About the Author
Charlie BrewerHello, I'm Charlie Brewer. I'm a product strategy and design leader with deep experience in SaaS platforms and consumer products. I inspire with a results-oriented strategic vision for your product. I deliver results by using design for ambitious problem solving based on observant insights into our customer's world.I work with senior leadership to turn ideas into digital products. And I increase the capability of design teams along the way. For enterprise, I specialize in information- and transaction-intensive web apps, platforms, and marketplaces. For consumer and social startups, I design experiences that are easy to learn and easy to use.Starting in the Web 1.0 era, I led the design of web sites and web apps for clients such as Visa, United Airlines, Kodak, Four Seasons Resorts & Hotels, and The Walt Disney Company. I went on to lead design teams at AT&T/YP.com, OpenX, Pubmatic, Tubemogul, and Aditazz. At Myspace, I was Principal Product Manager on the global product team, increasing the new user registration rate, launching a new public home page, and ensuring customer data privacy. I designed Spot Runner’s Malibu Media Platform, a breakthrough real-time bidding marketplace uniting online and TV broadcasting advertising, planning and buying for the first time. I have designed and launched numerous startup MVPs, including a cloud-based, 3D architecture design platform; a mobile-first, social video platform for emerging streaming stars; and co-founded an innovative fantasy sports/stock market game, which garnered major media attention.Who I AmI am a hybrid user experience-product design-product management leader. I’m interested in the intersection of user experience design, software products, and business. I help startups and enterprises understand their customers and their work context. Then I help design software that is fit for purpose, easy to learn, and easy to use. I help ventures establish or grow their product design teams and capabilities.What I DoI increase the impact of the the full stack of UX capabilities: Customer research, product strategy and definition, interaction design, information architecture, user interface and graphic design, editorial, usability, and prototyping to learn. Most importantly, I like to collaborate with product managers, engineers and C-level executives so we can create great products.ExperienceI have 2 main areas of experience in tech. My primary area is Enterprise UX: Designing information- and transaction-intensive web apps, platforms, and marketplaces. I have a lot of experience in advertising and marketing technology: Tubemogul, Pubmatic, OpenX and Spot Runner. My other main area of experience is in consumer tech, startups, and “lean” UX and product. I designed and launched the MVPs for a number of startups, including my own (Sportsgunner, a fantasy sports stock marketplace). Examples include a new reservations revenue product for startup Parkme (now part of Inrix) and a video CMS and social media management platform for video startup Victorious. I’ve advised over a dozen other startups on optimizing their products performance. I have led major consumer-facing projects with Disney and Myspace. I started my career at big digital marketing agencies, helping Fortune 1000 companies with their digital branding and web sites.Independent Film and Music ProductionI lived for eight wonderful years in Los Angeles, the city of my heart. During that time, I worked with filmmaker and songwriter colleagues as a producer on several projects. Bringing a company together, bringing a creative vision to life (against all odds, it sometimes feels), and launching it into the world is deeply satisfying.In my free time, I like photography, cooking, and reading. I live in San Francisco, the city of my mind. More about me here: https://www.charliebrewer.com
