Charles A. Piercey
Mountain View, CA
650-224-3429 | cpiercey@icloud.com
linkedin.com/in/cpiercey | github.com/chuckpiercey | piercey.org/portfolio
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT ► CREATOR OF THE 12P's
35 Years of Product Management - Shipped 15+ hardware and software products totaling >$2.5B in revenue
Virtualization & Distributed Systems - Delivered software-defined data center products generating >25 patents
Open Source Ecosystems - Generated >200M in commercial license revenues using hybrid business models
Pricing - Defined and deployed 6 pricing models which grew license revenue ASPs ~50% on average
Data Infrastructure - Managed point products across the end-to-end analytics stack and shipped a dozen versions from the backend, to enterprise servers and out to reporting clients; generated license revenues totaling >$1B
Team Leadership - Hired, revamped, and coached cross-functional teams, creating innovation cultures that shipped >2 dozen product releases, generated >$2.5B in revenue and invented more than 30 patents
Customer-Driven - Validated product concepts in >2.5K prospect interviews which reduced R&D investments by 10X by precisely identifying minimum viable products, and increased hit rate by 10X by honing the sales process
In-depth Technical Understanding - Immersed into tech to identify sweet spot use cases and support customers
Cloud, Multicloud & PaaS - Deployed software defined technology across >100 servers in PaaS configurations and seamlessly integrated to additional EC2 and GCP resources
Thought Leadership - Authored 12 whitepapers and 65 blogs which improved mindshare, go to market, and sales
· Product Management
· Product Strategy
· Business Strategy
· Technology Evangelism
· Customer Validation
· Documentation
· Web Site Design
· Published
· Data Integration
· Data Modeling
· Linux (CentOS, Ubuntu, FreeBSD)
· REST APIs
· Data Center
· Cloud
· Multicloud
· Machine Learning
EXPERIENCE
Director Product Management | KIOXIA America, Inc. San Jose, CA | November 2019 – Present
KIOXIA America Inc is a US subsidiary of KIOXIA Corporation, a leading global supplier of flash memory and solid state drives (SSDs). Product Management leader for KumoScale Software-Defined Storage business unit. Accomplishments include:
· Defined, specified and launched KumoScale product versions: 3.14, 3.15, 3.16, 3.17, 3.18, 3.19 and 3.20, including:
· BGP-based L3 multipath networking support for large data center environments
· Simplification of storage node installation and control plane deployment down to a 15-minute process
· Definition, construction and delivery of end-to-end SSD storage analytics feeding into a Grafana storage management dashboard
· Definition of an easy to use Python GUI client.
· Engagement with the Cloud Native Computing Foundation open source standards body to deliver full-fledged KumoScale Kubernetes CSI support
· Engagement with the Open Infrastructure Foundation open source standards body to add full-fledged OpenStack KumoScale support and technically contribute native NVMe-oF support into the Cinder technology stack for the OpenStack Wallaby, Xena and Yoga releases.
· Driving automated storage lifecycle management into the KumoScale product line with a set of Kubernetes “operators” in the control plane for storage, telemetry, upgrades and SSD drive lifecycle management
· Definition of KumoScale next generation roadmap
· Building a transnational product management team with esprit de corps and a strong focus on customer success. As a result, the globally distributed PM team delivered solid engineering requirements documents for all of the above on time and with little political conflict.
· Website tool selection, vendor contracting, content authoring and end-to-end construction of a complete KumoScale website from scratch, including backend HubSpot CRM, navigation design, support portal, web analytics, online documentation, interactive REST API navigator, multiple white papers (see ceph, perf, replication & overview), and user tools/info on configuration, compatibility and performance. With the creation of this site, KumoScale content now draws about 1,000 visitors weekly and has generated dozens of leads while supporting intimate, monitored active customer interactions.
PLM Director | Juniper Networks, Inc. Sunnyvale, CA | October 2018 – August 2019
Fortune 500 (NASDAQ: JUNPR) software and hardware networking company in the process of repositioning itself from a hardware to software-based business. Product managed an acquired software-defined storage management platform.
· Conducted 50 customer and 100 field staff interviews; identified a differentiated product strategy for integrating software-defined storage, network, and compute into Kubernetes multi-cloud and on-premises environments
· Rolled out 3 product releases; executed full Juniper go to market campaign on Juke v2.2 generating 8 PR hits
· Completed 4 networking courses; worked with architects to identify optimal technical integration strategy
· Defined software-defined resource management roadmap for Juniper integration into Kubernetes
· Invented a broad patent for Juniper-differentiated automated resource placement in Kubernetes environments
Co-Founder, VP | TidalScale, Inc. Sunnyvale, CA | August 2012 – October 2018
Software-Defined Server (SDS) startup; invented a new technology platform for infrastructure management.
· Raised $32M across Angel, series A and series B funding rounds including HWP, Bain, Sapphire, and Citrux
· Defined, specified and shipped TidalScaletm HyperKernel versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 2.0 and 2.1
· Developed and launched infrastructure management platform for SDS system management, WaveRunnertm; increased data center resource utilization by an order of magnitude
· Authored all web site content, white papers (10), blogs (55) and technical documentation (8 volumes)
· Wrote and published benchmarks; proved performance scalability of TidalScale machine learning algorithms
· Managed investor, analyst and PR relationships; co-authored research white paper with Gartner
· Planned and managed 12+ successful POC engagements in hosted environments and at customer sites
· Deployed a HubSpot CRM system to drive go to market campaigns; ran events; generated >5K leads
Director PM & BD | NOKIA, Inc. Sunnyvale, CA | June 2008 – August 2012
Fortune 500 (NASDAQ: NOK) company delivering open-sourced-based mobile devices and developer ecosystem.
· Converted global sales team into a developer-focused global ecosystem evangelism team; Achieved 50M unit shipments to automobiles, televisions and cable device OEM vendors
· Delivered Qt component of the open source mobile software stack; Qt shipped on millions of Nokia phones
· Member of Nokia Integration team: Drove strategy pivot from mobile-only to a broader consumer ecosystem
VP Product Management | Trolltech, Inc. Redwood City, CA | August 2007 – June 2008
Hybrid open source and commercial software company that shipped the popular Qt user interface components widely used across Linux, Windows and Mac OSX operating systems; Acquired by Nokia, Inc. at 10X valuation
· Conducted worldwide customer validation; identified tactical and strategic inhibitors to revenue growth
· Drove company pivot to consumer embedded segments; doubled annual revenues from $25M to $50M
· Member of M&A acquisition team; defined product integration of Qt into Nokia mobile ecosystem
Senior Director | Business Objects, Inc. Paris, FRANCE | February 2002 – August 2007
Fortune 500 (NASDAQ: BOBJ) business intelligence software company.
· Defined and shipped 8 products across the end-to-end business intelligence stack; generated $1.5B revenues
· Invented and delivered first mobile business intelligence web services client; closed first US Army deal for $1M
· Drove multilingual (XLIFF-based) support across the entire suite; increased international customer satisfaction
· Founded and managed Business Objects Labs; idea incubator graduated 15 concepts into production
· Invented Trusted BI as a feature category; generated 3 awarded patents and extensive product differentiation
· Drove very smooth Acta technical integration into BOBJ as Business Objects Data Integrator
Director Product Management | Acta Technology, Inc. Sunnyvale, CA | July 1999 – February 2002
Data warehousing startup focused on batch SAP analytics and expanding to real time analytics. Acquired by BOBJ.
· Delivered four product releases; included groundbreaking real time analytics fed from SAP-native components
· Redefined pricing strategy and created sales configurator; revenues grew 110% and ASPs increased by 50%
· Supported management of M&A offers from both Business Objects and Tibco; helped close BOBJ merger
Senior PLM | Silicon Graphics, Inc. Mountain View, CA | July 1996 – June 1999
Fortune 500 (NASDAQ: SGI) hardware graphics computing company; expanded from UNIX to Windows.
· Shipped first several versions of the O2 software stack; included a 3D out of box user experience
· Cofounded Windows NT systems division; defined and delivered SGI 320 and 540 graphics workstations; Delivered $200M revenue for the new consumer products division
· Analyzed Dell pricing algorithms; identified how SGI could price competitively in the Windows NT space
PLM Developer Tools | Apple Computer, Inc. Cupertino, CA | June 1992 – July 1996
Fortune 500 (NASDAQ: APPL) personal computer products company transitioning to a consumer brand.
· Shipped AppleScript versions 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 and delivered broad application developer scriptability; ensured Apple could increase market share in the fast-growing desktop publishing market
· Drove developer tool deal; embedded an easy-to-use 3rd-party graphical interface over AppleScript
· Delivered 100 application design wins for the cross-platform OpenDoc application framework
· Presented at multiple Apple WWDC events and did pushups on stage with a lavalier mic
EDUCATION
Stanford University | BA English | Stanford, CA
Computer Department Teaching Assistant in Programming, Stanford Business School Speaker Coach
UCLA Anderson School of Management | MBA | Los Angeles, Ca
Specialized in High Technology Management and Entrepreneurial Operations
University of Guadalajara | Language Student | Jalisco, Mexico
Over 6 months, refined core Spanish fluency achieved living 2 years in Costa Rica
VOLUNTEER
Board Member | Festival of Lights Parade | Los Altos, CA
Manage a year-round team of high school interns to design and build parade floats (2016 - present).
Software Development | Independent Consulting | San Jose, Costa Rica
Multiple projects addressing Costa Rican economic growth, including tropical forestry management and disease monitoring of Central American cattle populations (2 years).
Community Development Center | Volunteer Worker | Nagarkot, Nepal
Multiple projects addressing Nepali quality of life (1 year).