Product Manager and Data Analyst seeking Review: Exceptional Talent

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Hello. I am a data analyst and product manager. I am aiming to obtain a visa through the Exceptional Talent Route as a business applicant.

I have found many posts here helpful and informative. However, I am very anxious about whether I will be able to obtain the visa. I would like to share the set of documents I plan to submit to Tech Nation for my application and receive your feedback.

Professional Experience in the Last 5 Years

  1. Career1 : Product Manager at an Audio Advertising Technology Company
    • Led the development of Product1: An innovative analytics dashboard specifically designed for audio format advertising. This dashboard addresses unique metrics relevant to audio ads, such as post-ad search behavior, as traditional metrics like clicks are less applicable when users often encounter these ads with their devices locked.
    • Led the development of Product2: A data analysis dashboard for a radio station, enabling data-driven program production based on terrestrial radio data.
  2. Career2 : Head of Product at a U.S. Startup (Product3)
    • Key member in launching a startup that was accepted into a highly competitive accelerator program (less than 10% acceptance rate, with only 15 companies selected per batch).
    • Led application development and guided the startup’s growth strategy by identifying and tracking key performance indicators.
  3. Career3 : Product Manager for a Major Weather Forecast Application (Product4)
    • Worked on one of national top three weather forecast media applications.
    • Successfully increased revenue and launched innovative features previously unseen in the market.

Personal Statement

I am deeply passionate about the intersection of mental health and safe engagement with nature. Throughout my career, I’ve successfully developed innovative products and features in this field, working with both startups and large companies. My expertise lies in data analysis and product management, which I’ve leveraged to drive revenue growth and product innovation.

My goal is to continue this journey in the UK, where I aim to establish a startup focused on developing cutting-edge products that further explore and enhance the connection between mental wellbeing and nature interaction. I believe the UK provides an ideal environment to push the boundaries of innovation in this crucial area, and I’m excited to contribute my skills and experience to this endeavor.

CV

Letters of Recommendation

LoR1: CEO of Product3
LoR2: CEO or VP of Product4 (still deciding between the two)
LoR3: Shareholder of Career1 company (C-level executive of a public company, board member of a Data Science Association, university professor)

Mandatory Criteria (MC)

  • #1 Proof of high profitability: As a product manager, I’ve generated 2-3 times more revenue than other product managers and data analysts in my country.
  • #2 Speaking engagements: Presented at a domestic data-related event with approximately 8,000 attendees. Screenshot of the event page and photo of my presentation, and attendees count screenshot in an email from the organizer.
  • #3 University Teaching Assistant experience: Served as a TA for one semester in a data analysis course at a well-regarded national graduate school.
  • #4 Acquisition of Career1 company shares: Received stock transfer from the CEO in recognition of my achievements at Career1.

Optional Criteria 1 (OC1)

  • #5 Launch & development of Product3: This is an innovative product. To demonstrate its innovativeness, I plan to highlight our acceptance into an accelerator program, successful VC funding, and achieved traction.
  • #6 Launch & development of Product2: I developed a dashboard for analyzing terrestrial media, which unlike digital media, cannot collect individual-level logs. This dashboard helps in program creation. As evidence, I will provide dashboard screenshots, a diagram of the data pipeline, GitHub commit history, and reference letters from actual users (program editors).
  • #7 Feature additions to Product4: For a weather forecast app targeting mountaineers, I added features to prevent accidents, including offline functionality and snow condition information. As evidence, I will provide screenshots of media coverage (with translation) and reference letters from collaborating Product Managers.

Optional Criteria 3 (OC3)

  • #8 Revenue increase for Product4: Increased revenue by 1.6 times since joining. As evidence,I will use analytics data and a reference letter from the division head.
  • #9 Cost reduction through Product1: The dashboard development reduced operational staff time costs by 90%. I will explain how this impact grows with the number of projects (as time spent = number of projects × time per project). Additionally, it has contributed to strengthening sales team’s proposal capabilities and improving client retention rates. I will obtain a reference letter from the CEO of Product1.
  • #10 Revenue increase experiment in freelance project: Conducted A/B testing that increased page views fourfold, resulting in a proportional fourfold increase in revenue (as it was ad-based revenue, increased page views directly correlated with increased revenue).
  • #11 Revenue growth and strategic partnership for Product2: Doubled the revenue and established a partnership with a NASDAQ-listed company that offers synergistic benefits.

Questions

  • Q1: Do you think the documents listed above will be sufficient for a successful visa application? I’d appreciate your opinion on which documents are strong or weak!
  • Q2: I own a company and primarily work as a contractor. However, I am the sole shareholder and have no employees (I have some contractors who help with work, but no full-time staff). Are there cases where product achievements from this type of work arrangement have been positively evaluated?
  • Q3: Also, while working full-time, there are short periods of overlap between my Career positions. Is this viewed negatively by Tech Nation?
  • Q4: Product1 and Product2 might not strictly be considered “Products”, but I want them to be. How should I present this?
  • Q5: For LoR2, would it be better to get it from the CEO if possible? The CEO has a higher position but doesn’t know me well. On the other hand, the VP of Product is more familiar with my contributions.
  • Q6: For a product manager with strong data analysis skills, what kind of evidence would be good to demonstrate?
  • Q7: Should I omit the achievements from the freelance project mentioned in #10?
    I’m aware that only 10 documents are allowed, but I’m listing this here to know all possible document options that forum reviewers might find useful.

I would appreciate any response. I look forward to hearing everyone’s advices and opinions!!

2

Dear @Francisca_Chiedu, @hsafra, and @Maya,

I hope this message finds you well. I would be very grateful if you could take a moment to review and share your valuable feedback on this matter. Your insights would be immensely helpful.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Best regards,
Angee

3

Dear @Ido_Moshe,

I believe that you dealt with a similar case, too.
I would be very grateful if you could provide your feedback on this as well.
Thank you so much for your assistance.

4

Hello -

I could be wrong but I feel your MC3 is weak. Your MC2 and MC4 are medium quality. Only MC1 is strong enough. As per my experience, you should at least have 2 solid evidences and then you can support them with 2 medium quality ones. Also, none of them supporting each other unless LORs refer these evidences too to back you up.

OC1.1 is weak. I used similar one as 4th evidence under MC but it weaved along with my overall story.
OC1.2 is solid.
OC1.3 is okay but within same document show its quantitative and qualitative impact (it gives a boost to your evidence) along with snapshots etc. Try to add workflow diagrams too. And if your LORs can support this and OC1.2, that will be great.

OC3.1 is solid. Provide some snapshots of work you did too.
OC3.2 is solid too.
OC3.3 seems okay too. You are fine in impact section it seems.

You need work in MC (leadership) definitely. You don’t want to show “contractor” position if its coming under “consulting”. I am sure you know this already.
Overlaps are fine. I had so many of them.
Its totally upto you how you present your “products”. You need to be smarter about it.
Talk to CEO directly and explain if he/she is okay with letter.
Freelancer work should be okay too as long as its solid.

Again everyone had their own different set of experience. First work on one set of evidences, then move on different ones. It will take some time!

5

Could you please detail which of the evidence above was during contracting and which when you worked as an employee?
TN exclude all outsourced / contracted work from admissible evidence. This is mentioned a few times in the guide and i fear that may rule out work done as part of your company

Please note the following specialisms are generally not considered suitable

  • Service Delivery, Process Delivery, Outsourcing, Consultancy (technical or management), ERP Consultancy, Systems Admin and all related fields.
    …
  • Business skills apply to in-house work within product-led digital technology companies, not tech-enabled or service companies such as agencies, outsourcers, marketing firms etc.

And

This excludes general consultancies, outsourcing and technology-related consultancy groups focused on process/service delivery or solutions/systems architecture

Please take this into account

6

Dear @pmsept ,

Thank you for your valuable feedback. I greatly appreciate your insights, especially regarding the weakness of MC3. Your comments have been incredibly helpful in guiding my revision process!

Regarding your suggestion to strengthen the MC, I’m considering combining the Speaking Engagements (MC2) and Teaching Assistant experience (MC3) into a single document. To replace this, I’m thinking of using a new MC document: a 3-page long Reference Letter from the former CTO of the company from Career2. Do you think this adjustment would effectively strengthen my MC section?

For Product2, I’m planning to discuss it under OC1.1, focusing on the idea validation through customer acquisition. To demonstrate its innovation, I intend to include user feedback and screenshots showing how the product has positively impacted lives (e.g., preventing divorces, sustaining long-distance relationships). I’ll also mention being invited to give a university to speak about this product. Would these additions make OC1.1 strong enough in your opinion?

Regarding the “contractor” position, due to visa constraints, I was working remotely under a service agreement contract in a senior role. In light of your advice, would you recommend omitting snapshots of the contract of career2?

Your guidance has been invaluable in helping me refine my application. I look forward to your thoughts on these proposed changes.

Thank you once again for your time and expertise.

Best regards,
Angee

7

Dear @hsafra,

Thank you for your response. I appreciate your continued guidance.

Regarding my employment situation, all Career1, 2, and 3 were under service agreement contracts.

And while there are slight overlaps in the timelines, I was fully committed to each role.

I’m going to ask CEOs mention in their letters that I was working full-time and fully committed to each position despite the contract nature of the work.

Do you think having this mentioned in the recommendation letters would be good?

Thank you again for your time and expertise.

Best regards,
Angee

8

All I have is the guidance in the guide that says work needs to happen while you’re employed at a product lead digital communication, and that outsourcing isn’t applicable unless it’s a highly specialized service.

9

Hello,

Yes, if I were you, I wouldn’t have taken a chance with contract/ consulting work evidence.
Reg. MC, speaking engagement seems fine, particularly if it was outside work, i am not so sure if TA experience would be considered for leadership criteria, but you could take a second opinion on that.
Reference letter would definitely boost the section if its not generic and highlights your specific contributions towards any digital tech/ product development.