# Matthew Panzarino ## Experience and skills I build AI tools, shape products and lead content and marketing teams. I’m pursuing senior AI/product or content/marketing leadership across industries, with particular interest in roles that combine them. At GrowthX, I built AI tools and evaluation frameworks, wrote product communication and worked directly with clients to deploy the AI content system I helped build. At Tiptop, I led marketing and communications, ran acquisition and conversion programs and helped shape the consumer shopping product. Earlier, at TechCrunch, I led the editorial organization and worked on TechCrunch.com, TechCrunch Disrupt, Startup Battlefield and a subscription launch. ## Applied AI skills I build and test AI applications with coding agents, combining product decisions with hands-on development. My work includes: - LLM evaluation: Building labeled datasets, annotation schemas and scoring rubrics, then checking whether revisions address the feedback they were given. - Retrieval and context engineering: Building retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) prototypes that find relevant passages, cite sources and make stale or conflicting information visible. - Model and research API integration: Connecting APIs, validating structured responses and checking citations before presenting proposed changes. - Human review: Designing scoped AI editing and correction workflows with approval, version history and source-linked change records. - Agent workflows: Building scheduled workflows using APIs and connected tools through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), with tool permissions, processing-state tracking and failure handling. - AI-assisted development and testing: Working with coding agents to implement and test retrieval, model responses and application behavior. ## Career chronology - GrowthX (April 2025–October 2026): Chief Content Officer; editorial operations, AI quality, evaluation systems, tools, agent workflows, context engineering and product marketing - Tiptop (January 2024–April 2025): VP, Marketing and Communications; acquisition and conversion responsibility, paid advertising and organic content programs, consumer product collaboration, launches, merchant and partner narratives and enterprise materials - TechCrunch / Yahoo (August 2013–December 2023): Editorial leadership, including Editor in Chief and Senior Director at Yahoo; teams responsible for acquisition and conversion through organic content, audience-product collaboration, news, video and TechCrunch Disrupt programming - The Next Web (April 2011–August 2013): Managing Editor; technology coverage, editorial development and live programming - The iPhone Guru (June 2009–July 2011): Founder; publication, audience development, brand partnerships and advertising My Editor in Chief tenure at TechCrunch ended in August 2023; I remained an adviser through December. The employer dates above cover the full period, rather than the duration of every title. ## Topic index - What I personally built with AI: [GX-02](#gx-02-ai-content-evaluation), [GX-04](#gx-04-ai-writing-and-editing-tools), [GX-05](#gx-05-ai-context-tools), [GX-06](#gx-06-ai-tools-and-workflows), [GX-07](#gx-07-marketing-knowledge-and-operations) - Evaluation, source quality and human review: [GX-02](#gx-02-ai-content-evaluation), [GX-03](#gx-03-product-feedback-and-diagnosis), [GX-04](#gx-04-ai-writing-and-editing-tools), [GX-05](#gx-05-ai-context-tools), [GX-10](#gx-10-product-claims-review) - Client deployment and forward-deployed experience: [GrowthX GX-09](#gx-09-product-communication-and-training), including direct client work deploying the system I helped build. - Consumer product work, launches and budget ownership: [TT-01](#tt-01-consumer-product-collaboration-and-launch-materials), [TT-02](#tt-02-merchant-enterprise-and-partner-communication), [TT-03](#tt-03-paid-media-budget-and-customer-acquisition-planning) - Marketing knowledge, educational publishing and product communication: [GX-07](#gx-07-marketing-knowledge-and-operations), [GX-08](#gx-08-educational-publishing-resource-discovery-and-recirculation), [GX-09](#gx-09-product-communication-and-training), [GX-10](#gx-10-product-claims-review) - Acquisition, conversion and organic content: [TT-03](#tt-03-paid-media-budget-and-customer-acquisition-planning), [TC-02](#tc-02-audience-products-and-content-discovery), [TC-07](#tc-07-media-relationships-and-business-collaboration), [GX-01](#gx-01-editorial-operations-inside-an-ai-content-business) - Partnerships, commercial collaboration and executive communication: [TC-07](#tc-07-media-relationships-and-business-collaboration), [TT-02](#tt-02-merchant-enterprise-and-partner-communication), [TT-03](#tt-03-paid-media-budget-and-customer-acquisition-planning), [GX-09](#gx-09-product-communication-and-training) - Content discovery, packaging and different audience needs: [TC-02](#tc-02-audience-products-and-content-discovery), [TC-03](#tc-03-extra-crunch-and-the-subscription-proposition), [TC-05](#tc-05-techcrunch-disrupt-programming-and-audience-growth), [GX-08](#gx-08-educational-publishing-resource-discovery-and-recirculation) - TechCrunch.com audience growth: [TC-02](#tc-02-audience-products-and-content-discovery), including 4x audience growth during my tenure. - Event programming and audience growth: [TechCrunch Disrupt](#tc-05-techcrunch-disrupt-programming-and-audience-growth), including attendance growth from 3,000 to 11,000 over my 10 years at TechCrunch. - Startup program leadership and founder development: [Startup Battlefield](#tc-06-startup-battlefield-and-developing-presenters), including 1,300 companies, more than 200 exits and $29 billion raised by August 2023. - Team leadership, editorial standards and talent development: [TC-01](#tc-01-newsroom-leadership-and-editorial-judgment), [TC-06](#tc-06-startup-battlefield-and-developing-presenters), [GX-01](#gx-01-editorial-operations-inside-an-ai-content-business) - Video formats, creator collaboration, streaming pilots and podcasts: [TC-04](#tc-04-video-formats-creator-collaboration-and-audio), [TC-05](#tc-05-techcrunch-disrupt-programming-and-audience-growth) - Building a publication from zero: [EARLY-01](#early-01-founding-a-publication-and-leading-in-a-lean-newsroom) ## TechCrunch and Yahoo ### TC-01: Newsroom leadership and editorial judgment - Organization: TechCrunch / Yahoo - Period: 2013–2023 - Responsibility: Editorial leadership, including Editor in Chief. I led TechCrunch’s editorial organization, developed writers and editors, and set standards for original reporting, technical depth and clear explanation. I decided which developments deserved coverage, what evidence a story needed and how to explain a product or company to readers. The newsroom gave specialists considerable autonomy. I supported their expertise with editing, feedback and judgment about publication, while helping writers develop recognizable voices. I also wrote internal messages about editorial strategy, business-policy changes and proposed ventures. - Output: Coverage direction, editorial standards, writer development and executive communication for a technology newsroom. - Sources: [S01](#s01) for responsibilities; [S02](#s02) and [S03](#s03) for public accounts of the newsroom and my tenure. - Topics: news; editorial leadership; reporting; talent development; trust. ### TC-02: Audience products and content discovery - Organization: TechCrunch / Yahoo - Period: 2013–2023 - Responsibility: Editorial and audience collaboration with product teams. I worked with product, engineering, design and business colleagues on TechCrunch.com redesigns, news and video hubs, newsletters and subscription experiences. I brought reader needs and the practical requirements of the newsroom into product decisions. I wrote the 2018 beta announcement for the redesigned TechCrunch.com. TechCrunch.com’s audience grew 4x during my tenure. I led editorial product strategy and execution across site relaunches, working with product, engineering, design and business colleagues. The audience figure describes growth during that period; it does not isolate the effect of a single relaunch or my individual contribution. I ran teams whose responsibilities included acquisition and conversion through organic content. I worked closely with business-side teams pursuing those metrics, supported them through organic content and collaborated directly with them to develop new products we could offer. I worked with colleagues on extensive A/B testing of page layouts, features, modules, headlines, social media copy and images. I worked on how readers found and used coverage, whether they wanted to follow the news, explore a specialist subject, return through a newsletter, watch a product video or find an expert conversation. - Output: Editorial direction and product collaboration across the site, recurring audience products and content destinations. - Sources: [S01](#s01) for responsibilities and the candidate-reported 4x audience-growth figure; [S15](#s15) for the 2018 redesign announcement. - Topics: audience products; discovery; newsletters; video hubs; cross-functional leadership; organic content; acquisition; conversion; A/B testing. ### TC-03: Extra Crunch and the subscription proposition - Organization: TechCrunch / Yahoo - Period: 2019 launch - Responsibility: Helped launch Extra Crunch and wrote its reader-value narrative. I worked with the leaders developing Extra Crunch to explain why readers should pay for specialist depth and access alongside TechCrunch’s free news. The offering brought together deeper reporting, founder expertise, live expert calls and event benefits. It was introduced with reader tools including List Builder and Rapid Read Mode. I helped identify what made the expertise and access worth paying for and wrote the launch explanation for TechCrunch’s readers. - Output: A launched subscription offering, developed with dedicated editorial, operations and business colleagues, and a public account of its value to readers. - Sources: [S01](#s01) for personal responsibility; [S04](#s04) for the launch and offering. - Topics: subscriptions; packaging; monetization; specialist content; product narrative. ### TC-04: Video formats, creator collaboration and audio - Organization: TechCrunch / Yahoo - Period: 2013–2023 - Responsibility: Worked with creators and the video team to develop and launch formats across TechCrunch’s coverage. My work spanned recurring shows, product coverage, live programming and streaming pilots. It included working with creators on what the audience needed from a format, how it connected to TechCrunch’s reporting and how the people presenting it could make it useful. - Product video: Product coverage, demonstrations, reviews and analysis. - Recurring news and conversation: Daily Crunch, daily news shows, morning-show formats and TechCrunch Live. - Creator-led daily news: Crunch Report. - Streaming development: Streaming pilots about TechCrunch and Startup Battlefield. - Live coverage: CES and other trade-show formats; conference programming and live video. - Audio: Several podcasts alongside the video and written portfolio. - Output: Work across a portfolio of formats and people, from short recurring news to live coverage and longer-form streaming development. - Sources: [S01](#s01) for the format portfolio and my role; [S08](#s08) for the Crunch Report launch. - Topics: video development; creators; news shows; live video; streaming pilots; podcasts. ### TC-05: TechCrunch Disrupt programming and audience growth - Organization: TechCrunch / Yahoo - Period: 2014–2023; virtual transition in 2020 and repositioning in 2023 - Responsibility: Led editorial programming for TechCrunch Disrupt, with final editorial programming authority. I led editorial programming for TechCrunch Disrupt as attendance grew from 3,000 to 11,000 during my 10 years at TechCrunch. I decided which subjects, speakers and sessions belonged in the editorial program and how the program served founders, investors and other attendees. I worked with event, product and business colleagues on the wider experience, including startup demonstrations, networking, paid access and sponsor-supported activity. For the 2023 repositioning, I wrote the public narrative for a redesigned event with six specialist stages, a Builder Stage, a curated startup floor and networking. The structure gave people with different interests clear reasons to attend and ways to find relevant programming. In 2020, I helped adapt the editorial program to a five-day virtual event with two stages, live and on-demand video, online networking and new sponsor experiences. I coauthored the announcement with business leader Joey Hinson. - Output: Editorial programming for TechCrunch Disrupt during attendance growth from 3,000 to 11,000 over my decade at TechCrunch; audience propositions and event formats delivered with event and business teams. - Sources: [S01](#s01) for my programming responsibility and the candidate-reported attendance figures; [S05](#s05) and [S06](#s06) for the announced formats. Attendance growth was an organizational outcome. - Topics: programming; audience segmentation; live and on-demand content; commercial collaboration. ### TC-06: Startup Battlefield and developing presenters - Organization: TechCrunch / Yahoo - Period: 2013–2023 - Responsibility: Startup Battlefield program leadership, startup selection, founder coaching and speaker preparation. I led TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield program, working with colleagues on selection and coaching founders on explaining their products, preparing pitches and presenting to judges and a live audience. I evaluated the companies and helped founders explain what they had built and why it mattered. By August 2023, Startup Battlefield had put 1,300 companies through the program, with more than 200 exits and $29 billion raised. These are aggregate program figures, separate from my individual selection, coaching and leadership responsibilities. I also prepared journalists and speakers for live interviews. This required understanding the subject, anticipating questions and helping people communicate clearly while retaining their own voice. - Output: Startup Battlefield program leadership, selection input, founder coaching and prepared presenters; historical program scale of 1,300 companies, more than 200 exits and $29 billion raised by August 2023. - Sources: [S01](#s01) for my responsibilities and the historical aggregate figures; [S16](#s16) for public program context. - Topics: program leadership; talent development; startup evaluation; coaching; programming; communication; alumni fundraising; alumni exits. ### TC-07: Media relationships and business collaboration - Organization: TechCrunch / Yahoo - Period: 2013–2023 - Responsibility: Editorial leadership working across product, events and business teams. I built working relationships with founders, technology executives, communications teams, journalists and event participants. Those relationships supported reporting, access to subjects, speaker preparation and programming. I worked with business and product colleagues on annual planning, audience products and major programs. My contribution centered on a clear editorial and audience proposition that could work alongside subscriptions, paid events and sponsor-supported experiences. I also wrote executive messages and material explaining strategy and proposed ventures. The editorial and business teams worked closely together on acquisition and conversion. I led the organic-content teams supporting those objectives and worked directly with business colleagues on new product offerings. This describes my responsibilities and collaboration; it does not assign all commercial results to me. - Output: Relationships, programming and communication supporting media products with several commercial models. - Sources: [S01](#s01). - Topics: media relationships; partnerships; executive communication; planning; monetization. ## Tiptop ### TT-01: Consumer product collaboration and launch materials - Organization: Tiptop - Period: January 2024–April 2025 - Responsibility: VP, Marketing and Communications; product collaboration and product language. I helped shape the shopping cart and app experience with the product team and wrote nearly all product and marketing copy. The product combined purchases, trade-ins and cash in a shopping transaction. My work included explaining what a shopper could trade in, how that affected a purchase and what happened at checkout. I used LaunchDarkly with the Tiptop team for extensive A/B testing across the app and shopping cart, including behavior, features, copy and interface elements, with a focus on checkouts and conversion. I wrote consumer messaging and launch materials explaining the product flow, including Tiptop Shop and trade-in at checkout. - Output: Contributions to the cart and app experience, product copy, consumer narratives and launch materials for a new shopping proposition. - Sources: [S01](#s01) for responsibilities; [S09](#s09) for published product and launch coverage. - Topics: consumer product; checkout; product writing; zero-to-one; launches; LaunchDarkly; A/B testing; conversion. ### TT-02: Merchant, enterprise and partner communication - Organization: Tiptop - Period: January 2024–April 2025 - Responsibility: Marketing and communications for merchant, enterprise and partner audiences. I developed the merchant narrative, enterprise and partner pitches, direct outreach, partner co-marketing materials and executive talk tracks for appearances, trade shows and podcasts. Shoppers needed to understand the transaction. Merchants and prospective partners needed to understand the commercial proposition and how it would fit into an existing customer experience. I built materials for each audience around consistent product facts, adjusting the detail and emphasis. - Output: Partner-facing and enterprise materials, co-marketing copy and prepared executive communication. - Sources: [S01](#s01) for responsibilities; [S09](#s09) for public product context. - Topics: partnerships; merchant products; enterprise communication; co-marketing; executive preparation. ### TT-03: Paid-media budget and customer-acquisition planning - Organization: Tiptop - Period: January 2024–April 2025 - Responsibility: Acquisition and conversion, including paid advertising and organic content programs and ownership of the multi-platform paid advertising budget. I was responsible for acquisition and conversion at Tiptop, where I ran paid advertising and organic content programs. I owned the paid-media budget and developed customer-acquisition campaign proposals. I also prepared executive research and market material to connect what we knew about customers and the product with ways to reach them. Launch communication included consumer explanations, marketing copy and media coordination. My journalism experience helped me anticipate what an outside reader or reporter would need to understand and evaluate an unfamiliar product. - Output: Paid advertising and organic content programs, budget decisions, acquisition proposals, research and launch communication. - Sources: [S01](#s01). - Topics: budget ownership; customer acquisition; conversion; paid advertising; organic content; market research; launches; communications. ## GrowthX The [GrowthX website](https://growthx.ai/) and [product tour](https://growthx.ai/product-tour) provide public context for the AI content platform I helped build. The [Learn library](https://growthx.ai/learn), [Resource Hub](https://growthx.ai/resources) and [product announcements](https://growthx.ai/blog/introducing-strategy-question-map) show public examples of educational publishing and product communication. My contributions are described at a broad professional level below. ### GX-01: Editorial operations inside an AI content business - Organization: GrowthX - Period: April 2025–October 2026 - Responsibility: Chief Content Officer; editorial operations, followed by increasing focus on AI quality, product and tooling. I led editorial operations, developed quality standards and shaped the practices teams used to review and deliver content. Problems in a draft could also point to something that needed to change in the product or workflow. I worked with colleagues to turn those problems into clearer standards and practical improvements. I later focused increasingly on building AI tools and evaluation frameworks, working with product and engineering, and preparing people to use the product. My responsibilities connected editorial operations with hands-on tool development, customer implementation and product communication. GrowthX’s business focuses on organic content and its role in the funnel and conversion. That commercial context informed my editorial, quality and tooling work. - Output: Editorial standards and delivery practices, evaluation frameworks, AI tools and product communication. - Sources: [S01](#s01) for my responsibilities; [S10](#s10) and [S11](#s11) for public platform context. - Topics: editorial operations; team leadership; AI product work; quality; organic content; funnel; conversion. ### GX-02: AI content evaluation - Organization: GrowthX - Period: 2025–2026 - Responsibility: Built content evaluation frameworks for AI writing. I built evaluation frameworks that translated editorial judgment into standards people and AI systems could use. I worked with examples of writing and editorial feedback to describe what needed to improve, including the substance of a piece, the support for its claims, its organization and its suitability for the intended audience. I partnered with engineers to turn those judgments into product requirements and evaluation behavior. This work connected hands-on editing with AI product development, making feedback specific enough to guide a revision and assess whether the resulting writing addressed the problem. - Output: Content evaluation frameworks, editorial quality standards and requirements developed with engineers. - Sources: [S01](#s01) for my work; [S11](#s11) for public product context on grading and editorial review. - Topics: evaluations; editorial quality; engineering collaboration. ### GX-03: Product feedback and diagnosis - Organization: GrowthX - Period: 2025–2026 - Responsibility: Investigated quality issues and translated editorial feedback into product work. I used the content platform directly and investigated problems in the writing and review experience. I documented examples, made issues reproducible and translated editorial feedback into requirements engineers could act on. My contribution included explaining the expected behavior and why the result fell short for the person trying to use it. I worked with the relevant teams on remediation, connecting the problem visible in a piece of content to the product or workflow change it called for. That required moving between editorial review, user needs and engineering discussion. - Output: Documented examples, reproducible quality issues, product requirements and remediation work. - Sources: [S01](#s01) for my responsibilities; [S11](#s11) for public product context on editorial feedback. - Topics: product diagnosis; feedback; quality; collaboration. ### GX-04: AI writing and editing tools - Organization: GrowthX - Period: 2026 - Responsibility: Built AI writing and editing tools. I built a writing room for collaborative AI-assisted writing and editing. I worked on how a person could review a draft, request a focused change and continue editing with AI assistance. Direct use informed decisions about the editing experience and how much of the text a revision should affect. I also worked on scoped editing and review workflows. The work combined editorial judgment with hands-on development and product decisions about how writers and reviewers interact with an AI tool. - Output: A collaborative AI writing and editing prototype, plus scoped editing and review experiments. - Sources: [S01](#s01). - Topics: direct building; AI tools; writing; editing. ### GX-05: AI context tools - Organization: GrowthX - Period: 2026 - Responsibility: Built tools supporting the context used in AI work. I built tools to help people review and improve the context supplied to AI systems. The work addressed practical questions about whether the system had the right information, where that information came from and what a person needed to correct before relying on it. I explored how to make stale or conflicting information easier to recognize and how to support human review and correction. My contribution combined context engineering with product work on the visibility and usability of the information an AI system draws on. - Output: A context-review prototype supporting source visibility, identification of stale or conflicting information and human correction. - Sources: [S01](#s01). - Topics: direct building; context engineering; AI quality. ### GX-06: AI tools and workflows - Organization: GrowthX - Period: 2025–2026 - Responsibility: Built tools and AI-assisted workflows, working with engineers and coding agents. I built operational tools and AI-assisted workflows for editorial work, training and assessment. I investigated what people needed to do, defined the expected behavior and directed implementation with coding agents. I then used the results and refined them around the practical requirements of the task. This included turning editorial and operational needs into working tools, with collaboration from engineers where needed. My role covered defining the problem, making product decisions and participating directly in development and iteration. - Output: Operational tools, editorial training and assessment workflows, and coding-agent-assisted implementations. - Sources: [S01](#s01). - Topics: direct building; agent workflows; user needs; coding agents. ### GX-07: Marketing knowledge and operations - Organization: GrowthX - Period: 2026 - Responsibility: Created and maintained marketing knowledge resources. I built and maintained a marketing knowledge repository that brought together positioning, audience descriptions, brand guidance and product messaging. I organized reusable sales and launch materials so people could find relevant information and use it in their work. The repository also supported AI-assisted work. I maintained the underlying material as product and messaging needs changed, connecting knowledge management with the practical demands of writing, launches and enterprise communication. - Output: A maintained marketing knowledge repository covering positioning, audiences, brand guidance, product messaging and reusable materials. - Sources: [S01](#s01). - Topics: marketing operations; knowledge management; AI-assisted work. ### GX-08: Educational publishing, resource discovery and recirculation - Organization: GrowthX - Period: 2026 - Responsibility: Built and maintained educational content and worked on its discovery experience. I built and maintained educational content and worked on how readers discovered relevant material across topics and formats. I organized topic-based hubs and related guides, updated existing content and maintained citations and internal links. The work combined editorial development with decisions about how the library should be organized. I also worked on the information architecture for a public Resource Hub. I considered how someone arriving at one resource could find related material and continue exploring a subject, connecting individual pieces of content to the wider publishing experience. - Output: Educational content, topic-based resource organization, citation and link maintenance, and public Resource Hub information architecture. - Sources: [S01](#s01) for my responsibilities; [S12](#s12) and [S13](#s13) for the public Resource Hub and Learn library. - Topics: educational publishing; content discovery; information architecture. ### GX-09: Product communication and training - Organization: GrowthX - Period: 2025–2026 - Responsibility: Worked directly with clients to deploy the AI content system I helped build; wrote product and enterprise communication and developed launch and training materials. I worked directly with clients to deploy the AI content system I helped build at GrowthX. This was forward-deployed implementation work within my Chief Content Officer role, alongside my contributions to the product, editorial standards and supporting tools. I developed enterprise pitches, tailored platform demonstrations and materials for customer planning, renewals and expansion discussions. I demonstrated the product to enterprise customers and created recorded training and launch materials. I also wrote public product copy and release communication, adjusting the explanation for the audience and the readiness of the capability being described. - Output: Direct client deployment work, tailored enterprise demonstrations, pitches, customer materials, recorded training and release communication. - Sources: [S01](#s01) for client deployment and communication responsibilities; [S10](#s10), [S11](#s11) and [S14](#s14) for public company product presentation and release communication. - Topics: forward-deployed experience; client implementation; deployment; product marketing; enterprise communication; demonstrations; training. ### GX-10: Product claims review - Organization: GrowthX - Period: 2026 - Responsibility: Reviewed product and marketing material for accuracy. I reviewed product and marketing material against available evidence about what the product could do and what was ready for customers to use. I identified unsupported or outdated statements and corrected claims that went beyond the demonstrated capability or rollout status. I also reviewed competitive comparisons and related collateral for accuracy and consistency. My role included checking and correcting existing material, with attention to whether the wording gave customers an accurate understanding of the product. - Output: Corrected product claims, reviewed competitive comparisons and more accurate product and marketing collateral. - Sources: [S01](#s01). - Topics: claim verification; accuracy; product communication. ## Earlier experience ### EARLY-01: Founding a publication and leading in a lean newsroom - Organization: The iPhone Guru; The Next Web - Period: June 2009–July 2011; April 2011–August 2013 - Responsibility: Founder; Managing Editor. I founded The iPhone Guru around the emerging App Store and iOS ecosystem. I wrote and published its coverage, grew it to 250,000 monthly unique visitors, and secured brand partnerships and programmatic advertising. At The Next Web, I worked on technology coverage, editorial development and live programming in a lean organization competing with larger publications. - Output: An independently built publication with an audience and advertising relationships, followed by newsroom management experience before joining TechCrunch. - Sources: [S01](#s01). - Topics: zero-to-one; audience development; publishing; partnerships; advertising; editorial management. ## Current career interests I’m pursuing senior leadership roles in AI/product and in content/marketing. I would take either kind of role under the right conditions. Roles that combine the two are especially appealing because they draw on more of my experience. In AI and product, I’m interested in AI applications, agents, writing and creative tools, workflow products, evaluation and quality, and AI strategy and deployment. Roles could include chief product officer (CPO), VP of product, head of product, head of AI products and comparable senior product or AI strategy leadership. I want responsibility for deciding what to build, working with engineers and users to shape it, and getting it into use. My experience includes hands-on building, developing evaluation frameworks and working directly with clients to deploy the AI content system I helped build. In content and marketing, I’m interested in leading strategy, teams and operations, with responsibility for product positioning and communication, educational content, acquisition and conversion, or partner and enterprise communication. Roles could include chief marketing officer (CMO), VP of marketing, chief content officer, VP of content and comparable senior leadership. I’m open to these roles at companies outside AI and without a product remit. I’m not seeking journalism or newsroom leadership roles. My interests span industries and extend beyond media. ## Additional technical projects ### Model router I built a Python tool that selects a model based on the requirements and risk of a request. I created labeled evaluation cases and a test harness to compare routing decisions, tune thresholds and examine latency and modeled cost. The tool returns a routing decision for another application to use. [GitHub](https://github.com/its-panzer/jev-model-router) ### Skilltree I built a local-first skills library and MCP server that lets agents discover and retrieve reusable instructions. It combines a browsing interface with model-assisted routing, confidence gates and an activity history. I worked on the model integration, typed tools and resources, and tests for routing and failure handling. [GitHub](https://github.com/its-panzer/skilltree) ### Byline I built a personal AI writing pipeline that moves from a brief through an outline, draft, quality review and revision. I developed voice guidance from my published writing, added structured evaluation results and per-step model traces, and kept outline approval and publishing under human control. Byline is a local prototype. ## References ### S01 - Reference: My first-person account of my responsibilities, employment dates and selected projects. - Scope: Personal responsibilities and career outcomes are described from my experience. Public sources provide product and program context. ### S02 - Reference: [10 years at TechCrunch — August 28, 2023](https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/28/10-years-at-techcrunch/) - Supports: Public retrospective and leadership transition ### S03 - Reference: [So long, TechCrunch — July 20, 2020](https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/20/so-long-techcrunch/) - Supports: Public context on the newsroom and editorial leadership ### S04 - Reference: [Announcing Extra Crunch — February 12, 2019](https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/12/announcing-extra-crunch/) - Supports: Subscription launch and announced reader proposition ### S05 - Reference: [Disrupt 2023: We’re shipping a big new release — March 27, 2023](https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/27/disrupt-2023-were-shipping-a-big-new-release/) - Supports: Specialist stages and the redesigned event proposition ### S06 - Reference: [TechCrunch Disrupt 2020 is going virtual — May 21, 2020](https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/21/techcrunch-disrupt-2020-is-going-virtual/) - Supports: Virtual-event format, live and on-demand access and coauthored announcement ### S08 - Reference: [Crunch Report launch announcement](https://techcrunch.com/video/crunch-report-launches-next-monday/) - Supports: The named daily-video format; its original launch was in March 2015 ### S09 - References: [TechCrunch (March 2024)](https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/15/tiptop-shop-device-trade-in/); [MacRumors (July 2024)](https://www.macrumors.com/2024/07/03/tiptop-instant-trade-in-credit-for-apple-products/) - Source type: Published reporting - Supports: Public product and launch context for the shopping and merchant checkout proposition. ### S10 - Reference: [GrowthX public website](https://growthx.ai/) - Source type: Public company product and communications material - Supports: Customer-facing positioning for the platform I helped build, including business context, agent-assisted content workflows, grading and measurement. ### S11 - Reference: [GrowthX product tour](https://growthx.ai/product-tour) - Source type: Public company product material - Supports: The public platform experience across strategy, contextual briefs and drafts, editorial feedback, grading, publishing and insights. ### S12 - Reference: [GrowthX Resource Hub](https://growthx.ai/resources) - Source type: Public company publishing destination - Supports: A public destination spanning guides, videos, events, customer stories and learning paths, with browsing by format. ### S13 - Reference: [GrowthX Learn](https://growthx.ai/learn) - Source type: Public company educational library - Supports: Topic-organized educational publishing across AI search, content operations, content strategy, measurement and AI-led growth. ### S14 - Reference: [New at GrowthX: the Strategy layer and Question Map — October 12, 2026](https://growthx.ai/blog/introducing-strategy-question-map) - Source type: Public company release communication - Supports: A public example of explaining the product’s question-based strategy, prioritization and content workflow to customers. The published byline is Marcel Santilli. ### S15 - Reference: [TechCrunch.com redesign beta (2018)](https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/27/new-new-new-techcrunch/) - Supports: Public product announcement I wrote. ### S16 - Reference: [Startup Battlefield 200 announcement (September 2022)](https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/19/announcing-the-startup-battlefield-200-at-techcrunch-disrupt/) - Supports: Public program and cohort context. ## Additional public appearances - [TC AppleCast: Apple-event video discussion](https://techcrunch.com/2015/03/10/tc-applecast-8-our-video-recap-of-the-apple-event/) - [Engaging the audience with The New York Times](https://techcrunch.com/video/engaging-the-audience-with-the-new-york-times/) - [Goals vs. tactics with Marc Andreessen](https://techcrunch.com/video/goals-vs-tactics-with-a16zs-marc-andreessen/)