Quinn Ellerbeck
Product Manager
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Toptal Member Since
July 8, 2019
Quinn is a senior product leader with ten years of experience driving the development of new tech products across enterprise and consumer markets, working with both Fortune 100 and startup firms. He brings a versatile skill set that spans product strategy through to detailed, tactical product management, and has led cross-functional teams as large as 30. His product experience includes augmented reality, OS, SaaS, MDM, and mobile apps.
Quinn is available for hire
Hire QuinnProject Highlights
Intel - Lean AR Research and Data Collection
Assembled comprehensive and multi-source primary data on the global AR market (consumer and enterprise).
Swimming Sports Wearable
Created the first software PRD for an innovative and first-of-its-kind swimming wearable.
BlackBerry 10 Lean Development
Conducted extensive early-stage, global primary research to validate BlackBerry 10 hardware and software product concepts.
Expertise
Business to Business (B2B)Business to Consumer (B2C)Lean DevelopmentMarket Research & AnalysisNew Product DevelopmentProduct MarketingProduct StrategyRequirementsEducation
Master's Degree
University of British Columbia
Bachelor's Degree
University of British Columbia
Select Certifications
Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
Scrum Alliance
Work Experience
2017 - PRESENT
Product Management Consultant
Tall Can Interactive, Inc.
- Developed the software product requirements documentation (PRD) for a sports wearable, including on-device UX, companion mobile app, and web tools.
- Created a portfolio strategy for an enterprise FIDO security company.
- Built a SaaS offering for a set of enterprise data mining tools.
- Developed detailed product requirements and user stories.
2017 - 2018
Co-founder
Refuel Smart Nurtrition
- Co-founded startup, leveraging fitness data captured by Apple HealthKit and Google Fit to deliver pro-active, personalized nutrition recommendations.
- Led strategy, product management, prototyping, partner management, and fundraising.
2016 - 2017
Senior Product Lead - Augmented Reality
Intel Corporation
- Established upstream, customer-centric product planning function and lean testing for Intel’s augmented reality portfolio, delivering hardware and software strategy and requirements for enterprise (project Apache), and consumer products (Vaunt).
- Led market opportunity analysis, product market requirements definition (MRD), business requirements definition (BRD), key product requirements definition, and product positioning across the newly-formed augmented reality product portfolio.
- Implemented lean development and conducted early-stage primary research and data collection, gathering valuable data insights from enterprises and consumers.
2013 - 2014
Senior Product Lead - BlackBerry 10
BlackBerry, Inc.
- Played a lead role in developing a turnaround strategy for the BlackBerry 10 portfolio, shifting BlackBerry’s focus to the productivity market.
- Achieved a successful launch for the Passport, co-creating a multi-million unit product line and stabilizing the BlackBerry portfolio.
- Implemented lean development and testing, gathering global consumer data and competitive intelligence, to define hardware and software market and product requirements.
- Led competitive testing and new technology evaluation across the entire smartphone product portfolio, gauging product impact.
- Developed new customer-centric and cross-functional development process, implementing data-driven development process.
- Worked with executives and leads from hardware, software, industrial design, UI, marketing, and sales, aligning key stakeholders during the cross-functional product concept planning phase.
2012 - 2013
Product Manager - Cloud Services
BlackBerry, Inc.
- Led the growth of the BlackBerry Cloud Services product portfolio, creating new SaaS products and strategic partnerships.
- Oversaw product management for a first-of-its-kind HD video chat SaaS to compete with Skype in the enterprise market.
- Managed partnerships with strategic partners, including Verizon, Orange, Vodafone, Telefonica, CSC, and Microsoft.
- Oversaw initial product management for moving BlackBerry's traditional on-premise BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) to the cloud.
2010 - 2012
Product Manager
BlackBerry, Inc.
- Co-created BlackBerry Balance, introducing the first software solution to separate work and personal smartphone OS use.
- Developed a multi-year product vision and product roadmap for optimizing the BlackBerry OS in the enterprise.
- Acted as the subject matter expert for new technologies and product categories, evaluating potential acquisition targets.
- Led in-person, primary research with technology CXO level leadership at global F500 companies, gaining unique product insights.
2009 - 2009
Product Management Intern
BlackBerry, Inc.
- Led the strategic project, initiating the first exploration of Cloud Computing, and the potential for BlackBerry SaaS product offerings. I was one of ten interns selected from a highly-competitive pool of over 750 applicants from top MBA programs across North America.
- Launched primary research with F2000 IT leadership, gauging market readiness and collecting consumer data insights.
Project History
Intel – Project Vaunt
Developed the product strategy and product requirements for the first fashion-desirable augmented reality device.
Worked with strategic global eyewear brand partners, developing a first-of-its-kind AR device to capture the unmet market opportunity left by Google Glass. I conducted significant primary research, uncovering consumer desire for a fashion-desirable AR device that wasn't currently offered in the market. I also developed key user stories and software features to execute the defined market opportunity.
Intel - Lean AR Research and Data Collection
Assembled comprehensive and multi-source primary data on the global AR market (consumer and enterprise).
Implemented lean development and testing, validating market hypotheses, product requirements, UX prototypes, and hardware prototypes.
Designed and conducted primary research projects (over one million dollars worth) to understand consumer preference for:
-General AR features and feature categories.
-AR hardware and corresponding feature trade-offs.
-AR sports devices and features.
Gathered primary research data from enterprise pilot projects to:
-Identify industry vertical market fit and opportunity.
-Define industry vertical product and feature requirements.
Designed and conducted primary research projects (over one million dollars worth) to understand consumer preference for:
-General AR features and feature categories.
-AR hardware and corresponding feature trade-offs.
-AR sports devices and features.
Gathered primary research data from enterprise pilot projects to:
-Identify industry vertical market fit and opportunity.
-Define industry vertical product and feature requirements.
FIDO and FIDO 2 Authentication
Developed market opportunity, product strategy and portfolio strategy for a multi-factor FIDO authentication startup.
Consulted to an innovative startup with a first-of-its-kind FIDO certified Bluetooth proximity authentication product and comprehensive portfolio of multi-factor authentication products.
Intel - Project Apache
Developed product strategy and product requirements for innovative enterprise smart glasses.
Developed product strategy and determined product requirements for creating the industry's first "all-day wearable" enterprise smartglasses.
HD Video Conference SaaS
Led product management for the first standalone, cross-platform BlackBerry Cloud service.
Partnered with Vidyo to develop the first Cloud-based HD video conferencing service to compete against costly, on-premise video conferencing services from Cisco and Polycom. Conducted significant financial modeling, determining the viability of hosting the product in BlackBerry's newly-constructed data center.
BlackBerry 10.3 OS
Led product strategy and the definition of key software features for the 10.3 OS release, reaching over 30 million users.
Drove BlackBerry's shift to the productivity focused market, defining OS product strategy, release defining software features, value propositions, and product messaging. Conducted extensive primary research, formalizing BlackBerry's opportunity to move away from the general smartphone market to the smaller "extreme productivity" market.
BlackBerry Balance
Co-developed first mobile OS partition, separating user's work and personal smartphone use. Reached over 20 million users.
Defined product requirements for delivering a user-friendly, yet secure experience for separating a user's work and personal smartphone use. Conducted market research, identifying the growing BYOD trend, and subsequent declining smartphone user experience in the enterprise.
BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES)
Led product management for the first iteration of BES as a Cloud service to over 20 million users.
Defined product requirements and developed strategic partners for moving BES from an on-premise product to a SaaS product. Managed partnerships with strategic partners, including Verizon, Orange, Vodafone, Telefonica, CSC, and Microsoft.
Swimming Sports Wearable
Created the first software PRD for an innovative and first-of-its-kind swimming wearable.
Defined the product requirements and created the PRD for the on-device hardware UX, companion iOS and Android apps, and web interface. I also gathered requirements across multiple user types and personas, such as competitive and casual swimmers.
BlackBerry App World - Enterprise Catalog
Part of the product management team that defined the industry's first standalone enterprise app store/catalog
Member of the product management team responsible for defining initial product requirements for developing the first standalone enterprise app store/catalog. The enterprise app store allowed IT admin to push required apps to enterprise users and provided a catalog of approved, optional apps.
BlackBerry 10 Lean Development
Conducted extensive early-stage, global primary research to validate BlackBerry 10 hardware and software product concepts.
Led the design and execution of lean development processes, validating product concepts ahead of key decision milestones.
Conducted global focus groups to validate and rank software features, test hardware variations, and measure overall purchase intent.
Conducted global focus groups to validate and rank software features, test hardware variations, and measure overall purchase intent.
Education
2008 - 2010
Master's Degree in Business Administration
University of British Columbia - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
2001 - 2005
Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration
University of British Columbia - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Certifications
OCTOBER 2019 - PRESENT
Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
Scrum Alliance