Vasily Starostenko
Head of Product at Revolut
Vasily Starostenko
Head of Product at Revolut
Stanford, California
Overview
Work Experience
Advisor and Investor
2010 - Current
I advise on Product, Growth, and end to end Customer Experience. I help Founders and senior executives grow companies faster by delivering better customer experience Sample happy customers: McKinsey, BCG, Bain, other top consultancies Big4 and beyond, consulting marketplaces GLG Guodepoint and more, investment funds both VC and public equities 1 hour $2,000 buy now https://buy.stripe.com/aEUdTVbwtfjn5A49AA - Founder, Investor: $20M employee equity secondary fund. Fund invested in AirBnB, Lyft, Pinterest, Palantir, Moderna and other top unicorns. Currently investing in AI/LLM
Head of Product
2021
Global Customer Experience CX. Reported into Founder/CEO. Led and grew Customer Experience department (team of teams) from 30 to 100 people. Hired 100+ people 2021 Dramatically, by 3X+, reduced level of customer complaints per active customer. Board level company goal for 2021 2022 Launched and executed "Deliver WOW" strategy and approach to customer experience that resulted in broad recognition for high quality and included - specialized support, - 'poor-great-wow' customer ratings with major increase in %wow ratings, - performance evaluation for customer service teams aligned with customer experience 2023 Significantly, by 2X+, improved operational efficiencies, reduced contact rate = chat volume per active customer. Delivered AI interactive help assistant, based on LLM such as ChatGPT and more.
Product Manager, Driverless Fleet
2019 - 2021
Reported to CPO. Delivered Driverless Fleet Infrastructure that enabled Waymo to launch first paid autonomous robotaxi in Phoenix Arizona and expand into San Francisco, Los Angeles and more cities. Extensive product suite managing driverless vehicles Led Waymo safety product efforts that resulted in substantially better vehicle operator safety compliance, per mile economics for Waymo and overall better road safety and faster progress towards commercialization. Authored 4 patents on autonomous vehicle safety Defined and delivered electric charging software and infrastructure servicing fleet of hundreds or thousands of vehicles for efficient and safe operation - Mission Operations - Vehicle Management - Vehicle Operator Management - Backend Infrastructure - Fleet Orchestration Waymo Driverless Fleet Infrastructure is powering the world's first and only public autonomous ride hailing service and ready for expansion into new geos, product lines and autonomous vehicles driving systems Patents PSYCHOMOTOR VIGILANCE TESTING FOR PERSONS TASKED WITH MONITORING AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES US 20210106266 Oct 2019 FATIGUE MONITORING SYSTEM FOR DRIVERS TASKED WITH MONITORING A VEHICLE OPERATING IN AN AUTONOMOUS DRIVING MODE 20210291839 Feb 2021 MONITORING HEAD MOVEMENTS OF DRIVERS TASKED WITH MONITORING A VEHICLE OPERATING IN AN AUTONOMOUS DRIVING MODE 20210291869 Jul 2020 TESTING SITUATIONAL AWARENESS OF DRIVERS TASKED WITH MONITORING A VEHICLE OPERATING IN AN AUTONOMOUS DRIVING MODE 20210291870 Jul 2020
Senior Manager, Digital Products
2017 - 2018
Led digital products critical for scaling of Model 3 operations, achieved fastest sales growth in company history to date in Q3-Q4 2018 Customer Acquisition Tesla.com website Model S, Model X, Model 3 pages Test Drive Web funnel optimization Digital Order Management: Order to Cash Moving customers through order management steps from deposit to vehicle delivery - Scaling the system to handle Model 3 sales growth by orders of magnitude - Helping Tesla customers full way from placing the order through Tesla delivery - Helping Tesla customers apply for and get approved for financing: loan or lease - Helping Tesla customers easily trade in their vehicle with Tesla purchase - Helping Tesla customers complete the vehicle registration paperwork and register their new Tesla with DMV - and many other problems
Product Manager
2014 - 2017
During my three years at Uber, I solved problems for Drivers: signing up to drive with Uber, taking First Trip, continuing to drive after taking first trip. In 2015, I improved driver journey between Sign Up and First Trip, primarily digital experience on website and in Uber app. In 2016, I focused on Driver Engagement and Retention and shipped plenty of Driver experience improvements In 2017 I switched my focus back to Driver journey between Signup and First Trip, but this time through Customer Support delivered in person, over phone, chat, web as a major customer experience differentiator. Driver Growth Products: - Automatic activation of driver accounts - Simple low friction driver signup - Electronic vehicle registration documents - Document upload and approval / rejection - Customer service and support as a growth lever - Driver FAQ content and support interactions as growth levers Driver Experience Products: - Driver retention and churn models - Fuel finder: http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-wants-to-help-drivers-find-cheap-gas-and-maybe-even-the-bathroom-2016-4 - Fuel card: https://newsroom.uber.com/partner-fuel-card/ - Ride discounts for drivers: https://newsroom.uber.com/behind-the-wheel/ - Retirement savings for drivers: Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-lets-drivers-hail-an-ira-with-betterment-1472043939
Director, Product Management
2012 - 2014
I led Consumer Product and reported directly to President/CEO. I turned around and achieved profitability for company's top revenue producing product ReputationDefender I simplified the product line from thousands of custom products to 50 products, and in real time switched the company to new payment system integrated with Salesforce. I combined disjoint consumer products into one integrated product suit and evolved the business to subscription model. I helped Reputation complete and integrate two acquisitions: PaperKarma and MySocialCloud, and to incorporate their products into a unified Reputation product suite In 2013 led turnaround of ReputationDefender, top product with tens of millions in revenue. Results: ReputationDefender profitable, 80%+ gross margins, and millions of dollars reduction in annual operating expenses. In 2014 launched consumer reputation product comparable to Experian / LifeLock: Credit Monitoring, Personal Data Privacy, Online Mentions, and Facebook Photo Search. 3 year retention, $250+ LTV, sold both direct to consumer and through channel partners such as AOL, Equifax, NRA National Rifle Association.
Chief Operating Officer, Co-founder
2010 - 2012
I co-founded Lightfish with a vision that doing things online should be easy and fast. The problem we face today while browsing the internet is that doing things online is very hard and takes time - which is especially true for repetitive burdensome tasks such as price comparisons, online research, and online shopping. Over these years Lightfish has transformed into ShopSimply and currently allows shoppers to easily purchase things online from multiple vendors via a single shopping cart and makes purchase price minimum possible by applying best discount coupons. I have taken the product through multiple iterations and currently advise the company • Led product management and operations. Managed software development team of 5 in China • Took company through three product iterations: “Easy-to-build macros for internet”, “Customizable fresh web dashboard”, and finally “Price alerts for fashion shopping”. • Helped CEO raise angel funding
Head of Product, Co-Founder
2008 - 2008
I helped start Digi to bring the most essential communication services such as Internet, Telephony, and Television, to the Kingdom of Cambodia. I acted as a CEO and helped establish representative office in Phnom Penh, hire an executive team, as well as secure key licenses for TV, Internet, Telephony and negotiated deals with TV channels • Recruited international management and operations team, established office in Phnom Penh • Organized equipment supply tenders, acquired Internet & TV licenses, established government relations • Negotiated deals for 100+ of TV channels to provide, built market research team
Teaching Assistant, Corporate Finance
2007 - 2008
- Tutored Corporate Finance and Mergers and Acquisitions courses in Master of Economics and Master in Finance programs. - Created and graded problem sets and exams, organized optional seminars
Head of Product, General Manager
2003 - 2008
I joined Hosted Switch out of the university and quickly grew into General Manager role leading the team of 30+ and all company's products. My key accomplishments were establishing Hosted Switch as a leader in IP Telephony traffic Routing, Billing, and Monitoring, as well as launching a popular consumer calling app LunaPhone that sold to hundreds of thousands of consumers via direct to consumer and reseller model. • Defined Hosted Switch as SaaS platform. Transformed company to 100% recurring SaaS revenue • Led product management, marketing, and sales. Supervised entire business operations, team of 30+ • Launched Lunaphone, consumer internet phone app. Sold to 100,000+ consumers in 10+ countries. • Reduced level of online fraud in credit card payments to under 1%, implemented transaction scoring
Education
Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.)
2008 - 2010
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), incomplete
2004 - 2007
MA
2002 - 2004
Master of Science with Honors
1998 - 2004