Shawn Pons
Skill Score
Professional (3/6)
287
Industries
Enterprise Tech Sports
Head of Product & Tech Solutions | 15+ Years Exp | B2B & B2B2C SaaS & Generative AI Focus | ex-NEA, Vista, & NVP Backed Firms | Led Product to $600M Exit | Soccer & Dance Dad

With 15+ years in Product Management, I’ve led B2B & B2B2C SaaS initiatives across Generative AI, Live Entertainment, Supply Chain Compliance, and Sports Management business verticals. I excel in shaping product visions, strategies, and go-to-market plans. I have driven transformative projects that have revolutionized customer engagement and accelerated business growth.

Skills
Evaluated for VP of Product and Enterprise PM role archetype
Performance by Category
Communication
0%
Strategy
0%
Design
0%
Technology
0%
Execution
0%
Go-to-market
0%
Top Skills
Build vs buy vs partner Data retrieval Feature prioritization Listening Market analysis Metrics definition Negotiation Performance tracking Product roadmap Relationship building
Skill Progression
Projects

No Endorsements Found.

Experience

Product Management & Operations Leader

Forethought offers B2B2C SaaS generative AI solutions enhancing customer service for 200+ companies across diverse industries. Secured $92M in funding from notable firms and investors including Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashton Kutcher, and Robert Downey Jr. 20% ARR growth during tenure.

  • GTM Strategy Leadership: Crafted and executed successful GTM and product launch strategy for B2B2C enterprise offerings, resulting in a surge of internal readiness confidence from 20% to 56% and awareness from 50% to 90% in a single quarter.
  • Generative AI Tool Development: Spearheaded the creation of a configurable AI-driven email automation support tool aligned with Forethought’s revenue model. Achieved a 60-90% reduction in support inquiries, saving $7-$12 per inquiry and enhancing client efficiency.
  • Data-Driven Decision Making: Established comprehensive tracking of adoption rates, engagement, product-market fit, NPS, and time-to-first-value, boosting NPS by 48% and guiding strategic product development in alignment with company targets.
  • Onboarding Transformation: Overhauled the onboarding system by creating interactive in-app guides, messaging, and articles; slashing Time to First Value (TTFV) by 80%.
  • Feedback Loop Optimization: Established a robust product feedback system, securing 500+ actionable client insights in six months, shaping the roadmap and OKRs directly.

Senior Director of Enterprise Product & Design

Paciolan offers SaaS ticketing, fundraising, marketing, analytics, e-commerce, payments and other technology solutions to 500+ live entertainment organizations and venues. As the leading ticketing provider for college athletics, and second only to Ticketmaster in live entertainment, it was acquired by Learfield in 2017. Over 20% ARR growth ($80M to $100M+) during tenure.

  • Championed Enterprise Product Strategy: Directed vision and strategy for enterprise products, ensuring meticulous execution of GTM plans and product launches. Achieved cross-functional alignment with the product roadmap.
  • Team Leadership: Recruited and led a high-performing team of 10 in Product and Design.
  • Revenue Generation: Launched a gift collections product that generated over $12.5 million in donations for our clients.
  • Mobile App Success: Introduced Paciolan’s first mobile app for enterprise ticket operations, securing 75% client adoption and engaging 1,000+ monthly active users within three months.
  • Innovative Product Development: Developed and launched products promoting social distancing and contactless ticket scanning. Over 300M tickets utilized these features in 2021.
  • Customer-Centric Collaboration: Established Paciolan’s inaugural Product Advisory Board, emphasizing innovation and client engagement through Design Thinking and experiments.
  • Operational Efficiency: Designed and implemented internal product management protocols and playbooks, boosting the efficiency and impact of product initiatives across North America.

Global Director of Enterprise Product & Design

Avetta, a B2B SaaS subscription marketplace emphasizing supply chain safety, compliance, and sustainability, connects over 125,000 suppliers across 120 countries with 250+ operators. 250% ARR growth during tenure, securing a landmark $600M private equity deal the same year.

  • Enterprise Product Leadership: Directed product vision and strategy, successfully executing GTM initiatives, launching products, and aligning cross-functional teams with the product roadmap.
  • Team Management: Recruited and led a nine-member team specializing in Product Management and Product Design.
  • Product Transformation: Spearheaded the transformation of an 11-year-old monolithic product into a microservices architecture with a revamped user experience, facilitating a $600M private equity deal.
  • Revenue Generation: Initiated a multi-year customer membership program, generating over $5M in revenue within six months.
  • Diversified Revenue Streams: Launched an analytics platform and integrated acquisitions to roll out employee compliance products, establishing two new revenue streams and serving 100 clients in the inaugural year.
  • Customer-Centric Collaboration: Founded and managed a Customer Advisory Board, leveraging Design Thinking to collaborate on industry trends, product innovation, and optimize product-market fit.
  • Operational Efficiency: Integrated Zuora billing, Salesforce CRM, and Service Cloud, enhancing global operational efficiency by streamlining subscription payments and reducing overhead.

Senior Product Manager

Motor Trend Group is the largest automotive media company in the world, resulting from a joint venture between Discovery’s fast-growing Velocity network and Motor Trend Group’s entire automotive digital, direct-to-consumer, social, and live event portfolio, including Motor Trend, Hot Rod, Roadkill, Automobile, and more than 20 other industry-leading brands.  Estimated revenue of $30 million.

 

  • Developed product portfolio strategy and requirements consolidating 40+ brand websites into seven market-focused network sites, resulting in increased site traffic and revenues, decreased costs and improved the user experience
  • Launched product redesign and consolidation of four Mustang brand websites into Mustang 360 Network, resulting in over 14% increase in pages per visit (PPV) and beating page view (PV) projections by 78% and 58% in the first two months
  • Launched product redesign for Jean Knows Cars, resulting in over 60% increase in weekly visits and a 20% increase in weekly PVs over a four-month period
  • Drove initiative to improve email newsletter frequency and optimization, resulting in roughly 400% increase in PVs on first days and ~200% increase on second days
  • Collaborated with cross-functional teams (onshore and offshore development, program management, visual design, interaction design, SEO, marketing, social media, ad sales, ad operations, editorial, and business intelligence) to create optimized workflows in product development

Product Manager

Active Network, Inc. is the leader in the activity and participant management industry, helping organizers transform and grow their business.  Generated over $337 and $418 million revenue in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

 

  • Oversaw  and developed digital strategy and roadmap across the global organization of corporate and B2B websites, including management and consolidation of over 300 domains into 15 websites
  • Increased lead generation conversion rate for RegOnline.com by 200%, bringing in over $300K in additional revenue over a 6-mo. period
  • Optimized websites through developing and measuring testing plans with cross-functional teams in analytics, user-experience (UX) and search engine optimization (SEO)
  • Partnered with user Marketing and PR to maximize opportunities to promote the websites through digital channels
  • Managed and mentored team of designers and developers responsible for creating and maintaining corporate and B2B websites, encouraging them to deliver creative, innovative and risk-taking solutions
  • Managed all consumer-facing and technical aspects of GearUp daily deals product generating roughly $4M in revenue and $1M in profit in its first year
  • Oversaw and optimized marketing strategies to increase website conversion, the email list of over 20 million emails sent per month, social media, banner ads and other promotions resulting in over 80% of total monthly sales
  • Launched and managed relationships with external digital partners (Google Offers Marketplace, Zozi, and Group Commerce) and internal partners (ACTIVE Affiliate Marketing team and email service provided)

Degree Programs

Master of Business Administration

Bachelor of Science

Licenses and Certifications

No Licenses or Certifications Found.