Neel Desai
Product Leader & Angel Investor | SaaS/B2B | Led $200M Exit at ProfitWell
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Product Leader & Angel Investor | SaaS/B2B | Led $200M Exit at ProfitWell
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Validated traits
Artifacts
ProfitWellWas frequently the "product guy" helping our enterprise sales teams at PW with on the ground support at events like SaaStock, SaaStr to provide product context to prospects. Would serve as a technical touch point to high priority leads and represent the company at VIP events.
ProfitWell · Director of ProductProfitWell got acquired by Paddle for $200M. Leading up to this transaction, I was on a small team assisting the CEO and legal teams with various aspects of due diligence for the PW Metrics and Retain products.
Testimonials
Peer
Founder at Trove
Work history
Angel Investor
Northeastern University
Paddle
ProfitWell
IDEA: Northeastern University's Venture Accelerator
City of Boston
Technology for Tomorrow (T4T)
Sanofi AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND
Level Education
Endeavour Partners
Northeastern Student Conduct Board
Jarret Law Office
United States Senate
Kumon North America, Inc.
State of Vermont
JUN 2022 - PRESENT · 4.3 years
Angel Investor
JUN 2022 - PRESENT · 4.3 years
Tiny angel investor in companies including Liquid Death, Carry, SafetyKit, Hadrius, BusRight, Vardera, Kredete, RetailReady, and Revin.
DEC 2013 - PRESENT · 12.8 years
Entrepreneur in Residence
JUN 2024 - PRESENT · 2.3 years
Work with IDEA, Northeastern's Venture Accelerator and Center for Entrepreneurship Education as an Entrepreneur in Residence. Part time advisory role.
Teaching Assistant
APR 2017 - JUN 2017 · 3 months
Assisted Professor Dennis Shaughnessy as a teaching assistant to develop and run summer program in Cape Town, South Africa. Taught students about global development and how business, innovation and entrepreneurship can lift families out of poverty.
Teaching Assistant
NOV 2015 - JUN 2016 · 8 months
Assisting faculty to develop and run summer program in Mumbai, Lucknow, New Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Tilonia, Pune and Aurangabad, India. Particular focus on social entrepreneurship and sustainable development through practicing human centered design thinking and innovation in the informal economy.
Senator
DEC 2013 - DEC 2015 · 2.1 years
Sat on the Referenda Reform Committee, responsible for the largest overhaul of the student referenda process and proposing alternative process. Vice-Chaired the Finance Board, board of students responsible for allocating $2 million+ to various student groups on campus (2014). Represented the College of Social Sciences and Humanities and its students' interests.
JUN 2022 - JAN 2024 · 1.7 years
Director of Product
JUN 2022 - JAN 2024 · 1.7 years
Joined Paddle as part of the ProfitWell acquisition ($200M exit). Led the post-merger integration of all ProfitWell products with Paddle. Also led various go-to-market initiatives around pricing/packaging, customer success, and sales engineering for transitioning the ProfitWell products into Paddle.
JUL 2017 - JUN 2022 · 5 years
Director of Product
DEC 2021 - JUN 2022 · 7 months
Acquired for $200M in cash and equity transaction. 100% bootstrapped with $0 raised in funding. Led team of four PMs across three product lines generating eight figure ARR.
Product Lead
DEC 2019 - NOV 2021 · 2 years
Owned roadmap and product development of ProfitWell Metrics and ProfitWell Retain. Also led strategy and execution of Product-led revenue efforts, resulting in >120% net dollar retention and millions in ARR. Act as a player-coach to three PMs.
While Product Lead for PW Metrics, implemented the following tools to better understand how customers were using our product: -FullStory -MixPanel -LogRocket -Segment -Appcues
While Product Lead for Retain, I developed the PLG motion to drive expansionary revenue from our customers. This included tiered usage based billing for self serve customers, and high touch account management for enterprise customers (ACVs > 100k/year). I personally played CSM for our top 1% of customers and closed contracts exceeding 250k/ year. We sustained 120% NRR and <2% revenue churn for ~2 years leading up to the Paddle acquisition. I have fun stories of trying to implement revenue quotas for PMs :)
Product Manager
JUL 2017 - DEC 2019 · 2.5 years
Awarded 2019 ProfitWell MVP by exec team. Joined team as the first Product Manager to research, scope, develop and launch its products, reporting to the CPO. Wore a number of other hats including sales engineering, product marketing, customer success, customer support, and starred on hit show 'ProfitWell Report.'
We had 30k+ free users of PW Metrics and we wanted a pulse for how customers were liking our platform. However rather than just getting a score for NPS, we wanted to make it actionable and a feedback loop to improve the product. I implemented a dynamic follow up system to 1) seek feedback from users who scored 1-8 NPS, while 2) asked 9 and 10s to leave a review for us on G2 Crowd followed by sending them a Swag Pack to make them champions of our products. We averaged an NPS of ~60 over the years.
While PM of PW Metrics, I implemented AppCues for user onboarding. This included creating a welcome tour that highlighted aspects of the platform, creating a knowledge base for FAQs, and overhauling email campaigns that activate new users. After 6 months, retention for new cohorts improved by an absolute 20%.
APR 2016 - MAR 2022 · 6 years
Board Member
APR 2017 - MAR 2022 · 5 years
Advise CEO and the management team to continue improving venture experience.
CEO
APR 2016 - APR 2017 · 1.1 years
Led management team of 25 in the areas of investments, operations, marketing, events, and tech. Led coaching team of 30 MBA students and young alumni to consult ventures in their growth. Oversaw the deployment of $250K to seed-stage startups. 'Green-light' the advancement of over 200 ventures moving through the program.
SEP 2017 - AUG 2018 · 1 year
Council Member - Mayor Walsh's SPARK Boston Advisory Council
SEP 2017 - AUG 2018 · 1 year
The SPARK Boston Council, formerly ONEin3, is a City of Boston initiative that empowers millennials to play a greater role in planning for the future of our city. Council Members serve as the Mayor's advisors on policies and programs and ambassadors to the rest of Boston's large and diverse millennial population.
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JAN 2012 - JAN 2017 · 5.1 years
Founder, Board Member
JAN 2012 - JAN 2017 · 5.1 years
Founded the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in an effort to assist residents of the community with technology literacy. Acquired funding from the U.S. Department of State to develop workshops focusing on technology literacy. Enabled the organization to have an impact of over $20,000 through partnerships with eight high schools, 1000+ student volunteer hours, and 300 community members.
AUG 2015 - SEP 2016 · 1.2 years
Medical Science Liaison, Diabetes and Cardiovascular
AUG 2015 - SEP 2016 · 1.2 years
Responsible for stakeholders' comprehension of key clinical data and advocacy for new therapies. Actively led strategic and tactical medical initiatives in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.
NOV 2015 - APR 2016 · 6 months
Head of Employer Relations
NOV 2015 - APR 2016 · 6 months
Oversaw all employer engagements to develop strategic partnerships and analytics based consulting assignments. Managed and lead enterprise customer development, leading to 52 defined project requirements, with partners including Forrester, Citizens Bank, EMC, Rue La La, and IDC.
JAN 2015 - JUL 2015 · 7 months
Associate Consultant
JAN 2015 - JUL 2015 · 7 months
Developed a fitness-wearable enterprise offering for a premier European soccer team and presented its go-to-market strategy to client within a three person team. Developed novel joint business ventures between the largest mobile device manufacturer and a top three wireless network provider. Conducted due diligence for a premier private equity firm deterring $100 million+ investment within a three person team.
JAN 2013 - JAN 2015 · 2.1 years
Board Member
JAN 2013 - JAN 2015 · 2.1 years
Conducted hearings for students who had violated the student code of conduct. Responsible for deciding sanctions ranging from deferred suspension to expulsion from the University.
JUL 2012 - JUL 2014 · 2.1 years
Intern
JUL 2012 - JUL 2014 · 2.1 years
Designed and implemented a process for the legal office to convert all estate planning operations to be paperless. Assisted attorney's with assorted IT and operational initiatives within firm.
JAN 2012 - JUN 2012 · 6 months
United States Senate Page
JAN 2012 - JUN 2012 · 6 months
Served as one of thirty U.S. Senate Pages, nominated by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy. Assisted the Senate Democratic Party members with various tasks around the Senate Chamber. Elected as Vice President of the Senate Page School.
JUN 2008 - DEC 2011 · 3.6 years
Tutor
JUN 2008 - DEC 2011 · 3.6 years
Tutored students ages 5-18 in mathematics and reading comprehension.
JAN 2009 - MAR 2009 · 3 months
Legislative Page
JAN 2009 - MAR 2009 · 3 months
Assisted Vermont state legislature to streamline house and senate chamber communication in the State House.
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