About me

Hey! Great seeing you here. This is where you get to know a bit more about my background and who I work with

Hi There!

I’m Matthew Zammit and I advise early-stage startups with their Product Strategies.

I have been working on SaaS products for some of the world’s leading brands (Vodafone, Techstars) and ambitious Startups for over 15 years.

During this time, I’ve had the opportunity to operate in in-house and consulting roles as a Product Manager and Chief Product Officer. This experience has enabled me to develop an evidence-informed way of working that has been used in various industries like SaaS, automotive, telecoms, fintech, medtech, gaming etc. and across different countries, from the US to Germany to Israel.

As a Startup consultant and Product Management coach, I partner with PMs, Product Leaders, Founders and CEOs, to help them connect the dots and scale their product organisations including hiring, product strategy, road mapping, prioritisation, getting to product-market fit and mentoring product teams.

My mission is to instil confidence and expertise into your workflow, empowering you to take charge of your Product Strategy, Objectives, and Product Discovery. I work to get you to a balance between major product cycle changes and the agility necessary for the next stage.

As a creator, I am passionate about working with motivated and intelligent people to build amazing products.

Career Highlights

  • Built a SaaS platform from zero to one for leasing of electric vehicles, raised $4m in seed money and grew a steady 30%+ month-over-month increased in usage with an NPS of 74.
  • Played pivotal role as a consultant with over 100 start-ups (including part of the Techstars network) and mentored with keen focuses on product strategy and prioritisation for founding teams and PMs to build, launch and grow their products
  • Top writer on Product Management and Leadership on LinkedIn. 100+ content pieces published between videos and articles. The content I share helps startup founders build their products and helps Product Managers tackle the daily work in a practical way
  • Increased number of users by improving the Vodafone Malta app adoption by 249% in six months, which positively impacted the app NPS score by 26 points and consistent growth
  • Delivered over 50+ web and mobile projects over the course of my career many of which became a great success

Values I work by

Product Sense

I know what success looks like through many years in product management for tech and SaaS startups. I’ve been in leadership positions and advised multiple startups.

Customer obsession

You should be obdessed on your users and their journeys. This is what will help you find Product-Market fit and grow your company into a company which people love.

MVP mindset

Think big, build small, experiment and ship fast. Then leverage data to see what works and what doesn’t. Be data driven to achieve customer adoption and growth.

Eye for design

A beautiful and intuitive product is not optional. If your product looks horrible you will find it hard to convince people to use it. Focus on having a delightful experience.

Solving problems

Give teams problems to solve not tasks to do. Mentoring and Coaching is at the heart of everything I do and I believe that an empowered team is central to product growth.

Strategic clarity

Have a clear Product Strategy to achieve the company vision. Get the teams aligned and excited about the direction. Repeat this strategy frequently to sink in.

Where to find my content

LinkedIn: That’s where I share insights about Product leadership, Product Management and Startups. Let’s connect on LinkedIn.

Blog: You can also find my content on the Know Your Social blog. This is my main repository for my thoughts and occasionally delves deeper on what I would have shared on LinkedIn

Mentoring: I’m a mentor on various platforms (GrowthMentor, ProductMentors.io) and at a number of accelerators (Techstars, NewChip).

Contact: To get in touch, you can reach me on LinkedIn, send me a message here or DM me on Twitter.

 

My Story

Early Years

I’ve been in the tech industry for a long time. My journey started in 1996, when my parents got me a computer. Back then there was no internet widely available and there wasn’t much to do on the computer other than to explore Microsoft Encarta (that’s an encyclopaedia on a CD), play games, and learn to code.

But I vanished for three weeks! None of my friends saw me after school or on weekends for three whole weeks.

I was 12 years old and I fell in love with technology. That passion has persisted with me to this day.

At 14, I started teaching Windows ’95 courses and building websites. This was before WordPress was a thing; building a website was all manual. I stayed in the intersection between teaching and building all the way through University. I finished my B.Sc. in Business and Computing and my Masters in Informatics.

 

Early Career

At 23, I got my first official job in software implementation for the Oil and Gas industry, and financial software. I focused on gathering business requirements, customising software, planning launches, and training.

I then joined Vodafone at a pretty interesting time when smartphones were just starting to grow with the Blackberry. I saw the launch of 3G and 4G, the launch of the iPhone, and how it changed the world. I was really focused on how a telecommunications company could use technology and the internet to increase revenue, decrease costs, and get more to customers.

I spent 10 years at Vodafone in five roles. I worked on a number of products to move a lot of offline functionality to online, particularly reducing the reliance on the call centre and shops. I worked across digital, business casing, transformation, and customer-facing apps. I had leadership roles focusing on customer experience, digital strategy, cost reduction, customer acquisition, and more. I also worked on the strategy and redesign of the Vodafone group app, which is used by 350 million users globally.

Vodafone was a really great experience, but I knew I wanted to go earlier stage and work with Startups.

Transitioning to Startups

Along the way, I mentored for the first time at a Techstars Startup Weekend. That’s when I realised that the work I had been doing for a long time is actually called “Product Management”. I couldn’t seem to find a proper place to fit in; I’m not an engineer, nor a business person. I’m somewhere in between and I like to join them both.

I founded two consultancy startups on the side, one building e-commerce platforms and another focusing on Facebook Messenger chatbots.

I also launched my personal consultancy practice at knowyoursocial.com to learn more about product while still at Vodafone.

After I got married in August 2020, I left Vodafone to explore what I wanted to do next.

I started doing more product consultancy work, teaching marketing at Masters level at a University, and joined Techstars as a Lead Mentor. I helped founders with their product and positioning challenges and prepared them for investor meetings.

At this point I was also missing building things, and that’s where I met the Founder of Ferry and joined as the Chief Product Officer. There I built the Product and the product org and led Product Management, Design, and Engineering. I grew the Ferry MVP 37% month-on-month and raised a $4 million seed round to help Ferry continue to grow.

 

Today

Now I’ve again increase my consultancy work with Startup Founders and PMs, and sharing daily on LinkedIn and my blog what I learn from those conversations and my previous experiences.

I’m always looking out for challenging product work in the SaaS space.

DM me if you think we could be a fit to work together, or send me a note if there’s any challenge which I can support you with… The Services page can give you a good idea of you I could help you.

 

How I help startups grow

Product Vision and Strategy

Defining the future state of the Product and a clear path to achieve the Product Vision. Guiding the company where to add more value for customers and the business.

Product Organization structure

Structuring the Product teams including PMs, Design, Data and Engineering. Directing the teams to find a solution to problems in a data-driven and creative ways.

Roadmapping and Prioritization

Aligning product performance to the company’s north stars and balancing revenue objectives with investment in more strategic and longer-term product development.

Product-led growth

Focusing on the product as the primary way to attract, convert, and retain users. Understanding the levers that drive business growth and actioning them.

GTM strategy

Building a tactical plan detailing how your company plans to execute a successful product release and promotion, and ultimately its sale to customers.

Coaching and Mentoring

Mentoring Founders, Product Leaders,  and Product Managers to enable them to successfully delivery on their product areas, unlock obstacles and grow in their careers.

Read more on the blog