Telco TV, IPTV, OTT, Product Management,Business Development, Strategy

SYED SAYEED AHMED

PERMANENT ADDRESS: *** N. CASCADE TERRACE • SUNNYVALE, CA 94087 USA

PHONE:510-***-****

SKYPE: ESS.AYE

E-MAIL acz3mw@r.postjobfree.com

LINKEDIN PROFILE: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sayeeda

SUMMARY

Current Role:

Entrepreneur & Director Global Strategic Partnerships for startup in Virtual Reality startup.

Previous Roles:

Group Senior Manager / Head of Content, Digital Entertainment: content strategy, acquisition, partnerships, and content ventures, for multi-screen live TV and VOD at Ooredoo Group.

10 Years of Telco TV Product Management, Pricing Strategy & Product Marketing.

Founding member Telecom Media House and Head of Content.

Project Head:

oExclusive Content Investments and Partnerships.

oOperator Billing - beIN Sports and StarzPlay OTT TV services.

oMedia House Strategy: Structure, Services, Product, Pricing.

oContent and CPE Strategy: Services, Product, Pricing.

oIPTV Middleware enhancement and Headend expansion project

[ Design & Architecture of the end to end service, Features, Business Rules, Service Delivery, Rollout and Customer Journey]

oQatar Telecom Broadband Strategy.

Plus 10 more years of Product/Project Management in the IPTV Industry.

SPECIALTY

CXO Level Strategic Multi-Screen TV Initiatives Strategy, Lead, Partnerships and Execution.

Multiscreen OTT TV Content Strategy, Partnerships, Acquisition, Content Propositions, Bundling, Product Management and Marketing.

SKILLS

Product Management, Pricing Strategy, Business Development, Marketing, Service Delivery and Operations.

Exclusive Partnerships, Investments, Business Development.

Customer Experience Management.

Operator billing and payments.

OTT / IPTV Headend, Middleware, Video Servers, VOD & Live TV, DRM/Encryption, Censoring, Set Top Box, Multiscreen Apps.

EDUCATION

Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering, 1984.

Telecom Mini MBA – Informa Telecom 2014.

MIT Fintech Certificate – 2017

Employment Status: US Citizen

EXPERIENCE

Full-Time Positions

Director Global Strategic Partnerships @ Virtual Rehab

Current, San Francisco

Seek and establish new strategic partnerships in the Virtual Reality content market for, such content as Formal Education, Vocational Job Training, Psychological rehabilitation, Correctional Services rehabilitation.

Manage existing partnerships.

Strategic partnerships with Seed, Angel and VC investors, and eco system partners.

Pitch Deck; Service, Product and Pricing.

Achievements: Strategic partnership with major player in Europe ongoing relationships with investors.

Group Senior Manager, Head of Content

Digital Entertainment, New Business, Ooredoo Group, HQ, Doha, Qatar and other offices in Middle East and Asia.

November 2013 – June 30, 2016

Achievements

Launch of new TV services

Service Strategy: Product, Pricing, Content Proposition, Business Rules, Content Distribution Network & Service Delivery, Rollout and Customer Journey.

a)StarzPlay OTT TV service, product and pricing strategy and launch on Ooredoo TV a multiscreen OTT TV service by Ooredoo Oman, and Ooredoo Tunisia.

b)Multiscreen TV product and pricing strategy for Ooredoo Indonesia.

Commercial Traction and Impact:

Ooredoo Qatar, next generation multiscreen TV service, product and pricing / propositions, strategy; manage YoY growth in the existing IPTV linear and On Demand TV business.

Develop Content Portfolio and Strategic Partnerships:

a)Content Development – extend, enhance or develop new content relationships on behalf of the Group / Opcos and the quality of the relationships.

Create Multiscreen OTT Live and On Demand TV Line Up: 200 plus live

channels with Catch-up and 4000 hours of SVOD content.

b)Internal Partnership with Opcos – build a positive working relationship,

provide content business planning and content business development support and motivate the OpCos to conceive and develop actionable TV propositions.

c)External Strategic Partnership Development & Investment – actively

identify, cultivate & secure strategic content partnership and investment opportunities in the Digital Entertainment space.

Operator Billing agreements and implementation with beIN Sports and StarzPlay OTT TV services.

d)To facilitate the development of the Media Lab by securing and leveraging

strategic content industry relationships and partnerships, for the Media Lab technology / vendor / capability (i.e. content discovery, advertising) showcase.

Exclusive Partnerships:

a)Secured Region’s First & Exclusive IPTV and Multiscreen OTT rights for STARZ premium SVOD Service for Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait.

b)Integration of Starzplay OTT TV service with multiple CDN Networks and Ooredoo Access networks.

c)Ooredoo as the only telecom partner with additional first rights of refusal STARZ premium SVOD Service for Tunisia and Algeria.

d)Secured rights for Exclusive Ramadan thematic Arabic SVOD series for Ooredoo Qatar.

e)Exclusive Partnerships:

f)- JV initiative with beIN Sports, covering Ooredoo Opco territories.

g)- Rotana partnership, for their premium, Pay TV channels, for Ooredoo

h) Opcos.

Trade shows:

Represented Ooredoo Group and Opcos at IBC / TV Connect

MIPCOM / MIPTV / ATF and LA Screenings

Educational Certificate: Telecom Mini MBA from Informa 2014

Head of Content

Media House, Ooredoo Qatar, HQ Doha, Qatar

October 2011 – October 2013

Achievements

The design, development and launch of Multiscreen OTT TV (live and on-demand) services pilot at Ooredoo Qatar.

Overall Content Service Strategy, Acquisition, Distribution, Content Joint Ventures, Product and Pricing Strategy of the content proposition, within the Digital Entertainment business to deliver a profitable new stream of connectivity, content and advertising revenues for Ooredoo Group.

Provide Content services to Operating Companies (OpCos) in Asia and MENA which incorporated

(a) Advisory Service Design – provide information and advice on content line up and relationship portfolio to OpCos for them to act on;

(b) Development and Promotion of New Content Opportunities - Identify and build new relationships with new content providers and then procure and supply commercial terms to the OpCos for them to take up; and

Manage content acquisition for Ooredoo Qatar, and manage existing portfolio 300+ live TV channels, 100+ catch Up TV channels, 3500+ hours of VOD, 300+ Currents on TVOD.

Manage content proposition, bundling, pricing strategy.

Manage IPTV Product, and Service Delivery.

(c) Execution of Carriage Agreements - where mandated by the OpCos, responsibility extends to the Group negotiation, execution, and management of content carriage agreements on their behalf.

Provide Opportunities in TV/Video Space to OpCos. Actively seek out and provide information on products and business in the TV / Video space, evaluate and advise OpCos on possible routes to market.

(d) Deployment of Media Lab – Acquire multiscreen content rights for live and on-demand content.

(e) Secure commercial terms for 2014 FIFA World Cup OTT multiscreen rights from relevant rights holders for Ooredoo Opcos, identify viable route/s for Opcos to take content to market and, subject to suitable requests for and approval of the budget, supporting the OpCo launch of the service offering.

Manager Consumer Multimedia

Consumer Services, Ooredoo Qatar, HQ Doha, Qatar

2009 – 2011

Achievements

TV Product & Service (Live & On Demand):

Strategy & Product Management of the Online entertainment e-Commerce Partners and Portfolio. Pricing strategy of the multi-play service bundle.

Telco TV Product pricing and proposition, new product launches and Marcom campaigns.

Telco TV Product service, management

TV service operations

Manage content acquisition for Ooredoo Qatar, and existing portfolio 120+ live TV channels, Launch 3500+ hours of VOD, 300+ Currents on TVOD.

MRD / PRD ownership for current and next generation products.

Marketing Collaterals.

P&L responsibility for the Telco Triple Play Service.

Multi-Vendor Management

RFPs: IPTV Middleware Enhancement, IPTV Headend Expansion, Broadband Strategy, Content and CPE Strategy: Complete Ownership end to end.

Section Head - IPTV

Consumer Services, Ooredoo Qatar, HQ Doha, Qatar

2008 – 2009

Achievements

Triple Play, Product Management, Pricing, Product Marketing, Team Management & Business Dev. And included:

Telco TV Product Management, Product Marketing, Pricing, Marcom campaigns.

Telco TV Business Plan

MRD / PRD for current and next products.

Marketing Collaterals.

P&L responsibility for the Triple Play Service.

Telco TV Customer service and customer journey

Vendor relationship management

Telco TV Operations

Product Management Specialist

Wireline Services, Ooredoo Qatar, HQ Doha, Qatar

July 2006 – July 2008

Achievements

Triple Play Product Management/ Pricing, Business Planning and Commercial Rollout of the Triple Play TV services.

Biz Dev & Product Lifecycle of the Qtel Triple Play Product Mozaic TV+.

Content Contract Negotiations, Business Planning & Business Development, Sales Proposals, RFPs, Program Management of Product Schedules, Design and Development. Marketing Collaterals.

MRD / PRD for current and next generation products.

3rd Party contract negotiations. Marketing Collaterals, Product Pricing, Product Roadmap, Cross Functional Product Launch Training.

Working in a cross functional team which includes, Product Marketing, IT, Communications Centers, Call Centers, Sales, Biz Dev, Product Development, and Integration.

Represented Qtel at Broadband Executive Forum: 2007.

Product Manager,

Harris Broadcast Corporation

December 2004 to June 2006, HQ Burbank, CA, Other Office Mt Laurel NJ, USA

Achievements

Included the Product Management, Biz Dev & Product Lifecycle of the ATSC and DVB Digital Broadcast TV product plus the ASI Server. Business Planning & Development, Sales Proposals, Trade Shows, Program Management of Product Schedules, Design and Development.

MRD / PRD for current and next generation products.

3rd Party contract negotiations. Sales Support bulletins, Marketing Collaterals, Product Pricing, Roadmap, and Sales Training.

Working in a cross functional team which includes, Product Marketing, Sales, Biz Dev, and Development.

Represented Leitch in Trade Show: NAB 2005

Multiple Consulting Assignments 2002 - 2004

Philips Electronics.

Aug –Sept’ 2004, San Jose, CA, USA

Focus: Streaming Media Set-Top, Project Management

Working as Consultant on Project Management, for the next generation Streaming Media Set-Top in a Consumer Electronics, company.

Key Deliverables: Project Management, Prototype Contract negotiations, Demo Software, Hardware Prototype.

DVDPlay.,

May - August 2004, Los Gatos, CA USA

Focus: Interactive Kiosk Media Player and Ad-Insertion

Worked as Consultant for this startup, so as to enable, their customers to deploy Interactive Kiosk, DVD Rental, Interactive Kiosks, with such revenue generating services as Targeted Advertising.

Key Deliverables: Product Requirements and Enhancements, Ad-Insertion Recommendations. Contract Negotiations.

Akstream Inc.,

Dec 2003 – May 2004, San Francisco, CA USA

Focus: Next Generation Telco TV, Broadcast On-Demand, and Ad-Insertion

Working as Consultant for this stealth –mode startup, so as to enable, their customers to deploy Telco TV, Broadcast On-Demand and Ad-insertion using their IP TV Headend Product.

Key Deliverables: Business Plan, Product Requirements and VC Presentations. Contract Negotiations.

Symphony Media

July 2003 – Jan 2004, Mountain View, CA, USA

Focus: Next Generation Video Servers

Working as Consultant for this stealth –mode startup, so as to enable, their customers to deploy enabling products, such as high throughput Video Servers.

Key Deliverables: MRD, Business Plan, Product Requirements and VC Presentations.

Microsoft (MSN TV)

Program Manager, Mountain View CA, USA

August 2002-February 2003.

Focus: Next Generation MSN TV Service (Client Software-Architecture / UI )

Worked as a contractor for Volt Services, and retained by Microsoft. Deliverables: MSN TV Set-Top Box Client, Functional Specification for Windows Media Player, Web Browser Features and User Navigation, Favorites Feature, MSN Search and Caller ID.

Responsibilities:

Drive multiple programs from project initiation through delivery, interfacing with customers on technical and business matters.

Create and review various functional specifications that were used as a tool in making decisions as to how the product would be implemented.

Create multiple project schedules that would be utilized as a tool, tracking product delivery, milestones, risks, and mitigations.

Develop cross-functional (Product Management, User Interface, Development, QA) relationships and provide technical and analytical information.

Organize cross-functional (Product Management, User Interface, Development, QA) activities ensuring completion of the program on schedule constraints. Manage multiple projects and oversee others.

Full-Time Positions

Sr. Product Manager, Middleware

OpenTV Inc.,

April 2001 - February 2002, Mountain View, CA, USA

Responsibilities

Included the TV Middleware Product Lifecycle of the OpenTV Flagship product EN2 plus middleware extensions. Program Management of Product Schedules, and Design and Development.

MRD / PRD for next generation middleware, including PVR and MHP products, and DOCSIS-SCM, Front End Processor, External Font Engine, Front End Manager, etc.,

3rd Party contract negotiations. Sales Support bulletins, Marketing Collaterals, Product Pricing Matrix, Product Roadmap, Sales Training.

Worked in a cross-functional team which included Architects / Development, Product Marketing, Sales and Biz Dev.

Represented OpenTV in Trade Show: NCTA 2001

Solutions Manager,

Cisco Systems

May 2000 - March 2001, San Jose, CA, USA

Responsibilities

IP Video Services( Multicast Video and VOD ) for ILECS, CLECS, and ITCs, and Cable Operators, and such deliverables as MRD, Biz Case, End to End Solutions Architecture and Implementation, White Papers and Collaterals. Video Server vendor, Middleware and Set-Top Box vendor relationships. Also managed the relationship with Intertainer and Msoft Windows Media Grp.

Solution Evangelization, both internal as well as external.

Project with Intertainer on VOD over DOCSIS using Pace STB solution.

Worked on the Ad-Insertion Solution, for Cable Operators as well as the VOD Solution. Worked on Pixstream Acquisition Due Diligence with the Cisco Mergers &Acquisition team.

Marketing BootCamp Training: Cisco Systems

Represented Cisco in Trade Shows: IBC 2000, WCS2000, SuperNet2000.

Director Product Management

DIVA (a Menlo Park Sarnoff labs Startup)

November 1998 - April 2000, Menlo Park, CA, USA

Responsibilities

The company second generation VOD Video Server, Product Management, Product Marketing; Product MRD/PRD; Collaterals, Sales Bulletins. Also involved in creating three new products at DIVA: The MPEG Packet Switch, The DIVA QAM /Mux HFC Distribution Shelf, and the DIVA System Manager (VOD Enabling Suite of SW).

Responsible for the Video server high-speed ASI (HS-ASI) Streaming Interface (Extension to the DVB-ASI over Gigabit Ethernet.

Responsible for the Strategic Analysis of the Competition and the Video on Demand Industry.

VOD over Broadband ( xDSL) initiative at DIVA. Evaluated and recommended DSLAM vendors, Low bit-rate compression, VOD distribution network, etc.

Represented DIVA at the SCTE-DVS and OpenCAS. Also Represented DIVA at Trade Shows.

Sr. Staff Engineer,

Sun Microsystems Inc.,

December 1995 – November 1998

(i) Network Products Group

Aug ’97 – Nov ’98, Menlo Park, CA USA

Focus: Sales / Biz Dev / Product Management.

Technical consultant to Marketing / Sales development. Developing Technical Architecture / Product Requirements / Whitepapers / Sales Training Materials.

Pre-sales support for corporate sales.

SW and HW Integration of the Sun Media Center Video Server. Worked on the SunGigabitSwitch, Netra NFS, and the Proxy Cache Servers.

Performed Training at Sun Mexico to Sun S.E's and resellers. Performed Training at SunService Technical Symposium, on the Netra Proxy Cache Server.

Responsible for the Netra Proxy Cache Server Technical Guide.

(ii) Interactive Services Group (ISG)

Dec ’95 – Aug ’97, Palo Alto, CA, USA

Focus: Professional Services, Integration of Video Server

Program Management of SunMedia Center product Integration with 3rd. Party vendors. SW and HW Integration of the Sun Media Center Video Server, with Disney Navigator Application, EDS MediaVault Application, and the Nesbitt Digital Media Library System.

The primary function was ISG partner support., and worked with Disney Televentures, Minerva Systems, Optivision, Informix. Other activities included Sun Strategic Projects, like the EDS MediaVault, Nesbitt Systems- Digital Media Library System.

Developing Content Tools using public domain mpeg-1 and mpeg-2 tools. Tool Design to convert VBR systems streams to CBR streams. Program Management of Video Server Integration Project.

Participation in proceedings of X3L3.1 (US National Body of MPEG), and in the ISO - MPEG-4 Development.

Courses: Managing at Sun: Sun Certified Training.

Sr. Software Engineer

Hyundai Electronics America, Digital Video Systems Division

December 1994 – December 1995, San Jose, CA, USA

Responsibilities

SW architecture and design, of a DVB MPEG II compliant satellite set-top box.

High-Level SW Architecture, and Design and implementation of the MPEG subsystem on the set-top box. C Handling MPEG PSI data, as well as the DVB, defined SI data on the set-top box, as well as modular interfaces for a modular set-top software design.

Generation and management of the SW schedule.

Participation in meetings of DAVIC (video server and set-top committees) in Orlando and London. And in the ISO meeting of the DSM-CC in Lausanne.

Evaluation of Real-Time OS's, TCP/IP protocol stack from multiple vendors, for the set-top box. Evaluation of the WINK interactive platform, as well as the OpenTV interactive platform, for the set-top box.

Scientific Atlanta Silicon Valley Inc,

Senior Engineer

July 1994 - Dec 1994, Cupertino, CA USA

Focus: Technical Marketing / Network Architecture / Integration

Network API architecture and software development for interactive Set-Top Box Real-time operating system, for Oracle Media Net & Sybase interactive TV applications,

End to end network protocols, reliability, and latency issues in the Interactive TV Network.

Participation in technical meetings dealing with set-top box IP network and Level 1/Level two issues, with HP, Sybase, Oracle, Scientific Atlanta, and EDS. Involvement in the DSM-CC ad-hoc meeting. Resolution of TCP/IP and Application Boot protocol, issues on the set-top box, with HP and Sybase.

Kaleida Labs Inc,

Mountain View, CA, USA

Senior Engineer October 1993 to June 1994

Focus: Technical Marketing and Systems Integration

Class Library and API architecture for, Ameritech ITV prototype.

Performance modeling of Cable TV Distribution and telephone networks.

Technical customer relations with Bell companies.

Designed & developed Class architecture for a TCP/IP transporter for Distributed ScriptX.

Member of Interactive TV project with Ameritech and Digital Equipment Corp.

Represented Kaleida Labs at IEEE 802.6 Cable TV Protocol Study Group.

Northern Telecom Inc,

Mountain View, CA

Senior Engineer August 1990 to Oct 1993.

Focus: Digital Telephony SW Development

Meridian 1 Peripheral and Call Processing software design, development and support. Designed and developed software and detailed design documents for the (ISDN) Network Call Transfer section of the Call Detail Recording Enhancement Feature.

Field Trial Support and Installation of the Northern Telecom, OPT-21, OPT-61 and OPT-71 switches, and Training.

Trained in the Schlaer Mellor method of OO analysis and design.

Trained in the Kepner Trego method of Problem Solving and Decision Making.

EDUCATION

Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering, NED University of Engg & Technology, Karachi, Pakistan 1984.

Telecom Mini MBA - Informa Telecom, 2014.

MIT Fintech Certificate – Completed March 2017.

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