My name is Therese (like reese with a teh). I’m an ex-founder and product operator, currently living in San Francisco. I spent the last four years building a video-based documentation and collaboration SaaS (like Loom) and failed.
I bootstrapped Spiti as a solo-founder in 2020, onboarded our first few paying customers, and quickly validated the market (it was peak COVID-19). This early traction helped me find a co-founder (as a CTO) and raise a small VC round to build a team.
Running Spiti for four years taught me a lot about building startups, the struggle to find PMF, and perhaps most importantly, myself. I learnt how to approach product challenges from first principles — breaking down complex problems to their basic elements and figuring out solutions from the ground up. Combined with my obsession for understanding users' struggles firsthand, this approach helped me build intuitive products that users want — and love.
Before Spiti, I worked at various startups doing things across the board — helping build machine-learning solutions for companies like AbinBev and Cisco, leading market expansion in India for an HR-tech SaaS (that achieved a 3X ARR growth while I was there), and leading early growth from 1 to 75 customers in 10 months for another EdTech startup.
My product philosophy
My approach to product development has been shaped by both successes and setbacks. I've learned that the most impactful solutions often come from paying attention to user behaviors, friction points, and unspoken needs, then using these insights to guide product decisions.
First principles thinking has been my compass throughout — what problem are we really solving? What do our users truly need? What assumptions are we making? At Spiti, this meant starting with lightweight experiments to validate our assumptions. Each product decision began with a simple question: "What are we trying to learn?" and focused on getting valuable user signals quickly.
I've discovered that building great products is about striking a balance between intuitive design and speed, user delight and business impact. Details matter, but knowing which details matter most is what makes the difference. I believe great products emerge from paying attention to these details while staying focused on the larger vision.
My approach is grounded in three core principles:
First-principles thinking
Start with the fundamental truths. Before diving into solutions, I invest time in understanding the root problem, user context, and business objectives. This helps avoid the trap of building features for features' sake and ensures we're solving real user pain points.
Test to learn, build to scale
Begin with lightweight experiments to validate assumptions. Whether it's a paper prototype or an MVP, the goal is to get meaningful user signals quickly. Once validated, focus on building robust, scalable solutions that stand the test of time.
Craft meets impact
Details matter, but not all details are equal. I focus on identifying and perfecting the moments that define user experience while ruthlessly prioritizing based on impact. This balance of craftsmanship and pragmatism helps create products that are both delightful and valuable.
The best products aren't just tools—they're experiences that respect users' time and intelligence while solving their problems elegantly. This belief guides every product decision I make.
What I want to work on next
After being a founder for over four years, I took some time to figure out what my next chapter looks like. I’m ready to jump back into an operator role and apply all my learnings from Spiti to help product builders at a larger organization.
Specifically, I’m looking for:
- Product Manager roles at companies that are using AI to solve challenges in the workplace collaboration, productivity, or finance domains.
- Mission-driven, product-led organizations that value high agency and craft.
- Leading zero-to-one products in a customer-obsessed environment.
If any of the above resonates with you, please reach out to me. Whether you're a founder looking to scale your product organization, or a team seeking product leadership that combines technical depth with founder experience, I'd love to chat! I’m on theresemaggie@gmail.com.