Product Strategy and Leadership for Payments at Scale.
Former PayPal product leader. 25 years in regulated systems, 12+ in payments. Sharing the operating reality of scaling payment products, risk constraints, and AI that ships.
I partner with fintechs to build products that scale, leverage AI where it makes sense, and ship faster without breaking trust.
Trusted Experience at Scale
The Scale Paradox
Why do so many Fintechs stall?
Because the traits that got them there (speed, hacks, shortcuts) become the traits that kill them. The hard part is not building fast, it's building fast without breaking trust.
The Compliance Wall
Risk teams block innovation because there is no shared framework for 'safe experimentation' in regulated flows.
The 'Platform' Trap
Engineering rewrites the same infrastructure for years while the business waits for features that never ship.
The AI Distraction
Teams chase shiny AI demos while their core ledger integrity and reconciliation processes are crumbling.
Featured insights
Short memos on payments scale, operating-model resets, and regulated AI that ships.
Agentic AI Guardrails: 10 Rules to Ship Agents Safely
Treat the model as untrusted. Wrap autonomy in tools, vetoes, audit trails, evals, and circuit breakers.
The Compliance Wall: How to Build “Safe to Ship” Without Gridlock
Define risk ownership early, codify launch criteria, and make experimentation measurable—before Legal becomes the bottleneck.
Modernization That Earns Its Keep
Platform work is only strategic when it buys velocity: fewer incidents, faster launches, cleaner integration, and lower ops cost.
How I run product (short version)
Three moves that restore velocity without breaking trust.
Strategy built for constraints
Customer truth, unit economics, and real constraints up front.
Clear bets, explicit tradeoffs, measurable outcomes.
“Safe to ship” is defined, not implied
Shared launch criteria across Product, Eng, Risk/Legal, and Ops.
No late-stage vetoes. No hidden owners.
Cadence and governance that holds up
Scorecards, decision logs, and feedback loops that keep delivery predictable.
Execution compounds when the system is stable.
Impact across payments
A few outcomes from payments, risk, and platform modernization, where scale and constraints were non-negotiable.
Embedded Finance Platform
Led the platform unlocking embedded payments for partners, designed to scale through risk and compliance constraints.
Checkout and Activation
Orchestrated a cross-functional strategy improving conversion and activation through rigorous funnel instrumentation.
Platform Resilience and Reliability
Overhauled critical payment infrastructure, reducing incidents and improving merchant trust in high-stakes environments.
Impact at a glance
Selected outcomes across shipped initiatives in payments and regulated platforms.
Ways to work together
I take on a small number of roles and engagements where strategy, scale, platform debt, or regulated AI is blocking growth.
Interim Product Leadership
I step in as CPO or VP Product to stabilize the organization, reset strategy, and drive execution during critical transition periods.
Strategic Product Advisory
I partner with CEOs and Boards to audit product portfolios, de-risk roadmaps, and align engineering velocity with business value.
Product and Platform Due Diligence
I provide technical and product due diligence for investors, specifically assessing platform scalability and team capabilities.