Gus Svendsen

Experience

Web App User Experience, Product Management, Social Media, and Writing.

For the past 15 years, I have witnessed and participated in the social evolution of the Web. I’ve been privileged to be part of four funded startups, where I’ve learned to continually innovate, take ownership of details, and wear many hats. Most recently, I have helped build and market the world’s first browser-based real-time collaboration solution for Microsoft Office documents.

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Sr. Product Manager

September 2007 – Present (2 years +)

eXpresso, an award-winning SaaS application, enables people to create, edit, and share Microsoft Office documents online in real-time.

• Responsible for the application’s user experience (UX), feature wireframes, and UI prototypes
• Produced and managed the corporate website/blog and wrote the majority of content in both
• Used an online issue tracking application to submit product enhancements and bug fixes to
  development teams in Europe and Asia
• Developed positioning and/or partnership efforts with: Microsoft Online Services/MOSS, Google Apps, Cisco WebEx Connect, IBM LotusLive, and second-tier collaboration platforms like CentralDesktop, Box.Net, Huddle, CubeTree, Kalexo, and more
• Designed our SaaS payment processing system including promotion codes and group accounts
• Designed the UI behind our patent-pending Asymmetric CollaborationTM, a key differentiator
• Additional responsibilities:event collateral, investor documents and presentations, social media marketing, SEO, basic graphic and design work

 

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User Experience and Interface Designer

March 2007 – September 2007 (7 months)

• Improved the user experience across all products and platforms: Web, Desktop, and OnDemand by designing and prototyping user-centric functionality (e.g. Online Giving, Volunteer Management, Remote Access, etc.)
• Assisted development teams with overall application design to improve the user experience
• Researched social media and its impact on Church software
• Built prototypes, created user task and workflow diagrams, worked with product stakeholders to verify designs, and organized usability testing of designs

Sr. Product Marketing Manager

December 2003 – March 2007 (3 years 4 months)

• Led product branding for over 50 products and services under four primary product divisions
• Initiated new collateral plan to support product branding and sales
• Redesigned and synchronized all corporate Web properties
• Developed and implemented the company’s first loyalty program (Preferred Client Program)
• Introduced first full eCommerce system for ordering Forms and Supplies online
• Launched and evolved the company’s Client Portal
• Conducted promotions to acquire new clients and up-sell existing clients
• Copywriting and editing of marketing materials

 

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Product/Marketing Manager

February 2002 – November 2003 (1 year 10 months)

• Managed all aspects of product management and marketing from product collateral to UI
• Plotted product road map, collected customer feedback, managed feature requests, interfaced
  with QA and Dev, led new version releases, developed prototypes
• Wrote Product Requirements Documents (PRD), Business Plans, UI instructions, Help text, Web site content, white papers, and various marketing materials

 

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Product Marketing

June 2000 – November 2001 (1 year 6 months)

Worked on both corporate and product marketing; wrote onscreen instructions, functional specs, white papers, support email, and help files; Produced and managed email marketing campaigns; Researched Web Content Management(WCM) industry.

More work experience details available upon request.