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Matthew Akino-Wittering

I'm Matthew, a product leader and builder.

shaping data-heavy B2B SaaS. I’m at my best on 0→1 products where AI, data and real workflows meet, and I’m just as happy writing the query or the spec as setting the strategy.

See what I've builtGet in touch
Black and white photo of Matthew Akino-Wittering

16+ years in product

  • 1,200+People across 15+ agencies use Ignite for eCommerce and Retail Media analytics
  • 250+Brands use Ignite, our SaaS platform for eCommerce and Retail Media professionals
  • 150+People use Texana to complete eCommerce and Retail Media tasks agentically
Projects

Things I've built and shipped myself

built after hours

  • DyslexicWriter home screen headed Write comfortably. Hear it read back. Beside an editor reading a welcome note aloud, with the current sentence and word highlighted

    DyslexicWriter

    A calm, distraction-free Markdown editor built for a dyslexic writer, with read-aloud and sentence highlighting. It runs entirely in the browser against a folder on your own machine, with no account and no server.

    • Accessibility
    • Read-aloud
    • Local-first
    Try it live(opens in a new tab)
  • YouDemo recorder interface with a No screen selected prompt and a Start Recording button

    YouDemo

    A browser-only screen and webcam recorder, deployable straight to GitHub Pages. No backend, no SSR, no routing library, just record, edit and download.

    • Browser-only
    • No backend
    • Static hosting
    Try it live(opens in a new tab)View source(opens in a new tab)

How I work

I keep vision, strategy, and everyday features aligned as one story, so everything we build traces back to why it exists.

I test ideas honestly before we commit, plan in horizons rather than dates, and judge the work by the outcomes it creates, not the output it ships.

Career

Where I've worked

From search and content at Ask.com, through programmatic advertising at a WPP company, to leading Product at Acorn-i. Two of the businesses I helped build were acquired.

  1. Aug 2019 – Present

    Lead Product Manager at Acorn-i(opens in a new tab)

    First product hire in a services business with ambitions to build a SaaS product. I took Ignite from an internal tool to a fully licensed SaaS platform used by 250+ brands, 15+ agencies, and 1,200 users, and took Texana from proof of concept to a shipped agentic GenAI product that cut a three-week reporting project to three days. I also owned the Ads Console, shipped AI/ML-powered bid optimisation, delivering a typical 5x uplift for new brands, built LTV models using first-party data, and led internationalisation for APAC, including Japanese localisation.

  2. Jun 2018 – Jul 2019

    Senior Product Manager at The Exchange Lab(opens in a new tab)

    Promoted to lead the Vendor Integrations portfolio. I ran three platforms handling terabytes of ad impressions, clicks, and attribution data daily across GroupM’s agency network, managing 12 vendor integrations and working with engineering and agency ops to maintain data quality at scale.

  3. Dec 2013 – May 2018

    Product Manager at The Exchange Lab(opens in a new tab)

    Joined post-GroupM acquisition to rebuild data ingestion infrastructure for a global media group. I owned the Vendor Integration Engine, maintaining connections with 12+ AdTech platforms, contributed to Proteus, an in-house campaign management platform, and eliminated several manual ops workflows to reduce risk and free the team to scale.

  4. Jan 2012 – Oct 2013

    Product Manager at Ask Jeeves(opens in a new tab)

    Part of the SEO Centre of Excellence, working across Ask.com and About.com. I tracked the impact of Google algorithm changes on search visibility and turned that analysis into concrete recommendations for engineering and editorial teams. I also prototyped a tool to detect and fix over-optimised content, early-stage R&D that fed into platform strategy.

  5. Jan 2010 – Dec 2011

    Junior Product Manager at Ask Jeeves(opens in a new tab)

    Supported a company’s pivot to SEO-driven content, helping build sites that hosted 1.5M+ Q&A pairs generated from query log data. I worked on search quality and indexation, collaborating with engineering and analytics teams across a large-scale platform.

  6. Jul 2007 – Jul 2008

    Web Developer at Andalucia.com(opens in a new tab)

    Year-long industrial placement during my degree. Built client sites, maintained Andalucia.com, and got my first taste of ad trafficking and online advertising.

Learning

Trained as a builder

2005 – 2009Loughborough University

Computing and Management, BSc (Hons) 2:1

I studied Computing and Management over four years, taking the industrial placement route. The degree was split roughly evenly between computing and management subjects, covering software engineering, databases, programming, and networking alongside marketing, operations management, and accounting.

The placement year gave me real-world experience before returning to complete my final year. For my final-year project, I built a project planning and reporting application that generated Gantt charts in SVG format. The combination of technical and business subjects has been directly relevant to working in product roles ever since.

View course(opens in a new tab)

and still learning…

  1. Pendo10 courses · latest Sep 2026
    1. Becoming an AI-native Product ManagerSep 2026Certificate for Becoming an AI-native Product Manager(opens in a new tab)
    2. Product Judgment: making confident decisions without complete dataSep 2026Certificate for Product Judgment: making confident decisions without complete data(opens in a new tab)
    3. How to Build Impactful AI Agents Without Losing Your HeadSep 2026Certificate for How to Build Impactful AI Agents Without Losing Your Head(opens in a new tab)
    4. Product Discovery CertificationMar 2025Certificate for Product Discovery Certification(opens in a new tab)
    5. Radical Product Thinking: Vision SettingAug 2024Certificate for Radical Product Thinking: Vision Setting(opens in a new tab)
    6. Digital Adoption CertificationApr 2024Certificate for Digital Adoption Certification(opens in a new tab)
    7. AI for Product ManagersDec 2023Certificate for AI for Product Managers(opens in a new tab)
    8. Product Management Basics CertificationNov 2023Certificate for Product Management Basics Certification(opens in a new tab)
    9. Product Analytics CertificationJun 2023Certificate for Product Analytics Certification(opens in a new tab)
    10. Product-led CertificationJan 2023Certificate for Product-led Certification(opens in a new tab)
  2. Anthropic6 courses · latest Jul 2026
    1. Introduction to subagentsJul 2026Certificate for Introduction to subagents(opens in a new tab)
    2. Claude Code 101Jun 2026Certificate for Claude Code 101(opens in a new tab)
    3. Introduction to agent skillsJun 2026Certificate for Introduction to agent skills(opens in a new tab)
    4. Model Context Protocol: Advanced TopicsApr 2026Certificate for Model Context Protocol: Advanced Topics(opens in a new tab)
    5. Introduction to Model Context ProtocolApr 2026Certificate for Introduction to Model Context Protocol(opens in a new tab)
    6. Claude 101Mar 2026Certificate for Claude 101(opens in a new tab)
  3. ScrumAlliance1 course · latest Jun 2016
    1. Certified Scrum Product OwnerJun 2016
Say hello

Fancy a chat about product?

What are you building?

I love talking about product. Whether that’s turning a vision into a strategy or a strategy into features for people. AI is changing the role fast, and I’m fascinated by what that means for how we build as the loops get faster. If that’s on your mind too, I’d love to hear from you.

Get in touchLinkedIn(opens in a new tab)