Hi, I'm Mike 👋
I have worked at big companies, small companies and all types of companies in between.I have experience as a Product Manager, Project Manager, Entrepreneur, 'Innovation Leader' and even lived a previous life as an Accountant.Now I want to use all of these experiences to help other Entrepreneurs, it appears to be working.Let's get started...
What stage would you say you're at?
So you've got an idea?
How do you know if your idea is worth spending time on?You spend the time doing the research and testing it out.Too many people waste too long pursuing the wrong ideas for them.Make sure you aren't one of them!👇
You've launched!
Kudos on getting to this stage! 👏Unfortunately, believe it or not, that was the easy part... 🤯Now the real business begins, we need to find you some customers and get them to use your product so we can chase that elusive
'Product-Market Fit'!👇
You're making money!
🙌 Well done!You've joined a very small group of people who have managed to make money from others on the internet.Now we need to find out how to turn your product into a real business that makes real money.👇
So you're looking to grow?
You're at the point where a lot of people might give up, but this is also exactly where businesses are made, so hang in there.Now it's all about finding what works and what doesn't, focussing down and finding new or refining existing distribution channels.👇
You're growing fast!
This is going to be fun.Let's start seeing how we can kick your growth into overdrive, optimise your product, grow revenues and your business.👇
Senior Product Manager @ Ki Insurance
Freelance (Full Time), Nov 21 - May 22 (6 months)
Lead Product Manager on a special project team to research, design and develop a new algorithmic underwriting platform
Performed user research and interviews to determine problems and pain points (setting up research processes, analytics and dashboards for the wider business)
Worked with a designer to completely re-develop current quoting platform, producing high-fidelity wireframes
Generated a product roadmap, communicating to wider business
Created a Product Growth function
Designed and lead implementation of Google Analytics across the platform
Developed customer support tools for operations team
Ran a workshop to determine Development team mission and values
Product Manager @ Brit Insurance
Freelance (Part Time), May 21 - Sep 21 (4 months)
Product Manager for a digital transformation of the Brit Underwriting process
Ran a workshop with the C-Suite and senior management to outline scope for the project
Performed user research and interviews with underwriters to understand processes
Gathered product requirements and determined MVP scope for the project, including determination of success criteria
Senior Project Manager @ Limejump
Freelance (Full Time), Nov 19 - Aug 20 (9 months)
Lead the Limejump technology team in their trading platform integration project with Shell after they had been newly acquired
Point person for all interactions with Shell PM team
Identified and tracked all requirements, decisions and decision makers, often mediating between the two parties (with very different working styles)
Flagged issues and resolved blocked items with CEO, CTO, CFO and CRO at Limejump
Designed and validated proposed technical solutions with Product Development team
Delivered the project to original agreed timeline with no issues
UK Financial Services Assurance Innovation Leader @ EY
Permanent (Part Time), Jan 18 - Sep 19 (18 months)
Founded and lead a team of Data Scientists, Robotics Process Automation engineers and auditors working to re-invent audit
Built a team of 12 in 9 months, recruiting technical specialists and building a culture of innovation across EY
Overall product manager of internal innovation projects, using both high-tech and low/no-tech innovation
Developed and communicated team strategy, coordinating and presenting to senior leadership and global teams
EY spokesperson and advocate for flexible working, across multiple media
Lead multiple workshops varying from small teams to multi-day department-wide sessions
Senior Manager, Financial Services and FinTech Audit @ EY
Permanent (Full Time), Oct 09 - July 10, Oct 11 - Dec 17 (7 years)
Auditor of Banking and Capital Markets clients; private and investment banks, private equity, payments and broker dealers
Built a FinTech team, of 30 volunteers for which I won an EMEIA ‘Better Begins With You’ teaming award
Managed multiple teams and engagements of varied sizes to deliver high-quality audits in technical valuation areas
Specialist in audit of valuation of loan book impairments for private banks and derivatives for investment banks
Lead successful proposals for notable FinTech audits (inc. Monzo)
Selected for 3 month secondment to a FinTech challenger bank (Pockit) to work on new product development, product and market research for remittances, direct debits and faster payments (all successfully launched)
Co-Founder @ tweetstreak
Sep 22 - present
A habit building tool that uses gamification to help you build an audience on Twitter through engagement in your Direct Messages (DMs)
Designed product features, UI and UX
Developed growth strategy (launched Nov 22, 6 paying users to date)
Produce all content, gather user feedback, answer support queries
Built landing page (website) using Webflow
Co-Founder @ AI projects (various)
Oct 22 - present
Experimenting with AI projects utilising OpenAI’s GPT-3 generative writing model
UCAS Statement Generator: built and launched in 2 weeks, built with Bubble, 7 paying customers, using minimal user input wrote students’ draft personal statement for university
Software Engineer Cover Letter Writer: testing currently, agreed ad spots with job boards, running Google ads
Co-Founder @ Activate Onboarding
Aug 22 - present
An automated onboarding solution for new employees that ensures they get a world-class 1st impression of a company
Built landing page (website), including all copy using Carrd
Developed product strategy
Built product using a no-code stack (Make, Notion, Tally, Super)
Design and development completed with 2 weeks
Co-Founder @ Devas
May 19 - Jul 21
Founded a mental health start-up aiming to use mobile phone behaviour to passively identify mental health problems
Researched, designed and launched MVP using no-code tools
Signed up 650 users in 4 months
Built a quick site where people can share their mental health experiences, what works for them and what doesn't
Built a quick site where you can find out where chefs appearing on TV cooking programmes work
Some might say...
Had such a great feedback call with @mike_heap_prod this morning!
— Baretto (tiiny.com)⚡ (@_baretto) July 13, 2022
He should definitely offer Business Therapy as a Service 🙌
If you need someone with a cool british accent to give you useful feedback & insights on your startup idea, then @mike_heap_ is your guy😉. pic.twitter.com/JXID9NWcmX
— Tanaka (@TanakaTsikira) September 20, 2022
Thanks again. I feel I got more insights from chatting with you than doing a whole accelerator 😅
— Eddie Forson (@Ed_Forson) August 3, 2022
Need to give a shout out to @mike_heap_
— Ryane SaaS (@RyaneSaaS) August 17, 2022
He's constantly supporting other founders on here and he offered to take a look at my new website https://t.co/PMaWBjcoh4
And he's given me SUCH detailed feedback, just out of the kindess of his heart
Go follow @mike_heap_
Hard to quantify how awesome @mike_heap_prod is for spending this time with me.
— gus (@angusryer) July 5, 2022
We worked out many aspects of https://t.co/bqI3zIAQqT's lead-gen, customer convo & marketing strategies... it's gonna take a little while to digest this!
🚀 Looking forward to more Mike! 💪🙏🏻 https://t.co/FLiqkhfeim
Shout out to Mike. He shares valuable content and gives excellent advice about growing your product. 👌
— Florian Mielke (@FlorianMielke) October 21, 2022
If you haven't already, follow him! https://t.co/Xm2U8isgEX
Some experiments with generating illustrations using Eye for AI.
— Michael Stivala (@MichaelStivala) November 3, 2022
Inspired by a conversation I had with @mike_heap_ yesterday!
What do y'all think? pic.twitter.com/if4VcHCLct
You are providing so much value my man, thank you for your time!
— Harris Fanaroff (@HarrisFanaroff) August 22, 2022
Got a shitload of actionable product advice from @mike_heap_ the other day
— Stefan Wirth (@NafetsWirth) September 5, 2022
If you need help with product stuff, he's super helpful, and he will ask you one or two corporate consultant questions.
But it's part of the package 😜
Just had a great conversation with @mike_heap_prod about @OpenMakersIO
— Micah Iverson ☀️ (@MicahIverson) July 14, 2022
If you are a founder and want to get some feedback or just talk about your product, give him a follow.
he's the best!
— Lotanna Ezeike (@lottsnomad) October 28, 2022
Idea Consultation
❔ You need this if...
You have an idea but want to talk it over to help refine it and work out how to approach testing it and identifying the things you need to test
🧰 What I'll do
We’ll have either a 30 min call or I will share with you notes (your choice) of my feedback on your idea, specifically:
What you might want to test
What assumptions you are making are
How to refine it to a clearer, testable idea
🎁 What you'll get
Either a 30 minute call (with recording shared) or feedback via Notion
⏱️ How long it'll take
Dependent on your availability for a call, within 48 hours for notes
MVP Design
❔ You need this if...
You have an idea but you want to test it before you commit more time to it, or you don’t have the money to pay for it to be built in full
🧰 What I'll do
Come up with 2 plans of how you can create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to test your idea for under $250
🎁 What you'll get
A Notion document outlining 2 MVP designs and how to go about starting to test them
⏱️ How long it'll take
You’ll have your MVPs within 3 days
User Interview Coaching
❔ You need this if...
You need to talk to users but you don’t know how to run an interview or don’t know what to ask
🧰 What I'll do
Send you a list of questions relevant to your startup
Run a 15 min ‘dummy’ interview with you to ensure you are getting the most from your user interview sessions
🎁 What you'll get
A Notion document with a list of (min. 10) questions to ask in your user interview along with a 15 minute call with me to practice.
⏱️ How long it'll take
You’ll have your questions within 48 hours and call within 3 days.
Prioritisation Consultation
❔ You need this if...
You are overwhelmed by all the tasks you need to do and don’t know where to begin or what to focus on
🧰 What I'll do
We’ll have a 30 min call where you will explain your current status and tasks and I will share back with you an ordered list of tasks to work on (either verbally or written)
🎁 What you'll get
Either a 30 minute call (with recording shared) or via Notion
⏱️ How long it'll take
Dependent on your availability for a call, within 48 hours for notes
Landing Page Feedback
❔ You need this if...
You have launched your product but aren’t converting as much as you’d have hopedYou are yet to launch your product and you want to give yourself the best possible chance of success
🧰 What I'll do
Audit your landing page
Identify actionable improvements you could make to improve conversions
If your conversions don’t improve, I’ll refund you
🎁 What you'll get
A full list of all fixes shared with you via Markup so you can review them when you want
⏱️ How long it'll take
You’ll have your review within 48 hours
Product Onboarding Review
❔ You need this if...
You have launched and want to ensure you are converting and activating your users efficientlyorYou are yet to launch and want to ensure you will be converting and activating your users efficiently when you do
🧰 What I'll do
Audit your onboarding process (from sign-up to 1st use and beyond if relevant)
Identify actionable improvements you could make to improve user conversion and activation
If your user activation doesn’t improve, I’ll refund you
🎁 What you'll get
A video commentary of my onboarding experience
A Notion checklist of actionable improvements you could make to your onboarding experience
⏱️ How long it'll take
You’ll have your review within 48 hours from the last point of your onboarding process
Product Growth Strategy
❔ You need this if...
You have built a product or about to launch a product and want to know how to grow it including:
Acquiring users
Activating new users
Retaining current user
Generate more revenue from current users
Getting users to refer to others
🧰 What I'll do
Review your product from landing page to use and identify a minimum of 5 ways you could grow your product
If you have already tried them all I’ll refund you
🎁 What you'll get
A Notion checklist of 5 actionable growth strategies you could use for your product
Detailed plans on how to enact these strategies specifically outlining steps you should take
⏱️ How long it'll take
You’ll have your strategy within 48 hours
Mentoring
❔ You need this if...
You are a solo founder or feel like you don’t have someone else ‘on your level’ to speak to or you need someone outside of your company to talk to about career development
🧰 What I'll do
We will have regular calls contact via WhatsApp or Slack where you can ask questions about your business and I will hold you accountable for your actions and plans
🎁 What you'll get
We will have 4 x 45 minute calls per month and unlimited messaging via WhatsApp or Slack (24hr response time)
⏱️ How long it'll take
Start within 24 hrs
Product Review + Feedback
❔ You need this if...
You have built a product or about to launch a product and want to know where it could be improved to:
Acquire users
Activate new users
Retain current user and
Generate more revenue from current users
🧰 What I'll do
Audit your product (from sign-up to 1st use and beyond)
Identify actionable improvements you could make to improve all aspects of the user lifecycle
If your user metrics don’t improve I’ll refund you
🎁 What you'll get
A video commentary of my experience along with a Notion checklist of actionable improvements you could make to your product
⏱️ How long it'll take
You’ll have your review and feedback within 5 days
Landing Page Design + Build
❔ You need this if...
You have an idea or a product but you don’t know how to communicate or sell it, or you hate writing copy.You are looking for a one-page landing page.
🧰 What I'll do
Create a one-page landing page based off a Carrd template
Set up email collection (using a choice of systems)
Set up payments (if required)
Set up analytics for conversion tracking
Write all copy and value propositions
Add images (stock or your product screenshots)
Set up A/B testing of headlines
🎁 What you'll get
A professional landing page built with Carrd that will allow you to generate and track leads or direct people to your product
⏱️ How long it'll take
You’ll have your page live within 5 days
MVP Build
❔ You need this if...
You have an idea but you want to test it before you commit more time to it, or you don’t have the money to pay for it to be built in full
🧰 What I'll do
Come up with an MVP to test your idea and bring it to life so you can validate your idea
🎁 What you'll get
A functioning (but not polished) MVP that will allow you to test your key hypotheses for your product prior to committing more time and money to it
⏱️ How long it'll take
MVPs will take a minimum of 5 days from request
Fractional Product Manager
❔ You need this if...
You need experienced Product Management support and input but are not at a stage where you can hire full-time
🧰 What I'll do
Working remotely I will respond to all Product Management queries and requests - the exact scope will be agreed per client
🎁 What you'll get
A part-time experienced Product Manager on call to help you grow your business
⏱️ How long it'll take
Available from 2 weeks’ notice