Dineout

Chief Product Officer: April 2020 - November 2021

As the Chief Product Officer, built and led a world-class product team of 27 talented professionals across Product Management, UX Design, Product Analytics and Product Content (UX writing/Tech Writing/Employer Branding).

Managed a full-stack restaurant tech suite cutting across B2C (Dineout consumer app), B2B (Point of Sale, SCM) and B2B2C SaaS solutions (Online ordering, campaign management, feedback collection, reservation management, etc.)

While we shipped many products during my time at Dineout, my proudest contributions were rebuilding the Dineout product team, architecting the Dineout culture and building the brand Dineout in the talent market.

Key Projects

Building Brand Dineout

Repositioning Dineout as a dream company for top product & tech talent

In 2020, we were not really the dream company for top product talent. A year later, our applicants included folks from tech giants (Amazon, Microsoft, Flipkart, etc.) and top startups (Swiggy, Ola, Phonepe, etc.), ex-entrepreneurs and alums of top global and Indian schools (IIMs/IITs, NIFT, NID, Harvard, Wharton, UMich, CMU, Cornell etc.).
How did I make this possible? By focusing on hiring only the top talent and let the "Top talent attracts top talent" flywheel kick in & by personally leading Dineout branding in social media.

Branding Blog post

Events by Dineout

Launching a new line of business for Dineout: an event booking platform

In late 2020, Dineout acquired SteppinOut, an event management company, which specialized in organizing events like concerts, stand-up comedy shows, and night markets and usually sold tickets through platforms like BookMyShow and Paytm Insider.
Post-acquisition, we decided to launch a product-led line of business: an event-marketplace within the Dineout app. This was the last project I worked on at Dineout (formally launched a week after I left) and one of the most satisfying one.

Blog Link

Digital Dining/online ordering

Bringing Dineout B2B and B2C products together in times of COVID

Conceptualized and launched B2B2C initiatives in response to COVID19, including Contactless Dining, In-room ordering for hotels, curbside pickup, etc. Notable customers include Wingstop (UAE), Blueline Pizza (USA), Phoenix Marketcity, DLF Malls, IBIS Hotels, Bikanerwala, etc.
Also, integrated these B2B white-labeled solutions into our core Dineout B2C app for takeaway/dine-in/online ordering partially solving for the digital distribution problem that many such businesses run into.

News Coverage

Dineout Product Culture

Ten values through which we shaped Dineout into a product-centric company

Architected the Dineout product culture:
WE LOVE FOOD: We before I, Excellence as a habit, Learner Mindset, Owner Mentality, Velocity Over Speed, Experimentation & Innovation, Fight for the Right, Obsession with customers, Openness & Transparency, and Data-driven Decisioning.
These values were part definitional, part aspirational, i.e. while we could not always perfectly adopt these values, we did strive to live by these values in every decision every day. This was fundamental to our transformation to a product company.

Blog Link

Dineout B2C App Overhaul

Rethinking Dineout as a restaurant-discovery app instead of merely a deal-hunting app

Dineout was perceived just as a deal-hunting app. Worked closely with the founders to reposition us as a restaurant discovery app without losing the tag of the app that gets the customers the best deals. Launched several product initiatives including overhaul of our loyalty program Dineout Passport and Dineout Pay, a deep integration with HDFC and a complete UI/UX overhaul.
As a result, Dineout became the world's most loved app on Google Play Store in F&B segment with app rating jumping from 3.71 to 4.74.

Blog Link

inresto campaigns

Reviving our restaurant campaign management product through innovation and customer centricity

inresto campaigns is Dineout B2B offering allowing the restaurants to reach their customers through SMS and email. In 2021, some regulatory changes threatened the very existence of the product: The usage dropped to just about 10% of previous highs.
And then through innovation and customer focus, we turned the product around to make it an even more loved product by the restaurateurs. By end of 2021, we were at an all time high usage numbers in SMS campaigns reachability and self-serve usage of email campaigns.

Blog Link

Recommendations

Ankit Mehrotra

CEO and Co-founder : Dineout

Managed Amit directly at Dineout

As a founder, it's very rare to come across a person who joins your team and changes the growth trajectory of your company. Amit, was one such person, who joined us bang in the middle of Covid, worked hard on building the right team, making the necessary changes and improvements in the product and simplifying it for our users which enabled us to scale our Pre-covid numbers in a short matter of 3 months after the Restaurant industry opened up again. During his journey with Dineout, Amit was instrumental in building a world class product team and hiring some of the best product talent that is out there. Additionally, the way he mentors and grooms product managers is a delight to watch up close. I have seen him turn average product managers into superb PM's during his journey with Dineout. I also worked very closely with Amit in building the right set of cultures and values for the team, which helped us attract some of the best talent available in the market. Also, Amit has this unique ability to ask the right set of questions from a founder and breaks everything down to the first principle which forces one to think about what is really important for the business and which problems need to be solved, keeping the long term vision of the company intact. He also helped other teams at dineout become more data oriented and more customer focused in their approach towards problem solving. Overall, Amit truly helped us build a world class product and culture and I believe that he will be an asset to any organisation!

Sahil Jain

Co-Founder : Dineout

Managed Amit directly at Dineout

I think Amit changed the trajectory of the Product function in Dineout on it's head and helped us build one of the best Product teams that we could have hoped for after being in business for 10 years. Amit has a sharp sense of judging quality product talent being a top notch product leader himself and the method/process with which he arrives at that conclusion gives you a very high probability of success which is amazing. Coming to the actual product building I think there is nobody I have come across in my career who can ask the right set of questions as a founder and force you to think as to what is really important for the business and what really needs to be built as a long term objective to build a long lasting and sustainable business. His understanding of the customer, ability to ask the right questions, ability to mentor/nudge the PMs to build the right product roadmap is just phenomenal. And lastly, building the right product culture is something which is invaluable - this is something that Amit built for us ground up (not just the document, the actual culture!) and that still stays intact for us whether its in terms of data, roadmap, UI/UX - we continue to build on the same ! - and this culture percolated down to other teams outside of product as well -> Sales, Marketing etc. Thank you Amit for your invaluable contribution to the dineout growth story!

Vivek Kapoor

Co-Founder : Dineout

Key Business stakeholder at Dineout for Amit

Amit took over the command of our product function at the most challenging time that Dineout had ever seen and lived through, which was, right at the onset of Covid! Our line of business was such that the revenues were bound to suffer due to unstructured lockdowns. The team was confused, scared and anxious. Our Product had deep rooted b2b and b2c revenue lines. I can see only a few leaders pulling through such storms of time. And Amit not only helped us survive the rough seas, he brought a new dimension to our team and product. We were able to build one of the strongest product teams under him. Looking fwd to working and learning from him in the future too.

Sharad Gupta

Director of Product : Swiggy

Reported to Amit directly at Dineout

Amit was a wonderful manager, and I was lucky enough to work under him for 1.5 years. He has that quality of pushing everyone around him to reach their full potential. He created a product culture which inspired us to think beyond our current projects and motivated us in learning things that extended beyond the role of a PM. He used to invest a lot in every PM, personally overseeing their growth as a product owner. Amit was critical in setting up the right product practices and processes for the team, which helped every PM to take up quarterly & yearly goals and also helped them in achieving them. He not only built a world class product team but also played the most decisive role in rebuilding the whole product function in the organisation. It's rare to find a product leader like Amit who is obsessed about the growth of the company and his team with the same vigour.

Vijayan Parthasarathy

Co-Founder : inResto (Dineout B2B)

Key Business & Tech stakeholder at Dineout for Amit

Amit was critical in introducing and implementing "Product" mindset at Dineout and was critical in setting up the right processes for the team. Encouraged the team to continuously innovate and push the boundaries while constantly looking at metrics and taking informed decisions. Built-up a world-class product team and was critical in shaping the Dineout and inresto products. If you are looking for someone to lead your product function, look no further than Amit.

Shashi Prakash

Senior Product Manager at Myntra

Reported to Amit directly at Dineout

I feel privileged and lucky for having Amit as my manager during my stint at Dineout. I am forever grateful to Amit for taking a bet on me, trusting me with a lot of responsibilities, coaching me, pushing me to be a better product manager, and helping me succeed at work. I love the fact that Amit is honest, transparent and invests a lot in people who report to him. As a manager, he will not only point out areas of improvement but also ensures that people make progress. Amit inspires you to think big and not settle for less. His obsession with the growth of the company, lifting the standards of the team and building the right culture had been infectious, leading to the creation of a high-impact product team. I admire Amit for being a great product leader who inspired everyone in the organisation. I look forward to opportunities of working with Amit and learning from him in the future as well.

Shrikant Sharma

Lead Product Designer @ Swiggy

Reported to Amit directly at Dineout

Amit is an individual who is both patient and determined in his pursuit of knowledge. I am fortunate to have worked with Amit, for several product launches at Dineout for 1.5 years. His calming personality makes you feel very comfortable, always encouraging and positive. He’s full of ideas and has a sharp eye for art and design and is an accomplished cricket lover. He always has a creative, positive outlook and he’s adept at organizing and bringing people together. He possesses the rare combination of a strategic leader with an analytical mindset who knows how to implement swiftly and accurately. An inspirational person to work with and one of the few individuals I know that can think beyond individual goals and focus on making it big for not only for the company but for every individual out there. His greatest accomplishment was empowering his co-workers and reportees to delve deeper, understand the problem, and make informed decisions as well as implementing course corrections if necessary. As a leader with an excellent aptitude and attitude, I enjoyed working with him and learned from him as we built Dineout an intelligent discovery and decision-making platform I am thankful for the opportunity to have been part of his team and am proud to have had him as a mentor in my life.

Rituraj Gogoi

Product Manager : Fiserv

Reported to Amit directly at Dineout

In the very words of Marty Cagan, Amit is that leader who helped lift the PM team of Dineout from being an execution heavy feature PM team to a product strategy oriented PM team. Personally speaking he's the single most indispensable and influential thought leader in my PM journey who has left an indelible impression on me and has helped me evolve both as a PM and as a professional. Thanks to Amit’s keen observations and out of the box ideas, humane leadership and steady guidance and laser sharp focus on analytics and success metrics, we started focusing more on the end customers’ problems rather than on solutions, on outcomes rather than output. The result was a staggering change in attitude and deliverables whereby we were working on initiatives that actually moved the needle and was more fulfilling personally and professionally as they solved actual user problems. It was under his able leadership and constant support I was able to successfully launch SteppinOut Events by Dineout as a product led new line of business. The lifetime of experience and invaluable insights I gained working with him is something I treasure dearly and even today I turn to him in a beat, as a sounding board for both personal and professional advice and feedback. Anyone who had the good fortune of being a part of Amit’s team will vouch for him and would become a fan of his forever. Any day I would jump at the opportunity to work with and learn from him again. In conclusion as John C Maxwell once said Amit is that leader who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way …

Ramya Mohandas

Content Designer : Rogers Canada

Reported to Amit directly at Dineout

When I moved to Canada, I was called 'lucky' to get 3 offers in 1st month in the field of Content Design/UX Writing. I don't think it was just luck. I put in a lot of work to showcase my skills through my website and interviews. Now, I wouldn't have been able to do so if I haven't had the opportunity to work on different content related projects at Dineout. Amit deserves a lot of credit for that. In a span of 1 year that I worked in his team, he changed my job (and even thinking) from a technical writer to a full fledged product content lead. I used to laugh, get nervous and excited listening to his ideas; not because they were crazy, but because he expected me to lead those projects and pull it off. Working with Amit gave me the confidence I never imagined I'd have. We all need that push and motivation from a person who trusts us and is willing to give you the control. There are managers who don't let you to grow and want you to just stick to the tasks; and then there are leaders like Amit who will make you see your own potential, even if you have never wanted to acknowledge it yourself. If you are in his team, just trust the process. It is going to bring the best out of you. What you do with it later is all in your hand.