MANI KEERTHAN / PRODUCT BUILDER
I turn ambiguous ideas into minimum sellable products through product positioning, focused requirements, functional prototypes, and rapid customer validation.
THE JOURNEY
A journey through building, scaling, validating,
and sometimes stopping products.
Product & AI Consultant
Active
Managed a $600K enterprise-product portfolio, helping win Fieldhouse through a presales prototype and leading delivery to 3,000 sales reps. Defined Ontologos’s product direction and built its frontend, turning a stalled concept into a client-winning product in four weeks.
Product Advisor, Payments
Completed
Reframed an infeasible payments idea into one product for paying people and businesses, then defined the revenue model and prototyped key flows. Testing showed 90% understood the proposition; the team finished #2 in the Diamond Challenge.
AI Product Manager
Rumi launched
Defined a year-long AI roadmap, explored revenue models, and piloted Rumi, a student AI assistant, in five weeks. My market and product strategy supported a multimillion-dollar Asian partner deal as monthly users grew from 18K to 29K; separate D2L partnership talks did not advance.
Founding Product Manager
Killed after validation
Formed and led a five-person team, defining the roadmap, revenue-model experiments, and AI prototypes for local recycling guidance. Testing with 60+ users showed early value, but weak repeat use and business economics led me to stop further investment.
Product Lead
Discontinued
Translated research and user interviews into requirements and a working AR/VR design-tool prototype, shifting the target market from individual creators to businesses. Aligned six faculty advisors and IU Ventures; the work advanced to a provisional patent and $40K grant.
Product & Growth
Scaled
As employee #9, helped build eligibility checks, personalized recommendations, and CRM engagement that supported product-led growth from 800 to 150K monthly active users. Improved activation and repeat use, cut customer-service costs by ~$15K, and used funnel analysis to inform a direct-to-consumer business.
Founder
Discontinued
Built a curated apparel storefront with no upfront investment, connecting 20+ sellers and four distributors. Matched recommendations to customer preferences, generating three to four additional orders from returning customers and growing monthly sales beyond $1K within six months.
HOW I WORK
My HCI background helps me start with behavior, context, and unmet needs. I look for the less obvious insight that changes the product direction, especially when the original request does not address the real problem.
I work comfortably from APIs and system dependencies to metadata, retrieval behavior, data models, and workflow constraints. That depth helps me define what is feasible, what needs clarification, and what belongs in the product now.
I can pick up a vague vision, investigate the market and users, define the product, prioritize the first version, and make it tangible through a functional prototype. I create momentum before a large team or perfect requirements exist.
I connect user value with product positioning, distribution, revenue logic, and the reason a customer would commit. I build products that can be understood, evaluated, and sold.
I test assumptions about retention, economics, infrastructure, behavior, and timing while shaping the product. When the evidence weakens the thesis, I surface the risk early, change direction, or stop the investment.
STRATEGY THROUGH EXECUTION
From finding the problem to defining,
building, validating, and selling the product.
SHARED WORK
“Manik is a very passionate and enthusiastic individual with high ownership. He helped our company in its early days and is a great team player to have around.”