# Gergely Schmidt

> Gergely Schmidt is a Staff Product Manager at Instructure (the company behind Canvas LMS), based in Budapest, Hungary. He is a platform product manager with 15+ years of product experience across data platforms, API gateways, developer experience, API monetization, FinOps SaaS, machine learning platforms and enterprise video streaming. He focuses on building platforms that have substantial, tangible real-world impact.

Contact: LinkedIn. Languages: Hungarian (native), English (fluent). Structured data for this profile (schema.org JSON-LD, Person/ProfilePage) is embedded in https://sgergely.hu/.

## Profile

- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidtgergely/): Professional profile and full work history
- [Website](https://sgergely.hu/): Personal site

## Current role

### Staff Product Manager, Instructure (April 2024 to present, Budapest)

- Platform Product Manager owning highly distributed platform domains: Data Platform, API Gateway, developer APIs, and core platform services (live events, notification delivery)
- Leads product strategy across developer experience touchpoints: CLI tooling, public developer documentation and data access infrastructure
- Drives API monetization exploration and implementation, using usage-driven insights and platform analytics to inform pricing and packaging
- Partners with three international product teams; works cross-functionally with engineering, legal, support and GTM
- Designs and facilitates full-day customer discovery workshops, turning validated customer needs into product direction

## Previous roles

### Chief Product Officer, Rabbit (Sep 2022 to Feb 2024, Budapest)

Rabbit is a cloud cost management and optimization (FinOps) platform specialized in Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

- Built the product and the team from scratch
- Set up product development principles based on qualitative customer interviews and problem validation
- Defined MVP and Minimum Sellable Product scopes
- Owned vision, roadmap and go-to-market strategy
- Onboarded Rabbit to the GCP Marketplace and helped secure the first recurring-revenue customers

### Product Manager, Aliz – Product R&D team (Feb 2022 to Feb 2024, Budapest)

- Led multiple validation rounds as Aliz expanded its portfolio with a SaaS product; started building Rabbit

### Product Manager, Lidl (Feb 2020 to Feb 2022, Budapest)

- Helped create and migrate a machine learning platform from on-premises to the cloud, enabling country-wide sales predictions for 2,500 items across 150 stores
- Coordinated international teams of 20+ people, on schedule and on budget
- Introduced a decision support system based on sales prediction

### Senior Product Manager, Tresorit (Nov 2018 to Jan 2020, Budapest)

- Ran the company's first Design Sprint
- Structured user feedback and interviews into actionable formats
- Introduced a company-wide roadmap
- Launched features with significant MRR impact together with engineering, legal, marketing and sales
- Created the organization's first cross-functional team

### Senior Product Manager, IBM – Cloud Video Streaming for Enterprise (2016 to 2018, Budapest)

- Rolled out an internal live video platform that let IBM's CEO address all 300,000 employees in recurring live streams
- Integrated and launched IBM Watson Speech-to-Text
- Improved the platform's REST APIs to the point they could be spun out as a separate service
- Launched native mobile apps
- Worked on migrating billing and payments from Zuora to IBM's internal solution

### Product Manager, Ustream (2011 to 2016, Budapest)

- Launched Ustream Align, an internal video solution for companies, based on deep user research; increased revenue by 30%
- Introduced A/B testing and fake door testing
- Managed Pay-per-view and Premium Membership products

### Freelance Web Developer (2008 to 2011, Budapest)

- Built and finished websites with Drupal

## Education

- B.Sc. Mechatronics Engineer, Robotics and Automation Engineering, Óbuda University, Budapest (2006 to 2015)

## Areas of expertise

Platform product management, data platforms, API gateways and developer APIs, API monetization and pricing, developer experience (CLI, docs), customer discovery, go-to-market, FinOps and cloud cost management, Google Cloud Platform, machine learning platforms, enterprise video streaming, SaaS, EdTech.

## Optional

- Interests: cyclocross racing. 3rd place overall in the Hungarian National Cyclocross Cup, Master 1 category, in the 2020/21 and 2022/23 seasons.