# Gravity R&D: VP Product & Strategic Business Development

> Took a research spin-off into the global top three in recommendation engines.

- **Period:** 2009 to 2014
- **Company:** Gravity Research & Development (Personalization and recommendation start-up)
- **Location:** Budapest, Hungary · USA
- **Scope:** 2 product managers, 2 project managers and 15 engineers. Clients included Naspers/Allegro, Schibsted Media, P&G portfolio companies, Deutsche Telekom Group, CenturyLink, Etisalat and Dailymotion.
- **Themes:** Recommendation systems, SaaS, Enterprise partnerships, Exit

## Outcomes

- 400M+: recommendations served daily
- +1,000%: YoY traffic growth
- 5 → 50: people in three years
- $3M: venture funding raised

Built the strategy and the two product lines that scaled to 400M+ daily recommendations for media, retail and telecom clients.

## The situation

A team of exceptional researchers with world-class recommendation algorithms, and no product yet.

## What I did

- **Built the product strategy and roadmap** that placed Gravity in the global top three for personalization and recommendation, launching two product lines: RECO for online and IMPRESS for multi-screen content.
- **Designed a domain-independent product architecture** so Gravity could enter new verticals quickly.
- **Formed strategic partnerships** with Microsoft, Huawei and Cisco, and co-developed products with Deutsche Telekom Group.
- **Helped raise $3M** in venture funding, grew the company from 5 to 50, and led the sale of the TV and media business to a UK private equity firm in 2014.

## What I took from it

Great algorithms are table stakes. The company was won on architecture, partnerships and the patience to make enterprise integrations boring.

Source: https://zoltan.peaktopeak.hu/work/gravity