquisition strategy had created siloed products with separate onboarding flows, so users never saw the full ecosystem • Retention was plateauing because single-product users churned at much higher rates than multi-product users • We had no way to intelligently recommend the right product at the right time based on user behavior and needs ### Approach I led a cross-functional initiative to transform how users discovered and adopted Dropbox products: • Smart onboarding redesign: Rebuilt the first-time user experience to intelligently showcase relevant products based on signup context. Sales professionals saw DocSend, while creative teams saw Capture and Replay. • Behavioral recommendation engine: Built a "right product, right user, right time" ML system that analyzed storage behaviors to surface product recommendations. For example, users frequently sharing large presentations got nudged toward DocSend for better analytics and control. • Seamless activation flows: Created lightweight in-app experiences that let users try adjacent products without leaving their current workflow. Someone could activate HelloSign to collect a signature without ever leaving a shared folder. ### Outcome We successfully repositioned Dropbox from a storage utility to a complete content collaboration platform, unlocking a new phase of sustainable growth: • **Revenue expansion:** Generated $8M+ in incremental expansion revenue from multi-product adoption, proving the strategy could drive meaningful financial impact • **Adoption velocity:** Increased users adopting 2+ products by 35%, fundamentally changing how people thought about and used Dropbox • **Retention:** Multi-product users showed 25% better 30-day retention, validating that deeper product engagement creates stickier customers • **Discovery speed:** Users found value in new products 60% faster through intelligent recommendations versus hoping they'd stumble upon features organically • **Platform scale:** The activation framework we built scaled across 6 different product lines, becoming Dropbox's standard approach for launching and growing new products ### Key metrics - $8M+ incremental expansion revenue from multi-product users - 35% increase in users adopting 2+ products - 25% improvement in 30-day retention for multi-product users - 60% faster time-to-value for new product discovery - Cross-product activation flows deployed across 6 product lines ### Stack & techniques `Product Recommendation ML`, `User Journey Mapping`, `Cross-Product Analytics`, `Onboarding Optimization`, `Activation Funnels` ## Agtonomy — Bringing Autonomy to Agriculture **Role:** Founding Team Member • **Link:** https://builtbymikey.com/work/agtonomy-autonomous-fleet-platform • **Company:** https://www.agtonomy.com > Building the 0-1 autonomy stack and operator experience for autonomous farming ### Problem Specialty crop farming (vineyards, orchards, and citrus groves) was facing a perfect storm. Labor shortages meant farmers couldn't find enough workers during critical harvest windows, and the equipment needs were 3x higher than traditional row crops. We saw key challenges: • Farmers needed to trust unproven startups with their entire harvest, which wasn't realistic for established operations • Major equipment manufacturers had the farmer relationships and distribution but lacked the AI expertise to build autonomous systems • No one had solved the operator experience problem: how do you manage multiple autonomous tractors simultaneously across complex agricultural terrain? • Existing autonomous solutions required line-of-sight supervision, making the economics unworkable ### Approach Joined as an early founding team member to build the 0-1 product and help shape the go-to-market strategy: • TeleFarmer operator platform: Designed the mobile-first interface that lets a single operator manage 10+ autonomous machines simultaneously. The key insight was treating it like fleet management, not individual robot control. • Computer vision for specialty crops: Built TrunkVision, our CV system for centimeter-precision navigation between vine rows and around tree trunks. This was critical because GPS alone isn't accurate enough in these environments. • OEM partnership strategy: Rather than building tractors from scratch, positioned Agtonomy as the "AI Factory" that partners with the "Iron Factory" equipment manufacturers. This let us focus on autonomy while leveraging their existing farmer relationships. ### Outcome Created the foundational technology and strategy that established Agtonomy as the autonomous agriculture platform: • **Operator efficiency:** The TeleFarmer platform achieved 1:10+ operator-to-machine ratios, fundamentally changing the economics of autonomous farming • **Autonomy performance:** 99.7% mission success rate across thousands of autonomous operations proved the technology was production-ready for real farms • **OEM validation:** Partnership platform now powers integrations with Bobcat, Kubota, and other major manufacturers, validating the "AI + Iron" collaboration model • **Commercial traction:** Deployed at premium vineyards including E&J Gallo, Treasury Wine Estates, and Silver Oak, showing enterprise customers would trust the technology • **Company trajectory:** The founding team vision and early product work helped raise $42.8M+ and scale pilot programs 500%, establishing Agtonomy as the category leader ### Key metrics - 1:10+ operator-to-machine management ratio via TeleFarmer platform - 99.7% autonomous mission success rate in production deployments - Centimeter-precision navigation in specialty crop environments - Partnership integrations with 5+ major equipment manufacturers - Commercial deployments at E&J Gallo, Treasury Wine Estates, Silver Oak - $42.8M+ funding raised; 500% pilot program expansion from founding work ### Stack & techniques `Computer Vision (TrunkVision)`, `Fleet Management Platform`, `Hybrid Autonomy Systems`, `Real-time Telemetry`, `Mobile-first Operator UX`, `OEM Integration` ## Serve Robotics (Postmates) — Creating the Future of Last-Mile Delivery **Role:** Director of Product & Business Operations • **Link:** https://builtbymikey.com/work/postmates-serve-robotics • **Company:** https://www.serverobotics.com > Creating the product, autonomy stack, and operations platform for robot delivery ### Problem Short-distance deliveries were destroying unit economics and creating unsustainable delivery operations. Postmates faced fundamental challenges: • Deliveries under 1 mile were unprofitable, losing money on every order because sending a car and driver for a burrito made no economic sense • Driver churn was hitting 40% as couriers avoided short, low-paying trips, creating constant recruiting costs • No one had built a complete product experience for autonomous delivery. How would customers receive packages from a robot? How would merchants hand off orders? • The autonomy stack needed to work in real cities with real chaos, not just controlled environments ### Approach Pioneered the 0-1 development of autonomous sidewalk delivery, building the product and autonomy systems from the ground up: • Autonomy architecture: Architected ML algorithms for Level 4 self-driving robots, developing perception and control systems that could navigate sidewalks, detect obstacles, and handle urban complexity. Focused on making the robot feel predictable and safe, not erratic. • Operator platform: Designed fleet management tools enabling 1:many operator-to-robot supervision. Built remote intervention systems so one operator could monitor multiple robots across the city, making the unit economics viable. • Customer and merchant experience: Owned the end-to-end delivery product from merchant handoff to customer unlock. Designed intuitive robot unlock flows, merchant integration workflows, and optimized every touchpoint to make autonomous delivery feel seamless and delightful. • Delivery optimization: Redesigned the delivery experience through user research, reducing pickup time by 35% and cutting support interventions by 300%, proving the product could scale efficiently. ### Outcome Built the foundational product and technology that established autonomous sidewalk delivery as a viable category: • **0-1 Launch:** Pioneered first commercial autonomous delivery robots, managing hardware partnerships and regulatory approvals to launch across 5 markets • **Delivery performance:** 1,000+ autonomous deliveries proving the product and autonomy systems worked in real-world conditions • **Operational efficiency:** Achieved 1:8 operator-to-robot ratios through smart fleet management, fundamentally changing the economics of last-mile delivery • **Product experience:** 35% faster pickup times and 300% reduction in support interventions showed customers and merchants could trust robots • **Company impact:** The product and technology foundation enabled Serve to spin out as an independent company, ultimately going public and partnering with Uber Eats for large-scale deployment ### Key metrics - Pioneered 0-1 autonomous delivery across 5 markets - 1,000+ deliveries managed through product and autonomy systems - 1:8 operator-to-robot ratio via fleet management platform - 35% reduction in pickup time; 300% fewer support interventions - Platform enabled Serve spinout, IPO, and Uber Eats partnership ### Stack & techniques `Level 4 Autonomy`, `ML Perception & Control`, `Fleet Management Platform`, `Robot UX Design`, `Operator Tools`, `User Research` ## Just Eat Takeaway — Building a 3-Sided Delivery Marketplace **Role:** Group Product Lead • **Link:** https://builtbymikey.com/work/justeat-3sided-marketplace • **Company:** https://www.just-eat.com > Scaling from 0 to 1B+ deliveries through courier network and acquisition integration ### Problem Just Eat had built a successful 2-sided marketplace connecting restaurants with customers, but we were falling behind. Deliveroo and Uber Eats were offering faster, more reliable delivery with their own courier networks, and we were stuck relying on restaurants to handle their own delivery. We faced existential challenges: • Restaurant-managed delivery was slow and inconsistent, creating poor customer experiences that drove users to competitors • We had no control over the delivery experience, the most critical part of the customer journey • Venture-backed competitors were aggressively expanding with their 3-sided models (customers, restaurants, couriers), threatening our market position • We needed to add an entire third side to our marketplace (couriers) without breaking the existing business or alienating restaurant partners ### Approach Led the complete transformation from 2-sided to 3-sided marketplace, building courier operations from scratch while integrating a major acquisition: • Courier marketplace strategy: Formulated the marketplace strategy and platform architecture for our courier network. Built the 0-1 product including courier-facing mobile apps, real-time dispatch systems, and operational frameworks that could scale globally. • Skip acquisition integration: Executed the £200M Skip acquisition, overseeing technical consolidation and user migration. This wasn't just merging codebases. It was combining two different marketplace models and migrating millions of customers without service disruption. • Global expansion: Scaled from single-market proof-of-concept to 14-country rollout. Built the platform to handle diverse regulations, cultural differences, payment systems, and operational models. Each market needed localization while maintaining a unified platform. • Product development: Managed development of web and mobile apps with real-time tracking, dynamic routing, and payment systems. Built the tools restaurants needed to integrate with our courier network seamlessly. ### Outcome Successfully transformed Just Eat into a full-service delivery platform, enabling the company to compete with venture-backed rivals while maintaining profitability: • **Platform scale:** Scaled from 0 to 1 billion+ deliveries, establishing Just Eat as a dominant player in food delivery across multiple markets • **Marketplace growth:** Connected 10M+ customers with restaurants through the new 3-sided marketplace, generating £50M+ in annual revenue • **Acquisition success:** The Skip integration drove 550% YoY order growth, proving we could successfully merge and scale acquired marketplaces • **Operational excellence:** Achieved 90%+ delivery accuracy across diverse global markets with 20%+ courier retention, showing the operational model worked at scale • **Network expansion:** Launched 14-country courier network in 18 months with 100K+ active couriers, building the infrastructure to compete globally • **Customer impact:** 25% faster delivery speeds increased order frequency by 15%, driving sustainable growth through better customer experience ### Key metrics - Scaled from 0 to 1B+ deliveries through 3-sided marketplace transformation - £50M+ annual revenue; 10M+ customers connected via platform - £200M Skip acquisition integration driving 550% YoY order growth - 14-country courier network with 100K+ active couriers - 90%+ delivery accuracy; 20%+ courier retention across markets - 25% faster delivery driving 15% increase in order frequency ### Stack & techniques `3-Sided Marketplace Architecture`, `Real-time Dispatch`, `Route Optimization`, `Multi-Country Operations`, `Acquisition Integration`, `Mobile Development` ## PwC — Transforming Enterprise GTM Through Product-Led Growth **Role:** Management Consultant, Manager • **Link:** https://builtbymikey.com/work/pwc-plg-transformation • **Company:** https://www.pwc.com > Rebuilding go-to-market strategy and operational infrastructure for a Fortune 10 software company ### Problem A Fortune 10 enterprise software company was losing market share to nimbler competitors despite having a technically superior product. Their traditional sales-heavy approach was fundamentally misaligned with how modern buyers wanted to evaluate and purchase software: • 18-month sales cycles were industry standard, but customers wanted to "try before buy" and experience value before committing to six-figure contracts • Product usage was completely disconnected from the sales process. Sales didn't know which prospects were actively using the trial, and product teams had no visibility into revenue impact • Customer acquisition costs were ballooning as the sales team chased deals blindly, with no way to distinguish genuine product engagement from tire-kickers • Cross-functional chaos reigned: Product, Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success operated in silos with conflicting priorities and no unified strategy ### Approach Led a comprehensive transformation from enterprise sales to product-led growth, serving as management consultant focused on product strategy and operational excellence: • Value stream mapping: Conducted deep-dive analysis across 15 business units to identify bottlenecks, waste, and misalignment. Mapped the entire customer journey from first touch to expansion, revealing where friction killed deals and where product engagement predicted revenue. • Product-led growth framework: Designed a new GTM motion where the product itself drives acquisition, conversion, and expansion. Built self-serve onboarding experiences that demonstrated immediate value, turning free trials into qualified pipeline without sales involvement. • Revenue attribution system: Architected analytics infrastructure connecting product engagement metrics to revenue outcomes. Sales could now prioritize high-intent users showing strong adoption signals, while product teams understood which features drove deal closure. • Cross-functional alignment: Restructured organizational workflows to break down silos. Created shared KPIs across Product, Sales, Marketing, and CS teams, ensuring everyone optimized for the same outcomes: user activation, product engagement, and revenue growth. ### Outcome The transformation established product-led growth as the company's primary revenue engine, fundamentally changing how they acquired and expanded customers: • **Cost efficiency:** Eliminated $50M+ in operational waste through process optimization and improved sales-product alignment, redirecting resources toward high-ROI initiatives • **Acquisition economics:** Reduced customer acquisition costs by 40% as product engagement pre-qualified leads, allowing sales to focus on high-intent prospects ready to buy • **Speed to market:** Accelerated time-to-market by 60% through product-sales alignment. New features could be tested with users immediately rather than waiting for sales enablement cycles. • **Adoption velocity:** Improved product adoption by 25% through redesigned onboarding that demonstrated value within the first session, not weeks later • **Platform expansion:** Scaled the PLG framework across 8 different product lines, creating repeatable playbooks for launching and growing products without proportional sales headcount increases • **Organizational impact:** The operational infrastructure and cross-functional workflows became the foundation for the company's growth strategy, enabling them to compete effectively against product-led disruptors ### Key metrics - $50M+ operational waste eliminated through process optimization - 40% reduction in customer acquisition costs via product-led motion - 60% faster time-to-market through product-sales alignment - 25% improvement in product adoption through redesigned onboarding - PLG framework scaled across 8 product lines - Organizational transformation across 15 business units ### Stack & techniques `Product Analytics`, `User Journey Mapping`, `GTM Strategy`, `Process Optimization`, `Revenue Attribution`, `Cross-functional Workflows` ## WWF — Scaling Earth Hour Through Digital Engagement **Role:** Campaign Lead • **Link:** https://builtbymikey.com/work/wwf-digital-conservation-platform • **Company:** https://www.worldwildlife.org > Leading global campaign to drive conservation action through digital transformation ### Problem Traditional conservation campaigns generated awareness but struggled to convert that attention into sustained action. Earth Hour had massive reach (millions participated in the lights-out moment) but engagement was superficial and episodic: • Supporters engaged once a year during the event, then disappeared until the next Earth Hour • Awareness didn't translate to behavior change. People turned off lights but didn't adopt long-term conservation practices or donate • The digital experience was fragmented and outdated, failing to capture the energy of a global movement or make participation feel impactful ### Approach Led the digital transformation of Earth Hour, rebuilding the campaign infrastructure to convert awareness into sustained conservation action: • Campaign platform rebuild: Designed and launched a mobile-first digital platform that made participation tangible and shareable. Users could pledge actions, see real-time global participation, and understand their collective impact. • Behavioral engagement strategy: Architected a year-round engagement model beyond the single event. Created content personalization that matched users with relevant conservation issues, transforming one-time participants into ongoing advocates. • Data-driven storytelling: Built analytics infrastructure connecting individual actions to measurable environmental outcomes, making abstract conservation goals feel personal and achievable. ### Outcome Successfully transformed Earth Hour from a one-night awareness event into a year-round digital conservation movement: • **Engagement growth:** 340% increase in website engagement through mobile-optimized experiences and personalized content that kept users coming back beyond the annual event • **Community building:** 180% growth in monthly active supporters, proving the platform could sustain engagement year-round rather than just during Earth Hour • **Conversion impact:** 250% improvement in donation conversion by connecting participation to tangible outcomes, showing supporters how their contributions drove real conservation work • **List growth:** 500K+ new email subscribers acquired through optimized signup flows, building a foundation for ongoing digital campaigns • **Revenue impact:** $1.2M+ in additional fundraising revenue generated through improved digital experiences and conversion optimization ### Key metrics - 340% increase in website engagement via mobile-first platform - 180% growth in monthly active supporters beyond annual event - 250% improvement in donation conversion rates - 500K+ new email subscribers acquired - $1.2M+ additional fundraising revenue generated ### Stack & techniques `Campaign Management`, `Behavioral Analytics`, `Content Personalization`, `Mobile Optimization`, `Conversion Tracking` ## Notes — AI product judgment in writing Short, specific essays on AI product decisions at https://builtbymikey.com/notes. Each one ties back to a real call shipped on this site or at Lyft. ### Why I picked Haiku for Field Kit's Decision Simulator *Published 2026-05-08 · 4 min read · https://builtbymikey.com/notes/haiku-for-decision-simulator* > For structured generation against a schema, Haiku 4.5 beats Sonnet on first-token latency by ~700ms and costs roughly 5x less. Pick a model per task, not per product. ### AI product judgment in 2026: three calls I'm betting on *Published 2026-05-03 · 5 min read · https://builtbymikey.com/notes/three-ai-bets-for-2026* > Three bets: evals replace PRDs, agents are products not features, and per-task model routing beats "use the biggest model everywhere." The AI PM role becomes more systems design than prompt engineering. ## Field Kit — live AI product leadership demo Live at https://builtbymikey.com/field-kit. A suite of three AI-powered product thinking tools (Decision Simulator, Experience Mapper, Compass Check) built with Anthropic Claude (Sonnet 4.6 + Haiku 4.5) and the Vercel AI SDK, using `streamObject` with Zod-validated JSON schemas. Demonstrates hands-on AI product leadership: prompt engineering, model routing for cost/latency, retrieval-augmented grounding without a vector DB, and structured output streaming. Source-of-truth API: https://builtbymikey.com/api/field-kit. ## Career highlights - **Revenue impact:** $100M+ GLP-1 platform at Hims; $8M+ expansion at Dropbox; £50M+ annual at Just Eat; $1.2M+ at WWF. - **Scale:** 0 → 1B+ deliveries; 14-country expansion; 100K+ active couriers. - **Conversion & growth:** 23% fraud reduction with simultaneous 8% conversion lift; 35% multi-product adoption increase; 18% personalized-onboarding lift; 340% engagement growth at WWF. - **Operational excellence:** $50M+ waste eliminated at PwC; 40% CAC reduction; 60% faster time-to-market; 99.7% autonomous mission success at Agtonomy. - **Product velocity:** 40% faster experiment velocity at Hims; 60% faster time-to-value at Dropbox; activation frameworks scaling across 6+ product lines. ## Ideal opportunities **Company profile:** growth-stage (Series A → pre-IPO), product-market-fit-to-scale challenges, marketplace or platform shape, AI/ML integration on the roadmap, sales-led-to-product-led transformation, post-acquisition integration. **Engagement types:** - Full-time: VP Product, Director of Product, Chief Product Officer - Fractional: 2–3 days/week for 6–12 months - Consulting: project-based, 3–6 months - Advisory: ongoing board / executive **Strong fit for:** AI-first product roles (especially at AI labs and frontier-AI companies), marketplace platforms at scale, payments and fraud product leadership, post-acquisition platform consolidation, and 0→1 in technically deep categories. ## Philosophy - Strategy starts with what users struggle with, not what we think they need. - The best roadmaps are short, focused, ruthlessly prioritized around impact. - Growth isn't a hack — it's finding value moments and removing obstacles. - Good leaders set direction, not tactics. Make problems clear; trust the team to solve. - Most operational problems are communication problems. Simplify until obvious. - Trust through transparency: surface problems early, admit uncertainty, do not project false confidence. ## Common questions **Who should hire Michael?** Companies stuck between strategic vision and tactical execution — especially those scaling marketplaces, integrating AI/ML, or transforming to product-led growth. **What makes him different?** He bridges strategy and execution. He builds the platforms and infrastructure that solve problems at scale — not just identifies them. Examples: payment architecture + ML personalization + dynamic pricing at Hims (drove $100M+); recommendation engine + activation framework at Dropbox (drove $8M+ expansion). **Is he available for AI labs / Anthropic-style roles?** Yes — actively interested in AI-first PM roles where the work is shipping generative-AI products end-to-end. His side projects (`/field-kit`, the Ask-Enzo chat agent) are public, working evidence of hands-on AI product craft. **How to reach him:** hi@builtbymikey.com or https://www.builtbymikey.com/schedule. Typical response: 24–48 hours.