Headline

Co-Founder & Director at Finkara | Former Head of Products at MIDF | Ex-Yahoo & HP | Fintech & Product Leader

About

Product leader with 20+ years of experience across fintech, consumer internet, and enterprise technology. Career spans Yahoo! India and Sunnyvale HQ, VP-level product work at MIDF/MBSB Bank in Malaysia, and early enterprise exposure serving Vodafone UK and City & Guilds (via EDS/HP). Delivered measurable impact across search, ad tech, digital banking, and BFSI across five countries. View my full interactive profile → https://sandesh-hegde.vercel.app

Location

Bengaluru

AI stack

claude code

github copilot

ChatGPT Images

Figma Make

Work experience

Head of Product & Global Delivery – BFSI at Pirai Infotech Private Limited, Apr 2025 - Present · 1 yr 5 mos, Hybrid, As a product leader , I translate the complexities of the financial world into clear, powerful digital solutions. I sit at the crossroads of strategy and delivery, shaping product vision while ensuring we execute it flawlessly for our global banking and insurance clients. My approach is built on partnership. I work hand-in-hand with industry leaders to guide their innovation agendas and team up with our sales force to design proposals that win. By creating smart, reusable frameworks, my teams don't just build products we give our clients a critical head start. For me, success isn't just launching a platform, it is all about earning the trust that builds long-term value and drives growth for everyone.

Vice President - Head of Products at MIDF, Oct 2021 - Oct 2024 · 3 yrs 1 mo, India, As the brains behind www.midfinvest.my, I lead and manage the product development of this web & App -based platform that enables Malaysian citizens aged above 18 to trade US stocks and ETFs. Since joining the MIDF Digital team in October 2021, I have leveraged my extensive knowledge of the global financial industry and online user behavior to create a product that meets the needs of everyone, from novices to experienced traders. Working closely with cross-functional teams to continuously optimize the product’s functionality and improve user engagement, we have successfully increased customer acquisition and retention in a competitive field of product offerings. If you are interested in trading stocks and ETFs, our platform is open for Malaysian citizens above 18. Visit www.midfinvest.my or www.midfinvest.com to start trading today !!

Co-Founder & Director at Finkara, Jul 2019 - Jul 2025 · 6 yrs 1 mo, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, At Finkara, we believe that everyone deserves access to the best financial investment and trading opportunities, which is why we have developed a Data Driven Social Trading Platform. Our platform is powered by quantitative research and techniques, which enable us to identify high probability trading ideas through mathematical and statistical models that are supported by backtests on historical data. We rely on Collective Intelligence to gain insights into diversified and varied datasets, including market data and alternative data, to spot trading edges. Our systematic approach promotes better money and risk management for our users, helping them make informed decisions. Our platform is social-friendly, allowing the community of users to collaborate on new trade ideas and learn from each other. We cater to multiple asset classes, multiple segments, and multiple time horizon-based trading and investment needs, making it a multi-dimensional platform for all traders and investors. Visit www.finkara.in to learn more about our Data Driven Social Trading Platform and how we can help you make better financial investment and trading decisions.

Senior Product Manager at Yahoo, 2014 - Jul 2018 · 4 yrs 7 mos, San Francisco Bay Area, Yahoo Search Product Manager In my role at Yahoo, I lead a team of developers, designers, and analysts to develop and launch new search products. Some of my accomplishments include launching a new News search feature, improving search relevance algorithms, and implementing a mobile search Experience. Yahoo Mozilla Search partnership Drive product development: Lead the product development process, working closely with engineering teams to ensure products are developed on time, within budget, and meet user needs. Also worked with design teams to ensure that products have an intuitive user interface and meet the highest quality standards since the transition involved migrating of Users from Google Search to Yahoo Search. Yahoo Trending Now Experience As a Product Manager for Yahoo Home Page Trending Now which is a module on yahoo Home page ( visit www.yahoo.com and you can spot it on the top right corner ), I was responsible for reinitiating the development and execution of product strategies that drive engagement, revenue, and user retention. Worked closely with cross-functional teams to identify new product opportunities, prioritize product features, and launch new products and features that drove roughly 1.5m searches per day with a revenue of USD 10M per year.

Tech Yahoo Software Dev in Test at Yahoo, Jul 2010 - Oct 2014 · 4 yrs 4 mos, Greater Bengaluru Area, * Delivered products with high quality for browser extensions and browser bundles. * Lead and built test automation frameworks for new tab extension , search sets and toolbar bundles. * Delivered quality products for my.yahoo.com and yahoo media platforms. * Single POC for offshore delivery team in terms quality testing and test automation framework. * Responsible for E2E testing from initial build till it's in production.

Software Developer in Test at Mindtree, Nov 2007 - Jul 2010 · 2 yrs 9 mos, Yahoo Inc Bangalore

Education

Bachelor of Engineering - BE, Computer Science, N M A M Institute of Technology, NITTE

B.E, Computer Science, Visvesvaraya Technological University