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Product Portfolio

This provides an account of products that I have designed or managed over the past two decades. I have had the joy of working on products for both consumer and enterprise. The following lists them chronologically based upon the year of launch.

Zelo Content Distribution Platform (2018 – 2020)

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The first AI enabled content distribution platform to tell you how your content will be received before you distribute it to your audience.

 

Zelo is a content distribution system that allows a business to distribute video, audio, surveys and text to thousands of people and track the responses over multiple channels simultaneously. The system will look at specific parameters such as the timing, the design of content (color, length, etc.) and the demographics of the target audience to evaluate how to improve viewing and response. It then provides an accurate assessment of content performance and using artificial intelligence, evaluates how to improve upon the Zelo system’s recommendations (a self-teaching system).

 

Zelo has been the platform of choice by many of Europe's largest companies to push content to their employees and customers.

 

Role: Advisor, UX Design, Product Management

Switch/r Renewable Crowd Funding Platform (2018 – 2019)

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A cloud-based crowd funding platform for investing in renewable energy projects.

 

The Switch/r investment platform enables individuals to purchase panels in solar parks in Europe. The platform invests in these parks and passes on the earnings minus a management fee to its investors. Investors can bring up analytics that allow them to understand how much energy is being produced, how much carbon is being offset and what their earnings are.

 

The platform launched in 2019 and provided the inspiration for Solar Growth Capital.

 

Role: Board Member, Product Management

Light Hanger (2017 - 2018)

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The one and only tool that enables a user to avoid dying while they hang holiday lights!

 

This is not my typical product and requires a bit of background information to understand.

 

Several years ago, I found myself hanging holiday lights for my family. Sitting on top of a 10 foot ladder slinging lights around is not exactly my idea of fun. As I was sitting on the ladder contemplating the idea that my family is either going to be really happy with the pretty lights or very upset that I fell and broke my neck, a thought occurred to me; “It would be great if I had a tool that allowed me to hang the holiday lights without having to get on a ladder and risking a fall into oblivion!” Spurred on by my desire to stay alive, I decided to design a tool that would do just that.

 

In December, I filed a patent on this tool and am in discussions about licensing it to a manufacturer. More to follow…

 

Role: Inventor/Designer

Kolos Data Center (2015 - 2018)

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The most secure, efficient and innovative data center in the world, powered by 100% renewable energy

​This was a design for a data center that I developed with HDR to enable what the industry would regard as one of the most  hyper-efficient designs in the world. Kolos will be the largest green data center in the world, powered by 100% sustainable energy from hydropower and wind. As the world's leader in renewable energy with an abundance of green power at 105.5% capacity, Norway was the perfect choice for the location of the Kolos data center.

As data centers face increasing scrutiny for their heavy power consumption and large carbon footprint, the Kolos design will lead the sector's shift to green energy, helping companies and brands support the world’s efforts to transition to renewable energy. We successfully sold the data center project in March, 2018.

Most notable, the project was awarded the prestigious Architizer A+ Award for the most innovative data center design.

Role: Designer, Business Development

TravelText (2015 - 2019)

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Expense capture and reporting fully integrated into the worlds accounting software

TravelText is an application that allows the user to capture their expenses and receipts and, within seconds, apply them to their expense reports. It is used throughout Scandinavia and integrates into all major accounting platforms. The application is supported by an intelligent back-end system that aggregates data to accounting and finance platforms.

Role: Board Member, Product Management

AppsCo (2015 - 2018)

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Securely manage access to their company’s applications

AppsCo enables employees to quickly find, manage and securely access their applications.

AppsCo optimizes costs and reduces risk by ensuring only those employees who need an application consume its license and have access to it.

Role: Board Advisor, UX Design, Business Development

Testsnap: Testing Analytics & Reporting Dashboard (2015 - 2017)

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Detailed Testing Analytics and Integrated History Based Issue Tracking

TestSnap offers a fully integrated analytics system capable of not only tracking issues but allowing the user to spot quality trends in their software. The system allows the user to share and assign issues to team members as well as identify specific trouble spots in their software. The goal was to provide a simple, easy to manage portal in The Cloud that would make it easy to control quality of software. This was launched in response to the large volume of issues TestSnap was finding in customer software.

Role: Product Management, UX Design

Captario SUM (2014 - 2020)

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The Premier Risk Assessment Platform for the Pharma Industry

Captario SUM enables a loop of creative design and analytical thinking where an idea of how to develop a drug is captured and then simulated to reflect value and risk over the whole product life cycle. We call this new and iterative approach DESIGNALYSIS.

Captario SUM is used by four out of the top ten drug development companies in addition to governments and universities to make critical risk assessments for multi-billion dollar projects.

Role: Board Member, Product Design, UX Design, Business Development

iTeamSport (2014 - 2018)

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iTeamSport coordinates between players and coaches to provide feedback on performance and development

ITeamSport is an application available for both smartphones and desktops where coaches can coordinate their sporting teams & track player ́s progress. The application offers different user experiences linking everyone together in the sporting ecosystem (coaches and support team, players, parents and managers).

Role: Board Advisor

Testsnap: Automated Testing Platform (2014 - 2017)

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Create Complex Automated Tests in Minutes

The idea for TestSnap came from a desire to have a platform to showcase image recognition technologies that I have been working on for the past decade.

As a product unto itself, TestSnap is an automated testing solution that can test any software with an interface on any platform.  TestSnap operates by blending image recognition, optical character recognition, and bots to test software through the user interface….much the same way as you or I would manually test software. Its like having R2-D2 and C3-PO around to test your software.

When we started TestSnap, we incorporated four important design considerations that will set it apart from competitors. 

  1. Efficient: No code integration with the application or website that is being tested. 

  2. Cheap: Tests can be created in minutes rather than hours and NO engineering resources (or scripting) are necessary regardless of the complexity of the tests.

  3. Scalable: TestSnap is platform agnostic and not tied to a specific browser.

  4. Ease of Use:  Can be used with little or no training and supports the premise that tests can be created quickly and to any extent possible, automatically.

 

Our goal with TestSnap was to make automated testing easy and cheap enough to lower the barriers to adoption for any team, regardless of skill and financial circumstances.

You can watch a demo of TestSnap here and here.

Role: Product Management, UX Design, Business Development

Smartrail (2013 - 2017)

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Modular, extreme weather resistant railing system for commercial and home construction that can be assembled in minutes.

 

Smartrail is a modular railing system that can be added to a home or commercial space without skilled labor. It is designed to assemble in minutes and is resistant to extreme weather including hurricane force wind conditions. Its unique, proprietary glass is cable of resisting over 1500 pounds of force per square inch. A fun fact: the highest any non-government testing facility can impact test for is 1500 pounds of force per square inch. Experts believe that Smartrail glass can absorb and distribute for greater force.

The Smartrail solution is used in thousands pre-fabricated homes throughout Scandinavia.

 

Role: Board Member

Lean Business Planning (2013 – 2017)

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The first cloud-based business planning platform to be adopted by banks throughout Europe.

 

Entreprenerdy.com (Formerly Lean Business Entrepreneurial Platform) is a cloud-based tool that enables small business to plan their activities and model their plans for a successful outcome. The platform has enabled thousands of entrepreneurs to realize their dream of starting a company and is actively being used as a tool by banks to evaluate business opportunities for loans.

 

I was the co-author of Lean Business Planning, the book by which the company was founded on and helped to design the core software platform.

 

Role: Board Member, Product Management, Author of Lean Business Planning

Windfarm Designs (2012 – 2016)

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The only cloud-based predictive wind farm designer in the industry.

 

Windfarm designs is an analytics platform designed to identify wind turbine sites. By combining topographical maps, airflow measurements, airflow disruption patters and a series of proprietary algorithms, the system shows the optimal placement of wind turbines.

 

This platform has been used to develop wind-farm site plans for parks throughout the U.K., Germany and Scandinavia.

 

Role: Advisor, Product Management

Fun Run 1 & 2 (2012-2016)

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The first successful real-time multiplayer mobile game.

 

Fun Run was launched in September, 2012 and reached #1 is the US Apple App Store within a month of the release. Fun Run 2 was launched in December 2014 and reached #2 in the us Apple App Store. Fun Run is has over 100 million active daily users all over the world.

 

In my role as advisor, I worked with the team to focus on analytics behind the game as well as provided guidance to launch Fun Run 2 in an effort to create a franchise to build around. In addition, I worked with the team to resolve dozens of improvement opportunities and build strong fundamentals for the business.

Rule: Advisor

Kahoot! (2012 - 2013)

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Kahoot! brings engagement and fun to more than 1 billion players every year at school, at work, and at home

Kahoot! came about as a result of a discussion I had with the team regarding their passions over coffee. They came to Innovation Norways TINC program with an entirely different product focused on nightclubs. After a great deal of soul searching, the team and I discussed applying their technology towards eduction and after many months of planning, and hard work, Kahoot! was born.  

Kahoot! is used by over 1 billion people in almost every country in the world.

Role: Advisor

Verizon's Next Generation Messaging (NGM) for Android and IOS (2011 - 2012 & 2018)

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The First Carrier Android and IOS Messaging Clients

In 2008, the carrier messaging market began a fundamental shift.  SMS and MMS revenue with carriers began to decline as a result of new, data delivered (over-the-top) messaging services.

Buongiorno, (later spun off into Lumata) developed a Next Generation Messaging (NGM) client aimed at enabling carriers to retake the messaging stack from OEMs and providing a launch platform for other, revenue driving services.  In a joint venture with Verizon Wireless, NGM was launched, resulting in the 2nd highest rated application (almost 1000 five-star ratings) in the Verizon’s android offering and service delivery to the largest mobile audience in the United States.  An IOS client was later introduced to the Verizon audience.

 

With dozens of unique, well-integrated features such as location integration into messaging, integrated search and group messages, NGM is off to a promising start in the Verizon messaging portfolio.

Role: Product Management, Project Management, Engineering

Aspira Networks' Location Based Contextual Targeting System (2010 - 2011)

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The first user intent targeting system.

In 2009, the mobile ad market was focusing much of its efforts on developing location-based ad systems.  There were a number of market studies around that time stating that a large number of users develop their own intent to purchase and that those people tend to make their way to various retail sites on their own.

 

The Aspira Networks system was designed to influence a user’s intent to purchase by providing them with additional options as they are making their way to a retailer’s website.  This was accomplished by detecting where a user is going and what they are likely to purchase when they get there, and influence their purchase with coupons and promotions specifically targeted to their intent.  This targeting mechanism was augmented with specific location information as well as user profiles.  The result was an extremely high conversion rate (ranging from 2-18% depending upon the brand recognition).

Role: Product Management, Marketing, Business Development

Aspira Networks' Rewardfinds.com & Lilideals.com (2009 - 2011)

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Consumer cash back reward sites designed to test user intent and market programs.

In order to test additional marketing programs, a series of retail websites were established.  The most popular were www.lilideals.com and www.rewardfinds.com

 

Both sites were designed to offer cash back rewards for consumer purchases made through the sites.  Over 1400 affiliate relationships were established to support the effort.

Role: Product Management, Marketing, Business Development

Kadoink Branded Campaign Management System (2008 - 2009)

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The first integrated branded ad campaign engine.

In 2007, Kadoink was focused on text and voice blasts to consumers on Facebook and Myspace. By 2008, it was apparent that there was an opportunity to move to branded ad campaigns that brought together web, social media, email and mobile messaging (integrating all of these elements into a single campaign system).  The Kadoink Branded Ad Campaign System was developed to address that opportunity.  It was launched in December of 2008 to improve the brand recognition of the David Letterman show and The Associated Press.  Response rates for the initial system hovered around 2% but grew steadily as additional targeting mechanisms were added.

The system was capable of targeting around user profiles, geography and the context of the publishing and advertisements.  Targeting based upon emotional context was also considered and designed but never pursued.

Role: Product Management, Business Development

Kadoink Branded Mobile Applications and Social Networking Widgets (2008 - 2009)

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The first audio and SMS blasting applications on Facebook and MySpace.

In support of the campaign management system, a number of mobile applications and social networking widgets were launched.  These could be re-skinned using a central interface to support the branding of any of Kadoink’s partners.  This was popular with performing artists such as 3rd Eye Blind, Jordan Sparks, Boston and Jenifer Lopez to reach their fans as well as more traditional news organizations such as The Associated Press.

Role: Product Management and Marketing

Mobile Clarity Advanced Automatic Image Compression (2005 - 2008)

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The most efficient image handling in the mobile space.

To facilitate the success of our products and establish a clear competitive advantage, I worked with my engineering team to design a derivative of JPEG2000 codec to eliminate up to 94.5% of the size of an image with no appreciable reduction in quality.  The compression rate is determined by an evaluation of the individual image characteristics or by a standard for quality that the mobile operator or handset manufacturer wish to establish.  This key technology enabled all of our client products to operate in bandwidth constrained environments.

Role: Product Management

Kyocera Push-To-Talk Device Portfolio (2003 - 2005)

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The first Push-To-Talk devices outside of Sprint.

I was the corporate sponsor of the Verizon and Alltel Push-To-Talk (PTT) initiative within Kyocera resulting in the specification and delivery of the first PTT enabled devices on both networks.  Millions of units were shipped over the project lifetime and the core technologies from the United States market were used to expand the Kyocera’s product line in other countries such as Japan.

Role: Corporate Sponsor, Managed Product Teams and Systems Engineering Teams

Kyocera Mobile Devices (2003 - 2005)

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The first slider form factor, the first FOTA enabled device and the first Palm enabled mobile device.

 

Kyocera mobile devices ship throughout the world with as many as 54 mobile applications and supporting 5 application platforms (Android, Windows Mobile, Palm, Brew, and Java).  As head of product management at Kyocera Wireless, I was responsible for all mobile applications shipping across the entire portfolio of devices including messaging, browser, provisioning, FOTA, Camera, voice and gaming applications (to name a few). Hundreds of patents were filed in support of the software applications and contributed $100s of millions in revenue. Over 40 device models were shipped off of the platform that we developed. The platform was ultimately supplanted by the Android Platform in 2007.

Role: Corporate Sponsor, Managed Product Teams and Systems Engineering Teams

Using Aliases to Manage Contact Information (2003-2005)

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The First Alias Management System in the Mobile Space

While developing the Push-To-Talk devices, we started the development of several communication applications that required secondary identities. This was the first time this method was implemented in the mobile space (is the days prior to Smart Phones). This patent was used as a cornerstone of the Kyocera Patent Portfolio and provided the basis for our counter assertion strategy.

Role: Inventor

Openwave WAP Ad Engine (2001 - 2002)

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The first ad targeting engine for WAP pages.

In 2001, WAP pages were being widely deployed by publishers but there was little they could do to monetize them.  Ads started showing up on the pages but these needed to be hard-coded which left little opportunity to target appropriately.

I designed a simple ad engine capable of targeting consumers based on their UAProf, the context of the WAP site and a developed user profile.  The system tied into an SMSC & MMSC enabling a series of back and fourth communications to a users interests in an advertisement.  This engine was the first of its kind in WAP and was operational until late 2004 (replaced by more conventional systems).

Role: Managed Product Team

Openwave MMS Client (2001 - 2002)

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The very first XHTML MMS client.

Designed for the emerging camera phone market, the Openwave MMS client was the first of its kind in support of the multimedia messaging protocol.  It was developed as an extension of the browser in order to expedite its development and stay ahead of competitors.  This client shipped on over a dozen phones before its stand-alone MMS cousin was introduced.

It was initially launched in Europe for the Spanish market and then pushed into over a dozen countries.  It was the second client product introduced at Openwave to enjoy localization in over a dozen languages on its release date. Openwave MMS client was the first MMS client on the scene.

It was developed and released in a record 90 days.

Role: Product Manager

Openwave Firmware Over the Air Solution (2001 - 2002 & 2005)

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The first FOTA solution in the mobile space.

To round out our mobile client software portfolio, I formed a small team of engineers on the development of the mobile industry’s first Firmware-Over-The-Air (FOTA) solution.  This solution utilized a special protocol to update the firmware on mobile devices.  Overtime, this evolved into diagnostic system as well.  This developed into $20 million per year business and following my departure from Openwave, it was sold to Innopath in September, 2005. A funny twist of fate led me to working with Innopath in 2006 to clean up the code base and reposition the product.

In the day of the iphone and android devices, we often take for granted this “not so simple” process that had its start at Openwave.

Because of the necessary focus on quality, this took almost 2 years to bring it to market.

Role: Corporate Sponsor, Product Manager

Openwave Mobile Browser (2000 - 2003)

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The first GUI browser shipping on a mobile device.

Originally designed for KDDI’s network, the Openwave Browser became the world’s premier mobile internet experience.  It was originally designed around the WAP standards and later modified to handle HTML.  The browser shipped on 1000s of models of feature phones, to over a billion users and was supported on over 70 mobile operators.

It enjoyed a global launch in over 30 different countries and went on to drive over $160 million a year in revenue for Openwave and $billions for mobile operators.  It later became the foundation for other device-based services such as multimedia messaging (MMS) and image viewers.

Role: Corporate Sponsor, Product Manager

Ricoh eCabinet (1998 - 2000)

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The best document search engine bar none.

Launched at Comdex in 1999 as Ricoh Corporation’s flagship digital document management system, the eCabinet was designed for enterprise and government use.  It was adopted by governments and corporations for a variety of uses including storing and managing key documents such as tax returns and DNA records.

It was designed to be used by office admins with little or no training.  This feature was the by-product of several 1000 man hours of UI testing.  The UI was unique at the time because it was derived from a single keyword search engine that could be expanded to include a variety of search parameters.  It was also designed to handle image searches both from a metadata and “like-image” perspective years before the first web based image comparison search site was available.

The system was positioned on a network where it would make a PDF copy of all documents that passed through it.  As additional eCabinets were added to a network, the individual systems would communicate and share search results to assure that documents were always found.

Every year, I find companies such as Google releasing functionality reminiscent of the eCabinet experience.

Role: Product Manager

Airline Safety Systems (1996 - 1997)

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The first blast mitigation and airline cockpit safety system.

During my tenure at UCLA, I was brought into Allied Signal Corporation (acquired by Honeywell in 1999) to work with a patent portfolio regarding a material called spectra-fiber.  This is the same material that is used to armor Humvees and the like.  While reviewing the patents, the team I was participating with came up with several airline safety systems including containers designed to isolate explosives on an airplane as well as secure cockpit doors to protect the crew of a commercial airliner.  Several of these systems were adopted following the tragedy of 9/11.

Role: Product Manager

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About Me

Mark Robinson is a father, a traveler, an entrepreneur and an author whose work takes him around the world and off the beaten path. He takes frequent trips with his family and whenever his work allows, he tries to sneak in an adventure or two.

 

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© 2018 by Mark Robinson

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