Obaidullah Khawaja
Principal Product Manager at Polly- Claim this Profile
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Bio
Mohsin Shafique Hijazee
Of all the jobs that I had to undertake, my time at Sovoia polished me the most mainly because of the fact that I was trusted and guided in and about key ideas, working principles and paradigms by Obaid in order to build next generation of Business Intelligence platform for eCommerce - BoostBI. Today, I owe my confidence and maturity to his sharp critical management. As a founder, Obaid is keen in equipping his team with the best tools of the trade which is rare specifically in Pakistan.
Vinny O'Brien
I have had the pleasure of working with Obaid now for almost 2 years. Since our introduction, Obaid has never failed to impress with his ability to rationalise conceptual ideas and transform them into measurable tools that have helped scale the businesses we worked together on. He understands the importance of commercialising complex technical products and making them relevant to key stakeholders. He brings dynamism, energy and hard work to his work and is an easy business partner to have. His personal values underpin his business dealings - innovative, a man of integrity, results oriented and focussed.
Mohsin Shafique Hijazee
Of all the jobs that I had to undertake, my time at Sovoia polished me the most mainly because of the fact that I was trusted and guided in and about key ideas, working principles and paradigms by Obaid in order to build next generation of Business Intelligence platform for eCommerce - BoostBI. Today, I owe my confidence and maturity to his sharp critical management. As a founder, Obaid is keen in equipping his team with the best tools of the trade which is rare specifically in Pakistan.
Vinny O'Brien
I have had the pleasure of working with Obaid now for almost 2 years. Since our introduction, Obaid has never failed to impress with his ability to rationalise conceptual ideas and transform them into measurable tools that have helped scale the businesses we worked together on. He understands the importance of commercialising complex technical products and making them relevant to key stakeholders. He brings dynamism, energy and hard work to his work and is an easy business partner to have. His personal values underpin his business dealings - innovative, a man of integrity, results oriented and focussed.
Mohsin Shafique Hijazee
Of all the jobs that I had to undertake, my time at Sovoia polished me the most mainly because of the fact that I was trusted and guided in and about key ideas, working principles and paradigms by Obaid in order to build next generation of Business Intelligence platform for eCommerce - BoostBI. Today, I owe my confidence and maturity to his sharp critical management. As a founder, Obaid is keen in equipping his team with the best tools of the trade which is rare specifically in Pakistan.
Vinny O'Brien
I have had the pleasure of working with Obaid now for almost 2 years. Since our introduction, Obaid has never failed to impress with his ability to rationalise conceptual ideas and transform them into measurable tools that have helped scale the businesses we worked together on. He understands the importance of commercialising complex technical products and making them relevant to key stakeholders. He brings dynamism, energy and hard work to his work and is an easy business partner to have. His personal values underpin his business dealings - innovative, a man of integrity, results oriented and focussed.
Mohsin Shafique Hijazee
Of all the jobs that I had to undertake, my time at Sovoia polished me the most mainly because of the fact that I was trusted and guided in and about key ideas, working principles and paradigms by Obaid in order to build next generation of Business Intelligence platform for eCommerce - BoostBI. Today, I owe my confidence and maturity to his sharp critical management. As a founder, Obaid is keen in equipping his team with the best tools of the trade which is rare specifically in Pakistan.
Vinny O'Brien
I have had the pleasure of working with Obaid now for almost 2 years. Since our introduction, Obaid has never failed to impress with his ability to rationalise conceptual ideas and transform them into measurable tools that have helped scale the businesses we worked together on. He understands the importance of commercialising complex technical products and making them relevant to key stakeholders. He brings dynamism, energy and hard work to his work and is an easy business partner to have. His personal values underpin his business dealings - innovative, a man of integrity, results oriented and focussed.
Credentials
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Mastering Product Management
ReforgeAug, 2022- Nov, 2024 -
Product Strategy
ReforgeNov, 2021- Nov, 2024 -
Growth Series
ReforgeNov, 2020- Nov, 2024
Experience
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Polly
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United States
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Software Development
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1 - 100 Employee
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Principal Product Manager
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Jan 2020 - Present
At Polly I own both our Slack and Teams products and lead a remote team of 7 engineers and a designer. My role involves both growth and product work to increase ARR and retention I've also played a key role in building out our PK operations (13 people and counting). I've also contributed to the establishment of async communications since I'm 12 hrs ahead of my team (West Coast) As the senior-most PM I also work closely with the founders and own strategic initiatives such as our live meeting Pollys (on Teams and now Zoom) Show less
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Various Companies
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United States
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700 & Above Employee
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Product Coach
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Oct 2022 - Present
Paying it forward by coaching young PMs with career development, PM 101, product strategy, growth and other hairy topics! Paying it forward by coaching young PMs with career development, PM 101, product strategy, growth and other hairy topics!
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Telenor
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Norway
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Telecommunications
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700 & Above Employee
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Director Telenor - Head of Digital Advertising
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Dec 2015 - Dec 2019
Hired by the CEO to form an internal startup lab which became an 80 person division with $5m ARR by year 3 Key Highlights: - Launched Radio Magan, an on-demand radio for non-smartphones which had 3m MAUs, generating 1.5Bn minutes of content per year by year 2 - Launched a 1st party data platform in partnership with Google and Facebook and grew revenue to $3m in first year of operations while delivering ROAS of 50-75% for 15 new advertising clients Hired by the CEO to form an internal startup lab which became an 80 person division with $5m ARR by year 3 Key Highlights: - Launched Radio Magan, an on-demand radio for non-smartphones which had 3m MAUs, generating 1.5Bn minutes of content per year by year 2 - Launched a 1st party data platform in partnership with Google and Facebook and grew revenue to $3m in first year of operations while delivering ROAS of 50-75% for 15 new advertising clients
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Flikkable
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United Kingdom
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Software Development
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Founder and CEO
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May 2013 - May 2015
Founded an award winning mobile agency with a team of 15 spread over London and Pakistan - Grew revenue from 0 to $500K ARR by year 2, signing long term deals with clients in US and UK - Owned the mobile product for Grabble (led to $1.8m seed round) and Office Shoes ($2m annual GMV) Founded an award winning mobile agency with a team of 15 spread over London and Pakistan - Grew revenue from 0 to $500K ARR by year 2, signing long term deals with clients in US and UK - Owned the mobile product for Grabble (led to $1.8m seed round) and Office Shoes ($2m annual GMV)
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Sovoia
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United States
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IT Services and IT Consulting
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Founder and CEO
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Sep 2009 - May 2015
Founded an eCommerce SaaS startup specializing in SEO tools and guided shopping products - Raised $300K from eBay and angel investors to launch 3 separate self-serve products for merchants - Signed up 50+ paying clients generating $65K in ARR in the 1st year Founded an eCommerce SaaS startup specializing in SEO tools and guided shopping products - Raised $300K from eBay and angel investors to launch 3 separate self-serve products for merchants - Signed up 50+ paying clients generating $65K in ARR in the 1st year
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Microsoft
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United States
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Software Development
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700 & Above Employee
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Program Manager
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Jun 2008 - Aug 2009
PM at Microsoft Advertising, leading a team of 22 engineers in Seattle and India - Managed self-serve advertiser tools at the (then) world’s largest display ad network, DrivePM - Increased revenue by 20% by leading the launch of new ad formats PM at Microsoft Advertising, leading a team of 22 engineers in Seattle and India - Managed self-serve advertiser tools at the (then) world’s largest display ad network, DrivePM - Increased revenue by 20% by leading the launch of new ad formats
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Amazon
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United States
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Software Development
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700 & Above Employee
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Technical Program Manager
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Jun 2007 - Jun 2008
TPM for the Guided Shopping team at Amazon responsible for making products easily discoverable - Led a 10 person engineering team in Seattle with 25 QA resources in China - Increased conversion by 30% through a new “product finder” launched on Amazon sites (US, DE, FR, UK, JP) TPM for the Guided Shopping team at Amazon responsible for making products easily discoverable - Led a 10 person engineering team in Seattle with 25 QA resources in China - Increased conversion by 30% through a new “product finder” launched on Amazon sites (US, DE, FR, UK, JP)
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Microsoft
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United States
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Software Development
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700 & Above Employee
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Program Manager
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Jun 2005 - May 2007
Program Manager for Windows Server "Longhorn" for Server Manager feature Program Manager for Windows Server "Longhorn" for Server Manager feature
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Software Programmer
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2001 - 2003
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Education
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Carnegie Mellon University
MS, Information Networking, CS -
Lahore University of Management Sciences
Bsc, Computer Science -
Saint Patricks High School
A Levels -
Reforge
Growth Track (Fall 2020)
Community
