I work at the intersection of technology, business, and behavioral psychology to help build best-in-class products and experiences. I have worked at the nimblest of B2B SaaS unicorns to Fortune 500 B2C behemoths and have had the good fortune of being part of, as well as leading high-performing teams.
My areas of expertise are product management, product-led growth, digital analytics, customer experience, and strategy consulting.
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohankhadilkar/
My Story
The Present
I work as a Senior Product Manager at Druva, a pre-IPO B2B SaaS unicorn. I’m primarily focused on Product-Led Growth (PLG) initiatives for Druva’s Data Security Cloud. My work is a perfect blend of all the things I have grown to love, and it all points towards one overarching objective – delivering amazing digital customer experiences!
The Past
I hold a bachelors degree in Information Technology from the University of Pune and a masters degree in Information Management (specializing in analytics and strategy) from the University of Maryland.
I started my career as a software developer, but soon realized that while I was good at it, the prospect of coding for a living wasn’t something I was excited by. What I was truly passionate about was solving business problems with data. That passion was soon nurtured in Las Vegas of all places (I know!). After finishing with grad school in 2017, I moved to Vegas and started working as a digital analyst at MGM Resorts International, a $19 billion casino giant.
My work involved analyzing user data on our digital assets (websites and apps), in turn providing insights and recommendations to our leadership and product teams. Not only was I finally doing what I have always wanted to, but I was doing it at scale. My work was impacting millions of MGM customers around the world.
While I was helping product managers make data-driven decisions, I was starting to get fascinated by how customer-centric their role was. I often found myself getting into the customer’s shoes and that completely changed my outlook towards the work I was doing. I soon got the right mentors, did a Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) certification and also completed an 8 week intensive course with Product School. I was right, product was fun.
SEO at MGM kind of fell in my lap and I’m glad it did. For over a year, I was the only SEO resource working on the 15+ sites we operated. I had had very little experience in this area before and the stakes at MGM were way too high. But it all worked out in the end. Not only did I get better at SEO but MGM’s organic traffic and revenue numbers grew year-over-year. SEO was my first step towards growth. I later led the overall digital growth strategy at MGM, working closely with product, design, engineering, media and marketing to drive incremental traffic, customer and revenue growth.
That completes the trifecta – passion got me into analytics, fascination got me into product and luck got me into growth!
I moved back to India in 2020 and after a brief independent consulting stint, joined Nabler – a digital analytics consulting firm. I then led the Customer Experience and Conversion Rate Optimization practice there, directly managing a team of digital analytics consultants across multiple accounts. I grew this team from 3 to 7, establishing a high-performing unit with diverse skillsets.
Testimonials
“From the moment I first interviewed him, Rohan has never ceased to amaze me in his curiosity, attention to details, and passion for Product & Analytics. I have seen Rohan grow from being a business analyst to driving the growth strategy and search analytics at MGM Resorts International, all the while maintaining a cool and gracious energy that made him great to work with. His ability to take on a challenge with initiative, a customer experience focus, and clear results, made him a great asset to the team; and ultimately a great friend!”
Sylvester Obafunwa
Former Director of Digital Analytics
MGM Resorts International
“Digital transformation can be challenging at almost any size of company but working with strong strategists like Rohan makes the process objectively better. In my experiences working with Rohan at MGM Resorts International, I found him to be proactive and trustworthy to provide key insights related to SEO and increasing conversion opportunities. Rohan analyzed complex data patterns and presented them in clear formats that could be utilized by teams deep in code as well as those driving the strategies. Using data and science (as well as a touch of art) to support his reviews, Rohan empowered our organization to maintain high levels of digital success across numerous channels, including web and social media. Working directly with Rohan, I found his work to be accurate, effective, and he was very personable.”
Ben Hubble
Executive Director of Marketing Technology Development
MGM Resorts International
Blog
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- Attribution ModelingCustomer journeys today are not straightforward. For your digital marketing efforts to be truly successful, you need to nurture every single stage […]
- 3 UX Lessons from rohankhadilkar.comWhat I learnt from watching 30+ user sessions on my site. I have always had Google Analytics on my site. While it has been […]