Jake Levirne: VP of Product

Yesware proudly welcomes Jake Levirne to the team as Vice President of Product this week. He will be leading our product roadmap and working with all sides of the company and customers to build our services suite.

Q&A with Jake Levirne

Where are you from and what have you done before Yesware?

I’m originally from New Jersey, but have lived all over the US, including upstate NY; Austin, TX; and Santa Monica, CA.  But I’ve spent most of the last 12 years here in the Boston area and currently live in Scituate, MA.

I have my degree in Computer Science from Cornell University and have been in the software industry for the past 16 years.  The companies I’ve worked at have ranged in size from 2 people to 400,000 people.  Most recently I was the lead product manager for new initiatives within IBM’s Enterprise Content Management (ECM) group.  In this role, I helped bring three new products from concept to v2 (and beyond), each of which have contributed heavily to IBM’s status as a leader in the ECM space.

How did you grow into a Product Management role?

I spend a lot of time with technology (got my first TRS-80 when I was 6), and have done my fair share of coding.  I enjoy playing around with new products (both virtual and physical) and assessing them with a critical eye.  All of my experiences (big company, startups, independent consulting) have been entrepreneurial in nature, going all the way back to my first job as a kid helping my Dad run his graphic arts studio.

The biggest turning point in my career came when I switched from an engineering role to a technical sales role.  Constant exposure to customers and their real world requirements honed my ability to see things from an “outside in” perspective.  With that experience, I migrated into product management, which I’ve been doing in one form or another for the past 12 years.

Why did you think that Yesware would be a good fit for you?

It’s a great team with a clear and compelling vision and Yesware has already shown that it serves a critical need (just ask any of our raving fans). Now I think we can take what our current users find so valuable and expand our reach to a much wider audience.

What are you most excited to accomplish in your first 100 days at Yesware?

I’m excited to work with our customers.  I’m excited to work with the team on every aspect of the product.  And I’m excited to drive the product strategy to help us reach our goals.

You can see more our of team on our Facebook page! Feel free to email jake@yesware.com with any product questions or inquiries.