VP Product Development - Mobile Messenger
Sydney Area, Australia
- Current
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- VP Product Development at Mobile Messenger
- Director at Kraynov Investments
- Past
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- President at ISDEF-USA, Inc.
- President & CEO at Unwiredtec, Inc.
- Value Added Services Manager at Megafon GSM
- Programmer Analyst at Alphanet International, Inc.
- Software Engineer at Police Department
- Software developer at Bureau of Medical Examination
- Education
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- Samara State University
- Recommended
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4 people have recommended Max - Connections
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209
connections
- Industry
- Telecommunications
- Websites
Max Kraynov’s Summary
My primary area of expertise is mobile content technologies and surrounding areas. I’ve spent more than 8 years in this field and have accomplished the following:
- Actively participated in setting up a wireless carrier with 5M subscribers; managed the value-added services infrastructure (SMS, IVR, VoiceMail, prepaid billing);
- Organized a software development company doing business in mobile technology area, offering two products currently used by thousands of companies across the globe; the company was acquired by Mobile Messenger in June 2006
At the moment, I’m managing a portfolio of more than 10 products Mobile Messenger offers to its clients and partners. Half of these products are consumer-facing and thus require a fair amount of iterations to ensure widespread acceptance. My goals are more than ambitious: every year I must come up with at least two revenue generating products, which are going to secure the future of Mobile Messenger as the leading mobile entertainment provider worldwide.
Giving back to the community is a very important part of my life: I provide consultations to and evaluate products and services of tens of wireless software and services companies. Also, I’m writing a series of product development-related articles (in Russian) to educate small and medium businesses, which plan to enter the English-speaking markets.
Though I appreciate innovation and creativity, I make strong accent on execution and making sure all questions are asked and all rocks are lifted. To me, being a part of the winning team is important, but proper execution builds a winning team, and I spend every effort to contribute.
Max Kraynov’s Specialties:
Product strategy development
Mobile technology and entertainment
Analysis of startups' business models and operations
Giving back to the society
Max Kraynov’s Experience
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VP Product Development
Mobile Messenger
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Telecommunications industry)
June 2006 — Present (2 years)
I manage a portfolio of more than 10 products at Mobile Messenger. My role involves managing a number of product building activities:
- Business and marketing requirements gathering
- Detailed explanation of functionality and use cases through functional specifications and logical design
- Fast prototyping of credible ideas – from building a prototyping team to managing objectives to managing deliverables.
- Improving the existing products dealing with mobile content and technologies, namely: mobile video, content transcoding solutions, etc.
Managing customers’ expectations is an essential part of my job role, and I’m spending a lot of time on communications and educating people. At the same time, my personal objectives involve:
- ensuring fast turnaround for essential product features
- ensuring the highest possible ROI for the consumer facing products
- increasing clients’ awareness and acceptance of the new releases of the key products of Mobile Messenger -
Director
Kraynov Investments
(Partnership; 1-10 employees; Investment Management industry)
June 2006 — Present (2 years)
We're doing investments into small companies doing business in mobile entertainment areas and buy companies developing promising technologies.
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President
ISDEF-USA, Inc.
(Non-Profit; 201-500 employees; Computer Software industry)
August 2004 — August 2006 (2 years 1 month)
ISDEF-USA, Inc. is a US branch of the Independent Software DEvelopers' Forum. President oversees possible business alliances and actively participates in promoting the Russian-speaking community of small-to-medium businesses.
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President & CEO
Unwiredtec, Inc.
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Telecommunications industry)
November 1999 — July 2006 (6 years 9 months)
Initially I started Unwiredtec as a one-man operation, which later grew to more than 10 people (permanent employees and contractors) before its acquisition by Mobile Messenger in June 2006.
Like in every growing startup, I as a CEO had to do a lot of different things:
- developed strategy for two main products - Ringtone Creator (ringtone conversion module) and Enterflex (an advanced mobile content transcoding system) and prepared business and functional requirements in a way understandable by the engineering team;
- processed enormous amounts of information obtained from industry sources, clients, technology partners and miscellaneous publications;
- created various kinds of plans: financial, business, recruitment, etc.
- established an offshore development office and advised on establishing operations and processes. -
Value Added Services Manager
Megafon GSM
(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Telecommunications industry)
October 2001 — February 2002 (5 months)
During my tenure as a Value Added Services Manager I actively participated in building a new mobile operator from ground up, being responsible for one of the most mission-critical areas of operation. I managed deployment and operation of the following systems:
- prepaid voice services and billing;
- SMS gateway and email-to-SMS subsystem;
- IVR system for scratch card activation;
- Call Center for 20 seats;
- Voicemail system with SMS notifications.
I also participated in evaluation of various software and hardware providers. -
Programmer Analyst
Alphanet International, Inc.
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Software industry)
July 1999 — October 2001 (2 years 4 months)
Developed financial (FOREX) applications. I started my own wireless-related company in parallel to my main duties.
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Software Engineer
Police Department
(Government Agency; 1001-5000 employees; Law Enforcement industry)
April 1998 — July 1999 (1 year 4 months)
Was responsible for overlooking development of several information systems: stolen vehicles and geography of crime scenes.
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Software developer
Bureau of Medical Examination
(Government Agency; 51-200 employees; Computer Software industry)
July 1997 — March 1998 (9 months)
Was a software engineer, developing a system for identification of corpses. No kidding.
Max Kraynov’s Education
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Samara State University
Master, Applied Mathematics, Economics, September 1996 — June 2001
Was in the top 6 of students
- Activities and Societies:
- Programming contests, Small business
Additional Information
Max Kraynov’s Websites:
Max Kraynov’s Interests:
Music, driving, family activities, ringtones
Max Kraynov’s Groups:
PMI, PDMA, ISDEF, MIDI Manufacturers Association, blogspot
Max Kraynov’s Honors:
I don't put much value to awards preferring consistent overperforming.
Max Kraynov’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
