Zafar Sawant profile photo 1 on Tal

Zafar Sawant

Built one of India’s largest OTT aggregators from scratch | Helped scale from 0-​>$10M+ ARR

Mumbai

16+ years of work experience

HT Media Labs
Jun 20206 yrs 3 mosPresent

Network18 Media & Investments Limited
Feb 20191 yr 5 mosJun 2020

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

- Revamped Moneybhai - a stock simulator which allowed Moneycontrol's 22M+ users to learn trading by experiencing markets in real time with real data using virtual currency - Delivered ~3.5X YoY revenue growth in video monetisation - on platform, YouTube and Facebook - Led Mobile App strategy for News18, Firstpost & CricketNext. Cricketnext app featured as Editor's Choice on both Google Play & App Store
Times Internet
May 20135 yrs 10 mosFeb 2019

Greater Delhi Area

- Reduced video infra costs by 50% by migrating entire video stack from 3rd-party vendors to an in-house platform and increased monthly video views by 2X by deploying various product interventions (next video recommendation) - Increased sessions per user by 25% through personalization, deep-linking and retention-focused product initiatives across TOI's digital properties - Reduced customer acquisition costs by 3% through fraud detection and attribution optimization while leading subscriptions (TOI+), personalization and growth initiatives
MiD-DAY Infomedia Ltd
Jul 20111 yr 11 mosMay 2013

Mumbai

- Shipped native mobile apps and responsive site for mid-day.com and affiliate portals - Led migration to Jagran tech stack to rank among Top 5 publishers in India - Managed UI/UX lifecycles and SEO optimization, maximizing web traffic
Tribal DDB India
Jul 20101 yr 1 moJul 2011

Mumbai Metropolitan Region

- Supervised award-winning work for Idea cellular, Volkswagen, McDonalds, ITC, Raymonds, Union Bank of India, etc - Conducted competitive benchmarking, built information architecture, documentation, designed wireframes & mockups, gathered requirements, managed multiple projects & vendors, ensured quality control, etc

Zafar’s AI Stack

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gemini
gemini
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claudecode
ChatGPT
ChatGPT
Gamma
Gamma

Education

University of Mumbai

BScIT, Information Technology

University of Mumbai

20053 yrs2008

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Headline

Built one of India’s largest OTT aggregators from scratch | Helped scale from 0-​>$10M+ ARR

About

Product & Technology Leader with 20+ years of experience building and growing digital products - both software (deterministic) and AI (probabilistic) Drove growth in mobile, video, subscriptions and AI by leading product innovation at top media organizations including The Times of India, Hindustan Times, Network18 and Mid-Day Delivered 20+ consumer internet (with scale of 40M+ DAUs) and enterprise products that improved customer experience, process automation and business outcomes.

Location

Mumbai

AI stack

claude code

claude

gemini

claudecode

ChatGPT

Gamma

Work experience

Chief Product Officer, OTTplay at HT Media Labs, Jun 2020 - Present · 6 yrs 3 mos

Product Lead at Network18 Media & Investments Limited, Feb 2019 - Jun 2020 · 1 yr 5 mos, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, - Revamped Moneybhai - a stock simulator which allowed Moneycontrol's 22M+ users to learn trading by experiencing markets in real time with real data using virtual currency - Delivered ~3.5X YoY revenue growth in video monetisation - on platform, YouTube and Facebook - Led Mobile App strategy for News18, Firstpost & CricketNext. Cricketnext app featured as Editor's Choice on both Google Play & App Store

Senior Product Manager - Mobile Apps & Monetization at Times Internet, May 2013 - Feb 2019 · 5 yrs 10 mos, Greater Delhi Area, - Reduced video infra costs by 50% by migrating entire video stack from 3rd-party vendors to an in-house platform and increased monthly video views by 2X by deploying various product interventions (next video recommendation) - Increased sessions per user by 25% through personalization, deep-linking and retention-focused product initiatives across TOI's digital properties - Reduced customer acquisition costs by 3% through fraud detection and attribution optimization while leading subscriptions (TOI+), personalization and growth initiatives

Product Manager - MiD-DAY at MiD-DAY Infomedia Ltd, Jul 2011 - May 2013 · 1 yr 11 mos, Mumbai, - Shipped native mobile apps and responsive site for mid-day.com and affiliate portals - Led migration to Jagran tech stack to rank among Top 5 publishers in India - Managed UI/UX lifecycles and SEO optimization, maximizing web traffic

Account Supervisor at Tribal DDB India, Jul 2010 - Jul 2011 · 1 yr 1 mo, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, - Supervised award-winning work for Idea cellular, Volkswagen, McDonalds, ITC, Raymonds, Union Bank of India, etc - Conducted competitive benchmarking, built information architecture, documentation, designed wireframes & mockups, gathered requirements, managed multiple projects & vendors, ensured quality control, etc

Education

BScIT, Information Technology, University of Mumbai