Ethan Illingworth
I'm a creatively-driven Product person with an pragmatic approach to technological problem solving. I've spent my career building online public goods infrastructure alongside inspiring engineering teams.
Specialised in emergent cryptographic technology helping shift the web to something more; democratic, composable and open source. I offer my skills in product development, service consultation, and strategic advising to projects and teams that follow these principles.✧
Experience
Phi Labs
Product Manager • Jan, 2023 — Present
Core contributor to Archway 
, a permissionless smart contract blockchain that enables sustainable economic models for developers via protocol-level rewards mechanisms.
- Coordinated testing of the protocol prior to a successful mainnet launch with 100+ validators and token airdrop
- Working with dApp teams to bring initial developer cohort on-chain and demonstrate unique use-cases
- Shaping product strategy and supporting valuable integrations
- Member of the community owned Liquidity Council delegating funds to dApps fostering protocol growth
Cudo Ventures
Blockchain Product Manager • May, 2021 — Jan 2023
Built the Cudos Network, a scalable compute platform enabling more efficient use of the world's existing computing resource. An Airbnb two-sided marketplace for compute hardware, accessible on-chain as RWAs.
- Led a cross-functional team to launch a new permissionless Cosmos SDK blockchain utilising Tendermint DPoS consensus with cross-chain interoperability and agnostic smart contract execution
- Includes custom, open-source SDK modules for token management, bridging and and native account-based NFTs built with the ERC721 standard
- Built dApps and tooling to accompany the new chain including; a block explorer, network dashboard, token bridge, a migration assistant, and a smart contract development SDK
- Designed and executed the opt-in user token migration from an existing ERC20 token to a native gas token on the new chain at genesis
Aventus Network Services
Product Manager • Dec, 2020 — May, 2021
Built the Aventus Network, a scalable, enterprise-grade, Proof of Stake layer-2 for Ethereum.
- Built and launched a secure, open-source enterprise blockchain platform using Polkadot's Substrate SDK in their parachain ecosystem
- Coordinating and scaling an interdisciplinary development team to ensure product success on deadlines for target go-to market
- The Aventus Network has over 8 million users and is trusted to hold several $million worth of cryptographic token assets
Artos Systems
Product Manager • Dec, 2019 — Nov, 2020
Product Manager at Artos Systems - the Bridge to Blockchain®, working on open-source B2B2C products in the cashback rewards sector.
- Worked with a team designing and building Vow's
stablecoin issuance platform - Responsible for stakeholder management and effective communication throughout the company, to ensure both external clients and internal senior stakeholders are in line with product direction and development progress
- Building complex, open-source technology based on client requirements elicitation to ensure product reusability across various business verticals
- Designed and implemented a RESTful API and back-end microservice infastructure from the ground-up to simplify interaction with complex blockchain interfaces
- Awarded Artos Employee of the Year 🏆 and promoted internally
Product Owner • Jun, 2018 — Dec, 2019
Scrum certified Product Owner for several development teams across front-end, back-end and blockchain specializations.
- Conducting qualatative and quantative analysis via user research and market landscape insight to make business-critical prioritization decisions
- Built the original Aventus Protocol; an open-source, Ethereum-based protocol to support a new NFT smart ticketing standard for live events
- Project involved complex product design incorporating; game theory, cryptography, governance and implementation of zero-knowledge proofs against the limitations of traditional smart contracts
WhoSampled
Digital Product & Content Manager • Jun, 2015 — May, 2018
Designed and delivered new features to WhoSampled.com and the associated suite of applications.
- Oversaw various digital products for the online music discovery service with over 10.7 million monthly page views from 2.7 million unique visitors, across all major platforms (Web, Mobile, native iOS & Android)
- Harnessed quantative analytical data and qualitative user feedback to increase traffic by engaging new users with 125% year on year growth
Projects
Bronze
Advisor • 2019
Web3 consulting for Bronze, working on intelligent generative audio files and new creative tools for contemporary composition.
HQI
Resident • 2018
Resident at HQI, an independent, artist-run non-profit providing free studio facilities to visual and recording artists based in London.
Diary, She Wrote
Recording Engineer, Composer • 2018 — 2020
Diary, She Wrote was a Top 5 Apple podcast about the complexities of sex, dating & coping with grief. I facilitated the podcast recordings and engineered each session, then whilst working alongside the creator, helped turn these recordings into a fully packaged first series. I also contributed by writing musical interludes and the main theme.
Guru Meditation
Founder & Label Manager • 2017 — 2018
Guru Meditation is an electronic music label tracing connections between computer electronics and therapeutic compositions. This solo project allowed me to explore a broad range of skills including; A&R, graphic design, vinyl production, web development, marketing, event coordination & promotion.
Education
GA Product Management
General Assembly • 2020
Certified Scrum Product Owner®
Scrum Alliance • 2018
BSc (Hons) Music & Sound Technology 2:1
University of Portsmouth • 2009-2012
Skills
Strategic Planning
Working with software engineers and start-up companies to orient teams around delivering value quickly and defining a roadmap based on finding product-market fit and the technical dependencies of blockchain software development.
Agile Methodologies & Scrum
Adopting agile frameworks to plan and monitor product development with constant iteration on ideas based on stakeholder feedback. I've guided complex projects to completion on time, within scope, and on budget.
Facilitating sprint planning, daily scrums, brainstorming sessions, stakeholder updates, and software demonstrations as a Product function across several scrum teams.
Technical Toolbox
Figma, GitHub, Jira, Linear, Confluence, Sketch, Notion, Discord, Asana, Monday, Trello, Postman, Sheets/Excel, G Analytics, Blender, Omnigraffle, Logic Pro, Audacity
Developer Skills
HTML, CSS, Javascript, Python, Bash, Markdown, (basic) Solidity, (basic) Rust, (basic) Go
Interests
Social Links
- Github: https://github.com/ethanill
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/ethan_ill
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanillingworth
- ethereum: https://gallery.so/ethanill