Nicolas Mathieu

As a fractional CPO, I partner with VC funds and their portfolio companies to de-risk investments and accelerate growth. I provide the hands-on, executive-level product leadership needed to navigate critical inflection points and achieve key milestones. My services are designed to support the full investment lifecycle: ◆ PRE-INVESTMENT SUPPORT • Product & Tech due diligence: Assessing product strategy, technical architecture, team capabilities, and execution risk. • Investment memos: Providing clear, data-driven reports to inform investment decisions. ◆ POST-INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO SUPPORT • Interim CPO leadership: Stepping in to guide teams through turnarounds, pivots, or while searching for a full-time CPO. • Scalable product strategy: Aligning roadmaps with investor milestones and commercial goals to drive valuation. • Operational frameworks: Implementing the processes (OKRs, Agile, GTM alignment) required for predictable delivery and rapid scale. • Team building & mentorship: Coaching rising product leaders and helping to hire and onboard key talent.

Brought in to transform a fragmented, early-stage SaaS portfolio into a scalable, high-performance product organization. The initial challenge was a reactive workflow, no structured processes, and three disconnected products without solid basis. As CPO, I engineered and executed a complete operational turnaround, establishing the foundational systems for scale. Key Initiatives & Impact: - Installed a high-performance operating system: Partnered with the CTO to implement a robust product-tech framework. We rolled out a sprint-based cadence, standardized tooling (Linear, Figma), and established clear ownership—eliminating operational chaos within 6 months. - Leveraged AI for value creation & efficiency: Strategically integrated AI APIs to enhance the core functionality of existing products and create new value for users. Also applied AI tooling to internal processes, significantly boosting team efficiency and speed to market. - Scaled and mentored the Product team: Expanded the product team and implemented a coaching process, fostering the autonomous, high-impact squads required for rapid growth and portfolio expansion. - Developed a playbook for post-acquisition scaling: Successfully integrated an acquired startup into our new system, unblocking growth barriers and 10x'ing its conversion rate. We templated this success into a repeatable playbook, which we then applied to a second acquisition with similar high-impact results. - Drove strategic portfolio expansion: Scaled the portfolio from 3 to over 13 active SaaS projects while ensuring full legal, privacy, and payment compliance. This transformation enabled our squads to evolve into autonomous, high-velocity units focused on delivering impact. Ultimately, I transformed the product function from a cost center into a predictable, scalable engine for growth, demonstrating the direct impact of strategic product leadership on a company's trajectory.

Owned the product strategy for modernizing a high-volume contact center, leading its transformation from a manual operation into a scalable, tech-driven, self-service ecosystem. This role focused on reducing operational costs and improving customer experience through automation and AI, demonstrating a clear playbook for achieving operational excellence. Key Accomplishments & Impact: - Engineered an AI-Powered Automation Engine: Defined the vision for and led the execution of a new AI chatbot that became the cornerstone of our support strategy. This initiative directly drove business value by: - Deflecting 46% of tickets from human agents. - Reducing average resolution time by 60%. - Achieving 97% intent recognition accuracy, ensuring a high-quality user experience. - Pioneered Generative AI for Support Ops: Spearheaded a successful pilot integrating OpenAI with Zendesk to auto-summarize tickets and draft agent responses. This proved the business case for AI-assisted workflows and set the foundation for the next generation of support tooling. - Productized Internal Operations: Rearchitected legacy internal systems, breaking down data silos and transforming fragmented workflows into a cohesive, productized platform. This shift enabled the support organization to scale efficiently with business growth. - Established Data-Driven Decision Making: Implemented a robust analytics framework using PowerBI and Google Analytics, providing real-time performance insights that guided strategic pivots and continuous optimization of the entire support ecosystem.

Brought in to architect and execute a commercial product strategy to accelerate growth and de-risk the business. I realigned the product roadmap with core business objectives, transforming how the company acquired customers, partnered with enterprises, and operated internally. Key Initiatives & Impact: - Engineered a Multi-Channel Go-to-Market Engine: Led partner integration and strategic alliance initiatives that directly impacted the bottom line, resulting in $70K/month in operational cost savings and unlocking +$3M in projected annual revenue. - De-risked and Scaled Customer Acquisition: Diversified the customer acquisition funnel from a single point of dependency to 14 active channels. This move not only mitigated significant business risk but also drove a 400% improvement in onboarding efficiency and optimized our Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). - Implemented a High-Impact Product Operating Model: Rebuilt the product roadmap from the ground up to focus on market value and user impact. Simultaneously, I established clear cross-functional processes and team roles, creating the organizational clarity needed to accelerate product-market fit discovery and ensure predictable execution.

Stay-at-home dad internship for a year. First-time father.

Led product development within Digilab’s Innovation Ecosystem, focused on the air traffic control (ATC) sector—a high-stakes environment with stringent client constraints and regulatory complexity. Key initiatives and results: • Designed and launched AI-enhanced pilot tools for ATC professionals, merging cutting-edge ML models with modern UI/UX to improve operational efficiency • Introduced agile product methodologies into client organizations—navigating legacy processes to unlock new innovation budgets and accelerate delivery velocity • Partnered with cross-functional teams to deliver products that balanced usability, compliance, and domain-specific requirements in a high-regulation industry • Helped establish long-term strategic relationships with major ATC stakeholders through successful pilots and process transformation • Drove internal adoption and brand credibility by championing a culture of iteration, design excellence, and measurable impact

Joined TIAO to drive product-led growth and revenue expansion in an early-stage environment. Focused on monetization strategy, UX refinement, and agile execution to scale both user base and client accounts. Key achievements: • Designed and implemented a scalable revenue model, unlocking major traction across both B2B clients and end users • Drove +1250% growth in two years by aligning product strategy with market signals and user needs • Led major UX and onboarding improvements—streamlining flows, reducing friction, and boosting engagement across the funnel • Introduced Agile Scrum in collaboration with engineering to accelerate iteration cycles and improve delivery responsiveness • Conducted in-depth customer interviews and feedback loops to shape roadmap priorities and continuously improve onboarding experience

Led growth and operational initiatives for a B2B service offering targeting small to mid-sized fashion brands across Europe. Focused on revenue acceleration, process ownership, and strategic positioning for public sector opportunities. Key contributions: • Developed targeted outreach strategies that drove +400K€ in annual revenue from new fashion brand clients • Owned end-to-end onboarding and quality control—from initial contact through to production delivery—ensuring operational excellence and client trust • Refined the core business model to improve alignment with EU market demands and operational scalability • Secured strategic partnerships to enhance response capabilities for EU tenders, positioning the company for +1M€/year in projected public contract wins

Founded and led So Parisienne to position emerging French fashion brands in the Chinese luxury retail market. Focused on brand exposure, market entry, and digital presence across Europe and Asia. Key achievements: • Secured placement of 12 French brands in three major luxury events and a premium designer mall in China—reaching over 100K high-end consumers as the sole foreign representative • Established So Parisienne as a key gateway for mid-level European fashion labels entering the Chinese market • Awarded a 36K€ startup grant by the French government in recognition of the project’s strategic value • Built a full-spectrum digital strategy (social media, SEO, content) tailored for both European and Chinese audiences • Initiated brand partnerships with iconic French heritage companies—elevating brand prestige and unlocking new B2B opportunities

Worked as a Trends Researcher at Trendwatching, focused on identifying emerging consumer behaviors and innovation signals across Asia. Contributed to strategic foresight reports used by global brands to inform product and market strategies. Key responsibilities: • Analyzed demographic, economic, and behavioral data to surface early-stage trends across Asian markets • Synthesized insights from research papers, datasets, and cultural signals into clear, actionable narratives • Contributed to trend reports circulated globally, shaping innovation roadmaps for Fortune 500 clients

Interned at a consulting firm coordinating the EU Pavilion at the 2010 Universal Expo in Shanghai—one of the event’s flagship international presences. Key contributions: • Designed visitor-facing assets, including a detailed Expo map to support navigation and engagement • Proposed and helped plan cultural and promotional activities across the Pavilion’s six-month program

Interned at Capcom on the localization team for the PS2 title Ōkami. Key contributions: • Proofread and validated localized in-game text to ensure linguistic accuracy and cultural consistency • Reported bugs and inconsistencies as part of the QA process to support a high-quality European release