Helping teams shape trustworthy systems for the messy world we live in.
I build small, high-ownership teams to ship complex products with taste.
Over the past 20 years I’ve led products for more than 4 million paying users, taken hardware from zero to mass production, and helped transform apps that went on to earn industry recognition.
I’ve lived and worked in 🇬🇧 London, 🇨🇳 Shenzhen, 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, 🇯🇵 Tokyo, and now 🇩🇪 Munich.
Right now I’m hiking, writing, and building tools that help ordinary people navigate complex systems.
🛠 What I’ve built
ExpressVPN: Aircove Wi-Fi routers
ExpressVPN had never shipped a physical product. I led a 20-person cross-functional team through industrial design, vendor selection, regulatory approvals across multiple markets, and mass production to launch Aircove and Aircove Go 0→1.
I made the core product decisions: form factor, packaging, onboarding UX, per-device routing (Device Groups), Threat Manager, parental controls, and pricing strategy. Reported directly to the C-suite and served as media spokesperson (38 tier-one mentions in 2024).
Result: 60% increase in customer lifetime value (+$115/user), 4.5-star Amazon rating. CNET called Aircove “a powerful, intuitive and user friendly piece of hardware that can’t be beat.”
ExpressVPN: Apps and extensions
2017 – 2019 (Hong Kong, Tokyo)
ExpressVPN’s apps (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows) had grown complex and hard to navigate. I led three one-week design sprints, validated solutions through usability testing, and A/B tested the final version with new customers before rolling out to 4M+ users.
I also oversaw the browser extension, growing it to 1.3M+ users with a 4.6-star rating by hardening browser privacy and making VPN status seamlessly accessible.
Result: 15% drop in support tickets, +18-point NPS increase. The Verge named it “the best VPN to use to protect your privacy.”
Gengo: Localisation platform
I then built a translation memory system enabling content reuse across projects, and established the company’s first agile practices and QA function.
Result: 25% faster turnaround, 40% fewer revision requests, 20% content reuse. Retention improved on both sides of the marketplace.
Mapthread: Returning to the code
Product Manager — CNN Travel
Result: 20% increase in monthly active users and 15% lift in returning visitors.
Project Manager — Freeborders
2008 – 2011 (Shenzhen)
Managed developer teams at Freeborders (now Symbio), delivering enterprise application integrations and CMS solutions for international clients.
Senior Associate — Sapient
2005 – 2008 (London, Beijing)
Managed projects at Sapient (now Publicis Sapient) for the NHS, Royal Mail, and O2 across complex, multi-workstream engagements.
🏃🏻➡️ What drives me
I’ve spent my career building consumer trust in invisible, high-stakes systems (ExpressVPN), running high-volume platform thinking at scale (Gengo), and shaping content and brand in consumer experiences (CNN Travel). I care about privacy, craftsmanship, and products that respect the people who use them.
✍🏻 Select writing
- How to keep shipping when the ground shifts beneath you
- Hardware for Software People: What It Takes to Ship a Physical Product
- Where My Judgment Runs Out
- Nobody Wants Your Superapp
- Support isn’t outside the product
For over 20 years I have also been writing articles relating to my passions for culture, design, technology, and travel here on Randomwire.
💬 References
Within weeks he had put in place new processes, much higher quality standards, better, formalized communication and documentation. He did this without ruffling feathers, making enemies or losing the culture.
Founder & CEO
The bare minimum is not a term that exists in David’s dictionary—he always has a vision and strives for perfection, or as close to perfection as he can.
Cynthia Soe
Growth Marketer
He can consistently toe the line between kindness and assertiveness, creating an environment where team members feel valued and empowered.
Content Strategist
It’s rare to find a PM who can seamlessly balance product strategy with design sensibility, and he does it with ease.
Product Designer
He seamlessly bridges engineering, operations, and marketing while keeping communication clear and effective for everyone involved.
Product Marketer
He was the backbone of the Aircove router project, and led it from being an idea on paper, to being an actual product you could buy on Amazon.
Software Engineer
👨🏻🎓 Education
University of Durham (UK) – BSc (Honours) in Software Engineering
2002 – 2005
Shikoku Pilgrimage – completed the 1,400 km historic trail on foot.
2016
