Accelerate Value Creation
Your portfolio companies have more product value on the table than they’re capturing.
I help portfolio companies get more out of the product teams they already have — getting management, engineering, and QA moving as one, so they ship faster with fewer dead-end sprints. When there’s a build that has to go right, I run it end to end.
Companies I’ve worked with:
Two ways I help
Get the team moving as one
Everyone on a product team needs to see the same thing before they can do their best work. But context gets lost at the interfaces — between product and design, design and engineering, engineering and QA. The usual cause: the artifacts passed between them — specs, tickets, mockups — are vague enough that everyone reads them differently. I make sure that documentation stays light and effective, a single source of truth, that helps the team do better work together.
Own the strategic build
Some projects can’t fail — a core platform, a regulatory deadline, something the business is betting on. I take ownership of it end to end: what gets built, in what order, and whether it’s actually ready to ship.
Hi.
I’m Joel Esli (most people call me Joel, pronounced “Jo-el”). I’ve been managing products since 2006. My strength lies in making complex business and technical challenges clear and approachable. I’m also an iOS and web developer, which helps me bridge the gap between business objectives and hands-on execution.
Over the years, I’ve guided teams building solutions for billion-euro enterprises like Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Bank, and Springer Nature, million-euro businesses such as Mesalvo, Mook Group, and Darmstädter Echo, and startups like Clark (a German unicorn) and BHC Properties. Despite their differences in scale, they all face the same challenge: defining the story behind each product and ensuring every team member, user, and stakeholder works toward the same goals.
Whether you’re starting from scratch or fixing something that’s already underway, I’d be happy to help — I can’t wait to learn more about you and your project.