About Me

Isabel Yap

Tech Career

Since you wanted more, you get the long version.

I've worked in the tech industry since 2012.

My first corporate job was a product internship at the mobile gaming company GREE. I worked on a game called Dino Life and learned gamification tactics (people will pay a lot for a rainbow stegosaurus).

Post-college I joined Guidebook (no-code mobile apps for events) as employee #26. I launched our higher-ed vertical, then our London-based EMEA operations, as a Customer Success Associate. Then I originated the Product Marketing function, working on sales enablement and strategy, before shifting into Product Management.

I was at Guidebook for 4.5+ years, and I consider that where I "grew up" in tech: a truly scrappy environment, in the rose-tinted 2010s sense of that word. Late nights with Thai food, flipcup at office parties, calling the CTO when our site crashed, soul-crushing product rollouts, heroic acts of service from beloved teammates, and learning every function from scratch.

I needed a change, so I applied to business school. Because I was in SF, a lot of people told me an MBA was useless. I was also sheepish because I knew it would make me Jared from Silicon Valley, but I did ultimately want it, for three reasons:

I got rejected. I tried again a year later, and was accepted into Harvard Business School for fall 2018. HBS was great. I had a better time than expected. If you want to know more about my experience there, here's an essay on why I chose an MBA over an MFA in Creative Writing.

In summer 2019 I interned at Duolingo in Pittsburgh, where I worked on Monetization, specifically the question: "Why do people upgrade to Plus?" One of my features (Hard Mode) drove +$2.5k in daily revenue during the experiment phase. I enjoyed Duo's design-forward, experiment-driven culture, and applying the knowledge from my mobile game days. Alas, I also really, really wanted to move to New York.

In 2020 I graduated, then joined the seed-stage start-up Thrilling (Etsy but for vintage clothing, which was crucial during covid). I was the third technical hire, after our CTO and one fullstack dev. I'd describe my role there as 50% Product, 50% Operations/whatever the CEO needed. This involved maturing our tech stack (implementing Zoom, Lever, Intercom, analytics, etc), and hiring. (A lot of hiring.) It was eye-opening to be part of the Series A fundraise, and to build a team from scratch. But part of me really wanted to join a later-stage org, and see how I'd fare in that environment.

In 2021 I joined Klaviyo's Data Infrastructure team, working on Profiles and Segmentation. My primary focus was on improving our segment builder. Over time, my team and I converted the UI to React/our design system; added in segment preview, cloning, additional operators, support for multiple where clauses; and fully upgraded the underlying infrastructure, drastically improving speed for our largest accounts, and decreasing overall costs.

I also worked on AI/ML features, launching our RFM segments and dashboard, before expanding my coverage in Data Infra. In the last 2 years I worked across the Data Platform (Data Warehouse/Data Lake/Online Analytics), supporting infra teams with a focus on enabling flexible queries for analytics features.

Klaviyo was the first place where I worked on teams that were entirely backend-focused. It was fun and fulfilling to drive technical decisions for foundational parts of our app, and collaborate closely with our (mostly internal) customers. There's more I want to learn in this area, so I'm spending part of my sabbatical studying how data-intensive applications are made.

Me as a Product Manager

I believe the core of the PM role boils down to the following:

A lot of the value I add as a PM focuses on those two areas. I'm happiest when I'm building actual solutions. There are periods when the job becomes mostly management/comms. I can do it, but I get kinda grumpy if it goes on too long.

Where I spike as a PM:

I also think polish separates good PMs from really great ones: an attention to detail and quality, that elevates everything they touch. I hope to be that for the teams I work on.

Are you looking for a job?

I'm looking to start full-time employment again sometime in the first half of 2027 (tbd when, specifically). My primary focus is finding the right fit.

That said, if you have an interesting opportunity—let's chat! I'm selectively looking for consulting or part-time projects to work on through my break. Or if you think a role will be available for me in H1 2027, I'm happy to start the conversation early.

My preferences:

People are the most important thing. I would love to work again with people I've worked with previously (assuming, of course, that the feeling is mutual).

Core values I look for in a team's culture: integrity, ownership, kindness, customer-focus, creativity.

Consulting/Part-time Projects I can help with:

Okay enough about tech, tell me some other interesting things