Emily Poplawski
VP of Product at Ahara Corporation
Emily Poplawski
VP of Product at Ahara Corporation
San Francisco, California
Overview
Work Experience
VP of Product
2022 - Current
Ahara leverages technology, nutrition science, and data science to create the first of its kind personalized nutrition app founded by Julie Wainwright, previously Founder and CEO of The Real Real (NASDAQ: REAL). Ahara is backed by Greycroft Partners and Headline and recognized by Forbes as a top wellness trend in 2024 for its novel "precision nutrition" approach utilizing data and AI. ● Partnered with founders to refine vision, executed MVP launch on-time and on-budget, fast followed with conversion updates. ● Enabled team to close 3 enterprise accounts, prospect for insurance partners, and acquire thousands of users. ● As employee #1, built the product development organization to 7 staff and helped hire other executives including VP of Engineering and VP of Marketing roles). ● Presented quarterly product updates, buyer conversion, and customer sign-ups to the Board and investors.
Head of Product Management
2019 - 2021
● Collaborated with founders to transform vision for women’s health into a product strategy, taking the company from seed investment to $225M exit. ● Joined as employee #8 and helped hire leadership roles and 8-person product development team, providing mentorship and career growth. ● Grew customers from 100s to 100,000+ by delivering a fertility product at 10% of the cost of traditional healthcare. ● Managed stakeholder consensus and company-wide roadmap across Marketing, Engineering, Operations, Clinical, and Data Science teams to deliver initiatives and achieve board goals. ● Directed marketing strategy to scale website traffic to 3M annually; grew sign-up rate to 36% through customer research and market analysis. ● Assisted company fundraise by leading investor & acquirer diligence and data reporting.
Product Management Lead for Houzz eCommerce, Product Advertising and Post Purchase Experience
2017 - 2019
I led the Mobile Product Development team for 2.5 years. Then, at a critical point in Houzz’s growth, I transitioned to a blended product / general manager role on the eCommerce Team to help the company achieve profitability. ● Led a team of senior VPs and directors to reduce operational costs by 50%, while also improving customer satisfaction — a critical initiative for Houzz’s CEO and CFO. ● Oversaw shipping & logistics, customer support, post-purchase experience, and advertising business organizations for a $700M ARR business. ● Relaunched advertising business resulting in 4X revenue growth in 6 months, reaching profitability for Houzz’s eCommerce business.
Product Management Lead, Mobile
2015 - 2017
● Monetized iOS & Android apps +800% in two years by developing a customer-centric roadmap. ● Grew mobile MAUs through app redesigns, user testing, AB testing, marketing channel development, and app launches in 10+ international markets, accounting for 50% of growth. ● Delivered innovative product strategy featuring photo tags and augmented reality shopping; adopted by 50% of mobile buyers (who convert 13X more often). ● Collaborated with PR to publicize updates, resulting in features by NY Times & Washington Post. ● Developed a communication strategy for key app updates, leading to multiple awards and recognition: “Best App of 2016” at Google I/O; Techcrunch Disrupt mainstage demo in Fall 2017; and featured placements in iOS App store and Google Play store. ● Defined product development processes at Houzz; helped grow mobile team from 8 engineers and designers to 30+ across two offices.
Senior Product Manager, Mobile
2012 - 2015
● Achieved buy-in from Walmart execs to deliver product features responsible for 1% and 3% of Walmart’s total revenue as reported in earning calls. ● Presented mobile vision and demoed innovations to the CEO and Walmart’s Board of Directors to secure resources for Walmart Lab’s initiatives. ● Grew mobile active users by 400% in 2014 and increased customer value by converting store shoppers into digital shoppers. ● Solved top customer complaint by helping 2M+ monthly customers find items in Walmart stores through a new mobile app search experience; featured in Forbes and adopted by customers at 99% of Walmart’s 4.5K stores during the first 2 weeks after launch ● Inventor of 14 eCommerce patents and ranked in the top 1-2% of product managers.
Program Manager Windows Team
2010 - 2012
● Grew global audience for Windows.com by delivering a localization framework to support 150+ worldwide markets, resulting in Windows.com becoming a “Top 10” site per Alexa Rankings. ● Led a team of engineers to develop APIs used for developer app submission in the Windows 8 App Store, resulting in 100K+ successful app submissions.
Education
Electrical & Computer Engineering
2006 - 2010