Financial Services & Insurance | New Business & Product Launches
For the launches you can't afford to get wrong.
I built Capital One's Secured Card from zero to 1,000,000+ customers and the digital platforms behind New York Life's 12,000-agent field force. Now I lead new businesses, products, and channels from idea to approval to market.
Schedule a CallWhat I Do
Big companies are built to protect what already works, which is what makes launches from inside one so hard. Anything new needs to survive the CFO's math, the risk committee, compliance review, technology and security assessments, and a sales force that decides what it will and won't sell. Most launches fail long before they ever see the market.
I lead new business, product, and channel launches that need to go right the first time. I've done it as a Fortune 100 P&L owner, as a COO building platforms for a 12,000-person field force, and as a founder betting my own money. I bring the judgment to make the calls data can't make for you, the credibility to win over the people whose job is to say no, and the accountability to stay until the results show up.
Results
Before: In the wake of the financial crisis, millions of Americans were being declined for credit with nowhere to go.
What I did: Launched Capital One's Secured Card: product design, underwriting model, and acquisition strategy. It became the company's highest-volume online credit product.
Before: A 12,000-person field force with no modern selling tools, inside an enterprise that had never shipped a digital product for agents.
What I did: Built New York Life's first digital product function and took GuideMe from proof-of-concept to enterprise platform. New agents closed 30% more business.
Before: Two underserved markets — gluten-free consumers and hearing healthcare — with clear demand and no capital-efficient way to reach it.
What I did: Launched and sold two businesses with my own money on the line, exiting at roughly 40x and 15x invested capital. Launch discipline is different when every dollar is yours.
How I Work
Validate
Pressure-test the opportunity before real money moves. Market sizing, unit economics, competitive dynamics, demand smoke tests, and the upfront criteria that can help avoid incredibly expensive mistakes.
Win Approval
Everything you need to get to yes: the business case, financial model, risk and compliance framework, and committee-ready materials. All built to survive the CFO, the chief risk officer, and the board.
Plan the Launch
A sequenced path from approval to market: workstreams, owners, timelines, dependencies, technology decisions, hiring plan, and the early-warning metrics that tell you whether it's working before the P&L does. Learn more about the Launch Blueprint →
Lead the Launch
Embedded, hands-on leadership through go-live and beyond — running the cross-functional machine, making the daily calls, and course-correcting until the new business stands on its own.
Areas of Focus
- Product strategy, audience, features, and pricing
- Product marketing, positioning, and messaging
- Go-to-market and channel strategy (B2B2C, DTC, SMB)
- Business case development and unit economics
- Distribution and field force enablement
- Digital product and platform builds
- Org design, hiring, and operating cadence
- Regulatory and compliance navigation
- Risk framework design and mitigation
- Launch analytics and early-warning metrics
Why Me
Ex-COO of Field Productivity at New York Life. P&L owner who launched Capital One's Secured Card. Two bootstrapped exits. Harvard Law, Wharton MBA.
Launches die in the seams between functions; I've run them all. I've built and led product, marketing, credit, and sales enablement organizations. When a problem surfaces in underwriting, the field, legal/compliance, or in the handoffs between areas, I can find it and fix it directly.
I've spent my career operating where there's no margin for error. Regulated credit products. Insurance distribution. Human sales forces. Tight unit economics. I know how to move fast in places where carelessness is catastrophic, and how to earn the trust of the people whose job is to say no.
AI made strategy cheap, but it didn't make launches easy. AI can't read the room in a risk committee, know which corners are safe to cut, or hold a cross-functional team accountable. I get hired for the parts of a launch that can't be delegated: judgment, credibility, and ownership of the result.
Have a launch on the table?
If you're weighing a new business, product, or channel or you have approval and need to make it real, let's talk. In 30 minutes I'll tell you where I think the risks are, what it will take to get to market, and whether I'm the right person to help.
Schedule a Call