Hello! Hola! Hallo!
Ciao! Bonjour! 你好!

I'm happiest at the fuzzy front end of product, where the problem isn't defined yet and nobody is sure there's a business in it. What pulls me in: the customers a company overlooks, the "future of" questions, and the space between a research insight and a product someone will pay for.

My through-line is inclusion as a growth strategy: I find the segments a business doesn't yet serve, by ability, behavior, life-stage or culture, and design the experience that earns their trust, turning overlooked groups into new growth. At PwC that became a sustainability-mobility tool now live in 4 markets with 4,500+ employees; at IKEA, opening the second-hand marketplace beyond the nuclear-family core (3.6M views, 75,000 buyers and sellers, 6 countries) and the cultural research across Bangalore, Shanghai, Berlin and New York that seeded IKEA China's WeChat engagement work.

Skyscraper views in NYC. At home in Amsterdam. A beach day in Mexico. With family in Abu Dhabi. With my siblings in Beijing. Reconnecting with friendships abroad. On fieldwork in Jaipur, India. On my way to customer interviews in Paris. Capturing a great moment. Yoga during a heatwave in NYC. With my neighborhood book club. Shopping for quality clothing. Traveling to a new destination.
Hello there! A little about myself:

My journey so far

Gustavo at IKEA.
🇳🇱 Amsterdam · 🇸🇪 Malmö · Senior Design Strategist, New Business & Innovation

New Business & Innovation looks after IKEA's new business propositions around expansion and customer relevance. As one of the first five members, I helped shape its ways of working as it scaled to 20. Highlights so far: reframing who the many are becoming, proving IKEA could own second-hand, and bringing imagination back into home envisioning.

🇳🇱 Amsterdam · Experience Strategist, Product Management

At PwC I leaned into product management, building next-generation digital and sustainability products, including Environmental Footprint Insights, a CO2 tool giving every employee a personal view of their mobility emissions. This experience has defined my approach to innovation ever since.

🇨🇳 Beijing · Innovation Consultant, Emerging Technology

I moved to Beijing on a deliberate quest to immerse in a new culture, language and way of thinking, consulting on emerging-technology innovation, including AI to detect online propaganda. Overall it was 成功了 (a success)!

🇲🇽 Monterrey · Mexico City · 🌍 Worldwide · Design Researcher, Innovation Projects

Ideas are the easy part, that was the reality check. Public-sector social innovation, startups and corporate incubators taught me the rest: economics, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and how to keep a business alive.

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How I work

0 → 1 product management through a 3-step approach

Phase 01

Design research

Exploring and framing the problem & opportunity: problem reframing, trend scouting, cultural shifts and customer insight, with a human-centered, business-savvy lens.

OutcomeA sharp, validated problem and the opportunity worth pursuing.

Phase 02

Concept definition / Product design

Investing in the strongest opportunity: customer value, business viability and technical feasibility. Concepts, directions and experience strategy.

OutcomeA defined concept and experience strategy, greenlit to build.

Phase 03

Development & scale

Building and validating the MVP, then optimizing following a successful launch: prioritization, testing, capability building and handover.

OutcomeA launched product, validated with users and handed over to scale.

I have a high tolerance for ambiguity, and I know how to move through it with purpose. I love exploring the potential of new initiatives, but I either see opportunity or I don't, and I bring the evidence to back it up.

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Open to full-time roles and freelance: new technology use cases, "future of" projects, as well as developing new digital products and their business models. See the work →