Principal at Spreading the Word - Internet Marketing that works
Greater Seattle Area
- Current
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- Principal at Spreading the Word - Internet Marketing that works
- Marketing Director at IntranetSites
- Past
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- Senior Product Planner at Microsoft
- Senior Program Manager, Windows Networking at Microsoft
- Product Manager at Microsoft
- Product Marketing at Contact Networks
- Technical Analyst & Lab Director at eweek
- MIS manager at nCHIP
- IT support at Amdahl Corp
- Education
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- Yale Senior Secondary
- Recommended
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32 people have recommended Michael - Connections
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413
connections
- Industry
- Computer Software
- Websites
Michael Surkan (info.mikhail at surkan.com)’s Summary
I absolutely excel at understanding market and customer needs and creating strategies and priorities for tech products that lead to success. My 9 years in product and program management roles at Microsoft has given me a well-rounded understanding of both the business and engineering sides of the software industry. I have led engineering teams through the entire product life-cycle, and worked with marketing and sales teams to ensure a smooth launch. As a lab director at eWeek I gained a wide breadth of knowledge for the IT industry, and what makes winning products.
My consummate entrepreneurial attitude leads me to find business opportunities. My resourcefulness leads me to find unconventional ways to get amazing things done with small budgets and slim resources. I utilize blogging, podcasts, and social media to create highly effective viral marketing campaigns.
I am the person technology companies call on for help navigating their way through a challenging economic environment, creating strategies and business models that thrive.
In my spare time I talk with entrepreneurs and tech industry experts on my “Entrepreneurs Northwest” podcasts.
http://bit.ly/mWSNW
You can also check out my video presentation about what I learned in my career as a Program Manager at Microsoft.
http://bit.ly/1ZqZjh
Michael Surkan (info.mikhail at surkan.com)’s Specialties:
Inbound marketing, outbound marketing, web marketing, product strategy, business models, product strategy, customer research, market research, program management, product management, economics, finance, Microsoft, networking, IPv6, Firewalls, Windows, P2P, Peer-to-Peer, surveys, competitive analyses, PR, product reviews
Michael Surkan (info.mikhail at surkan.com)’s Experience
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Principal
Spreading the Word - Internet Marketing that works
(Internet industry)
August 2009 — Present (4 months)
Helping companies (and indvididuals) create innovative strategies to promote themselves on-line. I specialize in finding ways to utilize blogs, podcasts, and a combination of social media communities to target the right audience for my clients, without spending an arm and a leg on advertising.
Connecting with you customers, and building relationships, will get you further than any amount of advertising. -
Marketing Director
IntranetSites
(Computer Software industry)
July 2009 — Present (5 months)
Indentify markets, and vertical industries, for on-line business project and process management software.
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Senior Product Planner
Microsoft
(Public Company; MSFT; Computer Software industry)
February 2007 — July 2009 (2 years 6 months)
I conducted customer industry and competitive research to help make decisions for future versions of the Windows operating system. I utilized surveys, focus groups, and customer interviews as part of research strategies. I then synthesized all the data into conclusions and recommendations for senior managers.
Some of the areas I researched include:
- 64-bit computing, and the use of 64-bit operating systems and applications
- application installation/deployment and patching
- developer needs and concerns (i.e. what drives decisions to pick a platform)
- developer needs and concerns with web applications platforms (e.g. Silverlight, AIR/Flash, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox)
- understanding the engineering processes used to manage the Windows APIs and identifying areas for improvement
- researching the needs, and problems, around code deprecation (i.e. removing old software) from the Windows product -
Senior Program Manager, Windows Networking
Microsoft
(Public Company; MSFT; Computer Software industry)
2004 — 2007 (3 years )
I put together product requirements, and managed the development process (with test and coding) for a variety of technologies in the Windows networking stack. I worked with IPv6, Windows Firewall, Teredo, packet filtering, VPNs, IPSec, and RADIUS.
- researched customer, and market needs, through customer surveys, interviews, and competitive analyses (interacted closely with marketing and sales force)
- extensive partnering with networking related firms to ensure we met their needs, and they were ready/prepared for upcoming changes in the operating system (e.g. CISCO, Symantec, McAffee)
- setup, and ran, beta programs for 40 key firewall/security related partners
- presented/explained Microsoft's network security technologies and vision to IT executives
- created and executed massive effort to ensure every Microsoft product, and operating system component, worked well with IPv6 and the Windows Firewall
- worked with developers and test teams to create specifications, and schedules
- made decisions regarding features/trade-offs to ensure successful products were delivered on schedule -
Product Manager
Microsoft
(Public Company; MSFT; Computer Software industry)
2000 — 2002 (2 years )
Focussed on outbound marketing of Microsoft's management software products (e.g. Microsoft Operations Manager, Systems Management Server).
- educated sales force on how to sell effectively against individual competing products (e.g. did competitive research to help identify key strengths)
- wrote reviewers guides of new product releases to help customers and press do quick evaluations
- worked with members of the press who wanted to write product evaluations
- presented to IT executives in sales engagements
- built partner program for third parties wanting to build on top of Microsoft's management software, and setup first partner conference -
Product Marketing
Contact Networks
(Computer Software industry)
1999 — 2000 (1 year )
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Technical Analyst & Lab Director
eweek
(Computer Software industry)
1995 — 1999 (4 years )
Wrote numerous product reviews and columns, and ran staff of analysts who covered intrastructure technologies like servers, routers, VPNs, and firewalls.
- planned schedule of articles for delivery each week, ensuring the pipeline was full
- made sure committed articles were delivered by staff (and free-lancers) on time every week
- mentoring and training new staff to be analysts/free-lance writers -
MIS manager
nCHIP
(Computer Software industry)
1993 — 1994 (1 year )
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IT support
Amdahl Corp
(Computer Software industry)
1990 — 1992 (2 years )
Michael Surkan (info.mikhail at surkan.com)’s Education
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Yale Senior Secondary
