Aakash Gihwala
Senior Platform Product Manager at Square
Senior Platform Product Manager at Square
I am a passionate product professional with experiences in a variety of industries. My focus areas are at the intersections of business, technology, and consumer driven products. I am also a dedicated leader with advance problem solving and decision making skills.
Square
https://www.linkedin.com/company/joinsquare
Product manager leading two teams within the Commerce Platform group. Responsible for developing the vision and roadmap to serve the needs of sellers, buyers, 3rd party developers, and internal teams.
Greater Atlanta Area
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Senior Platform Product Manager
RentPath
https://www.linkedin.com/company/rentpath
• Product manager focused on organic traffic growth and conversion increasing initiatives across both Apartmentguide.com and Rent.com.
• Developed roadmap for property growth and led 7 month project resulting in 100% increase in number of rental properties on ApartmentGuide.com and Rent.com.
• Led initiative to revamp experiences on select pages with nearly 80% YoY traffic decline resulting in a 50% decrease in bounce rate and increased growth in organic traffic.
• Captured customer feedback and collaborated with B2B teams to improve both customer onboarding experience and property information shown to renters.
Greater Atlanta Area
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Growth Product Manager
Deloitte
https://www.linkedin.com/company/deloitte
• Managed release planning and feature prioritization for Deloitte’s LaborWise Affordable Care Act product over several releases resulting in multi-million dollar revenue across several state customers.
• Authored functional user stories to build a public sector data management product and customer facing portal; customer facing portal supports access by up to 3 million users.
• Conducted market research to assess ownership rates of mobile devices among Medicare and Medicaid recipients leading to the development of a fully responsive mobile browsing experience for product end users.
• Performed client demos highlighting product features and answered functional and technical questions to facilitate new customer sales process.
• Served as Scrum coach for underperforming product team resulting in the adherence to the Scrum framework, a manageable release scope, and clearer user stories.
• Updated product technical manual for infrastructure team and two training guides for end-users..
• Facilitated User Experience Testing and identified future enhancements to improve usability.
Atlanta, GA
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Associate Product Manager
Deloitte
https://www.linkedin.com/company/deloitte
• Configured SAP system to support Order to Cash process for $2 billion food & beverage distributor and integrated system with franchisee e-commerce portal, procurement, financial, warehouse, and transportation management systems.
• Managed a team of four client resources through four testing phases and facilitated defect resolution and execution of 100+ test scripts enabling on-time completion of testing cycles.
• Owned key component of IT transformation allowing 7000+ franchise stores to be able to obtain a two hour delivery time window and enabling efficient route planning.
• Led planning and execution of system go-live resulting in being ahead of plan by three hours.
Atlanta, GA
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Business Technology Consultant
Deloitte
https://www.linkedin.com/company/deloitte
• Developed current state blueprint of IT applications across three chemical companies to determine synergy opportunities.
• Created Point of View for client CIO outlining merger strategy to lower Total Cost of IT Ownership; guidance and implementation plan resulted in $10 million of savings.
• Developed five change management courses to train client end-users in adopting new SAP processes.
• Assisted Project Management Office for global SAP implementation in managing project plan, budgeting resource hours, and leading onboarding and communication efforts.
Atlanta, GA
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Business Technology Analyst
Cisco Systems
https://www.linkedin.com/company/cisco
• Assisted Account Managers and Systems Engineers in network design, competitive research, product information, request for proposals, bill of materials, and other supportive needs. 
• Supported potential sales by providing technical, marketing and financial responses about Cisco products to field engineers.
Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area
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Associate Systems Engineer Intern
GE Energy
https://www.linkedin.com/company/gepower
• Optimized power plants across the world by implementing new and existing technologies.
• Developed Analytics and Monitored solutions for combined cycle systems.
• Wrote customer proposal to increase power plant efficiency and output and lower heat rate.
Greater Atlanta Area
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Total Systems Plant Engineering Co-op
GE Energy
https://www.linkedin.com/company/gepower
• Troubleshooted global fleet of turbine accessories and controls by providing technical responses to customers.
• Narrowed Root Cause Analysis (RCA) by identifying three main causes of leaking gas fuel systems using Six Sigma DMAIC methodology.
Greater Atlanta Area
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Product Services- Gas & Steam Turbine Accessories and Controls Co-op
GE Aviation
https://www.linkedin.com/company/geaviation
• Responsible for the technical stewardship of the CF6 product in the field which includes safety, reliability, cost or ownership, and customer satisfaction. 
• Delivered quality technical responses to customer inquiries, performing technical investigations, delivering CSA productivity savings, and supporting customers as well as GE shops in optimizing engine reliability and performance.
Cincinnati, Ohio
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CF6 Powerplant Engineer Co-op
GE Aviation
https://www.linkedin.com/company/geaviation
• Responsible for part lifecycle estimation for military aircraft through flight profile analysis
• Conducted flight profile segmentation in order to support part life estimation efforts.
Cincinnati, Ohio
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Rotating Parts- Military Mission Analysis Co-op
Bachelor of Science (B.S.)
Mechanical Engineering
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Georgia Institute of Technology
https://www.linkedin.com/school/georgia-institute-of-technology/
Product Management
Attended a 10 week long instructor led course. The course focused on the the strategic and tactical nature of product management and through various lectures, homework assignments, and a final product pitch, I was able to grasp the key elements of digital product management.
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General Assembly
https://www.linkedin.com/school/generalassembly/
Stranahan High School
Science and Technology
Georgia Tech RoboJackets
• Served for 4 years as a mentor, FIRST outreach program lead, and kickoff coordinator to FIRST robotics within the Atlanta area. 
• Mentored two distinct high school teams (FRC Team 2440 and FRC Team 4080) by leading team planning efforts. This consisted of managing mechanical, electrical, programming, and public relations sub-teams. 
• Managed outreach program for the Georgia Tech RoboJackets. Educated sponsoring companies and the Georgia Tech community on the efforts and results of the FIRST program. 
• Led planning for Georgia FIRST Robotics Kickoff event. Planned logistics for entire day event at Georgia Tech for 800+ participants.
FIRST Team Mentor, FIRST Outreach Program Lead, FIRST Kickoff Coordinator
Scrum Alliance
Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
Lynda.com
www.lynda.com
13F3A2
Meeting the Challenge of Digital Transformation
https://www.lynda.com/Business-Intelligence-tutorials/Meeting-Challenge-Digital-Transformation/362341-2.html?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=sharing&utm_campaign=certificate
Bhaskar Chaganti
      
          



            
              
        
              
  

    
        I worked with Aakash in two products we developed for the US State Agencies.
Aakash was a valuable team member and his contributions as a Biz Arch for these critical products helped us steer through development and testing within timelines.
Personally I found him to be dedicated, hardworking and very focussed on his job and have seen him going that extra mile whenever required.
I found him to be sociable, approachable and friendly to be with. I observed that he has consistently demonstrated professionalism and great communication skills with all the team members alike.
I am sure he will do well in whichever career path he chooses. Wishing him good luck.
Shared by Aakash Gihwala
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Proud of you little bro! 👏 Sharing with my network to see if anyone can help those that were laid off by Better.
Shared by Aakash Gihwala
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3 countries in less than a year! Amazing work and loved every moment of it! Para los que hacen!
Liked by Aakash Gihwala
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I’m extremely proud to see the surge of Indian-born CEOs and the fantastic buzz that has been surrounding it of late. What makes me even more proud…
Mobile Product Management
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/63456
Product Management
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/42629
UX Strategy: Smarter Product Design
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/3735935
PDMA Product Development and Management Association
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2182
The Georgia Tech Professional Network
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/98417
280 Group: Product Management & Product Marketing
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2193
Disruptor League
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1953902
PDMA Atlanta Chapter
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8513205
Product Managers Consumer Electronics
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ImagineX Consulting Xchange
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FIRST
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/46645
Georgia Tech Alumni Association
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ProductCamp Atlanta
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1950023
Harvard Business Review Discussion Group
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