David Kao

David Kao is a cross-disciplinary strategist, product manager, and marketer. His ability to apply design thinking along with his sharp eye for the details of design allows him to solve complex problems at the intersection between digital products and user experience. His curiosity with the relationship between humans and products led him to hold a number of roles with companies as diverse as CO OP Brand Partners, Louis Vuitton, and Hermès.

Fixated on digital technology, he has been exploring the application of human-centered design with technology to solve problems at Beyond, Firefly, Fever, L+R, and Fueled.

David studied at Parsons The New School for Design obtaining a BBA in Strategic Design and Management. In addition, he has guest lectured for undergraduate and graduate courses at Parsons The New School for Design.

I’m currently a Product Manager at Adobe.

Oversaw 7 key accounts and was responsible for more than 12% of Beyond NY's revenue. Managed over 15+ projects from initial concept through release with clients spanning across Google (AdSense, DoubleClick, YouTube, Google Policy, Cloud), Gap (People, Retail), Dow Jones Media Group (Mansion Global, WSJ Innovation), Conservation International (non-profit) and more. Managed concept to launch of a mobile hub on Think With Google with a series of tools that allows marketers to calculate and improve their mobile site speed. Increased operational efficiency and grew the account by 400% in total revenue gain. Joint-established Beyond's human-centric service for innovation with the Director of Technology and Director of Experience Design to help clients identify growth opportunities and develop business cases. Facilitated and led Design Thinking and ideation sessions for clients including Gap, New York Life, Protegrity, and Dow Jones Media Group.

Cofounded Firefly, a location-based social network allowing you to connect and discover people nearby. Created and developed the brand strategy, positioning, identity, and go-to-market strategy. Led user acquisition for our launch strategy with zero budget and grew our signup list to over 2000 signups and over 1000 followers on Instagram. Acquired over 1000 individuals to become featured users with a combined social reach of 10M followers by identifying influencers across nine different categories ranging from lifestyle bloggers, photographers, and designers.

I’ve consulted for L+R on an ongoing basis in the past as a product strategist on mobile and web projects. Created product visions, user-flows, lo-fidelity wireframes, and developed feature sets. Conducted user experience research, market analysis, and competitive analysis.

I joined Fever during their Series Seed stage heading up product marketing in their NYC Office. Leading a team of four, I developed the NYC marketing plan, led strategy and execution for customer acquisition through online, offline, and partnership channels leading to a 25% growth. Spearhead and managed cost, scheduling, hiring, and performance for the 100 person brand ambassador program. Developed operational tools to measure project financials, KPIs, and management reports.

Led strategy and brainstorming on product concept with prospective clients at the award winning mobile design and development agency. Owned and operated pipeline of new business leads generating $1M in sales. Helped on special projects within Fueled’s operated co-working space leading to partnerships and events with Google, Twilio, and TriNet.

At Louis Vuitton I worked on the advertising team on national and regional media strategies. Worked closely on media planning with publications such as Vogue, WSJ, NY Times, Esquire, Style.com, Whitewall, and more. Helped spearhead their digital advertising strategy on mobile and tablet.