Naomi Bianca Fitzgerald Head of Product, &Open

Company

&Open is transforming corporate gifting. All companies are gifting, whether it is internally or externally, they are gifting because businesses are powered by people and those relationships need to be nurtured. &Open is pulling corporate gifting out of soulless excel docs to make it human, easy, and joyful for all involved.  They focus on delivering a wonderful experience across the gifting process in design, sustainability, sourcing and meaning.

&Open has built a beautifully designed platform that provides the Sender, Recipient and Vendor with an exceptional experience that drives differentiation, loyalty, and real relationships. With customers including Airbnb, Spotify, Peloton, Intercom etc. the business is growing rapidly as the market continues to expand.

Having announced a Series A funding of $26M (total raised over $33M) in a round led by Molten Ventures and continued investment from First Round Capital and LocalGlobe, they are expanding their product and engineering teams significantly.  This is starting with the appointment of a Chief Product Officer.

They have raised Series A funding of $26M (total raised over $33M) in a round led by Molten Ventures and continued investment from First Round Capital and LocalGlobe.

Search Background

As &Open continued to scale rapidly, there was a clear need to bring in a Head of Product who would be responsible for delivering a delightful experience that inspires each user. This leader would work with the founders to crystalize and communicate the product vision and roadmap to get there. They would lead operational excellence and rapid execution across product management showing exceptional people management capabilities and a passion for mentoring.

Requirements

The successful candidate would be the first product leader in the company to work closely with the Founders to compliment and execute the strategic vision, roadmap, and design of the product – focused on the creation of an exceptional gifting experience for all parties. They would have demonstrated an ability to scale product and tech operations in a rapid-growth environment whilst demonstrating an obsession for the user experience that would promote repeat experiences across the platform. They would have ideally had experience in consumer marketplace technology companies. There was a need to provide a diverse shortlist of candidates for this role to ensure &Open continue to build as well-rounded a team as possible.

Result

Erevena conducted a European-wide search prioritizing Product leaders who are exceptionally design-led in their thinking and prioritise the human experience. This led to the introduction of Naomi Bianca Fitzgerald, who brings a wealth of experience building human-centred experiences at tier-1 software businesses Typeform and Intercom.