Kyle Blackwell
Think Outside the Box Product Strategist
Experience
Founder
Qwoll
Full-time commitment to establishing a consumer e-learning startup with the mission to help busy adults more efficiently learn about the liberal arts, humanities, and sciences. Gained public funding and was accepted into an int'l accelerator program.
- Conceptualized, prototyped, and launched alpha app, recruited CTO, advisors and collaborators; built newsletter following, and collaborated with 20+ experts to develop high quality programming
- Initiated partnership development, conducted surveys and user interviews; gained deep insights on the problem space to devise product and go to market strategy, translated this into financial planning
Corporate Strategy Lead
Axel Springer SE
Axel Springer is an int'l media & classifieds holding of brands such as BILD, Business Insider, StepStone. I advised senior management & the board on M&A, product strategy, and portfolio management topics
- Supported VC investment analysis for seed and series A tickets of € 250k-1m in proptech and ad-tech start ups
- Buy side and sell side M&A on media and classifieds: competitive analysis, market research and operational analysis; outcomes of projects include sale of Car & Boat Media for €XXXm and the purchase of Politico US for $1 billion
- Developed the product concept and go-to-market strategy for a new enterprise digital media product
Independent Consultant
Self & AlixPartners LLP
Ad-hoc work which I was contracted for while searching for a full-time role after my MBA
- Worked with an international consultancy on an operational efficiency project for a TMT Fortune 500 client
- Assisted entrepreneurs on writing business plans and building financial models
Teacher
SENA
Devised lesson plans, curriculum, innovated new games and interactive methods to engage 18-40 year old vocational school students of business and industry in learning business English
Consultant
African Entrepreneur Collective
Focused on capacity building of early stage entrepreneurs. Provided 1:1 consultations on finance, accounting and business plan development; work led to two clients successfully attracting financial support for venture and growth
Business Analyst
CGI Federal
CGI Federal is a subsidiary of CGI Group Inc. (NYSE: GIB), which provides IT consulting services to US Government agencies. I served on a 20-member ERP project team, managing agile software development and supporting client financial operations.
- Conducted user and system research to evaluate, test, and deploy 200+ UI design changes
- Designed and led end-to-end implementation of custom financial reports; had direct interface with senior clients
Research Analyst
CBRE Clarion Securities
Built Excel models for tracking portfolio development and target valuation for private real estate investment fund