Ambar Shante

About

I'm a strategic and analytical leader with extensive experience driving product growth and operational excellence within premier global tech startups and scaleups across fintech, foodtech, and marketplaces, many times in 0–1 roles. I've functioned as a key operator and strategic advisor to founders and executive teams, leading high-impact initiatives.

My strength lies in translating complex data into actionable roadmaps for new product and business launches, market expansion, improving operational systems and processes, pricing optimization, and marketplace management. I am adept at leading cross-functional teams to execute on strategic product and operational priorities and deliver measurable results.

Outside of work, I enjoy travelling, reading, exploring new technologies, and just generally being outdoors—hiking, camping, canoeing, and playing football, tennis and pickleball. I used to be a marshal at various motorsport events, including the Raid-de-Himalaya, and twice at Formula 1 GPs. I've previously lived and worked in Gurgaon and Toronto, and am now based in Dubai.

Experience

1. Jan 2025 - Present

   Freelance Consultant and Solo Builder · Various

   • Independently built realmortgage.xyz, a free toolkit for people looking to navigate the UAE real estate market.
   • Consulted with the founder of a British mental health business to productize their offerings and automate workflows.
   • Consulted with portfolio companies of a PE firm (FMCG, Clean Energy) on market entry, hiring, and operations setup.
2. Apr 2024 - Nov 2024

   Product Operations Lead · Atlas

   • Revamped the onboarding and user activation funnel after identifying key friction points; implemented targeted infrastructure and process changes that improved activation rates by 90%.
   • Improved profitability by building and executing a debt collection lifecycle that boosted the collection rate by 29% within 3 months of implementation.
   • Drove the operational execution for a new rent-reporting product, from competitive & regulatory research to launch, leading to improved retention and growth while providing an average 30-point increase in users' credit scores.
3. Apr 2022 - Aug 2023

   Director of Product Strategy & Operations · CrowdRiff

   • Led a high-impact project to launch a new B2B marketplace (CrowdRiff Creators), owning the initiative from ideation and problem discovery through to GTM strategy and execution, achieving $1.2M ARR.
   • Developed an actionable roadmap for the North America rollout, defining and monitoring KPIs to track performance against strategic goals while leading a three-member team.
   • Designed and implemented automated operational systems and dashboards (using SQL, BI tools, Airtable, Zapier) to support the marketplace, improving internal team efficiency by over 80%.
4. Nov 2021 - Apr 2022

   Senior Strategy & Operations Manager · Ninja Delivery

   • Analyzed operational data to identify key levers for marketplace efficiency; built an automated order batching system (using Google Apps Script & Maps API) that improved rider efficiency by over 75%.
   • Conducted a deep-dive analysis of procurement and inventory data to identify root causes for capital inefficiency; implemented standardized processes that reduced wastage by 70%.
5. Sep 2020 - Apr 2021

   Product Manager · Skylight

   • Owned the product roadmap for internal operational tools; collaborated with Engineering to translate user requirements into features that reduced project timelines by 60% and material costs by 15%.
6. Jun 2019 - Sep 2020

   AVP Strategy & Operations · Zomato

   • Led product management for key marketplace functions, including logistics and payments; drove integration with a lending platform to provide credit to merchant partners, reducing churn by 35%.
   • Collaborated with Engineering and Data leadership on long-range technical planning, including the strategic migration of core infrastructure from Azure to AWS to support future scalability.
   • Acted as a key operator and strategic advisor to the founders and executive team during the company's rapid global expansion into 24 markets.
   • Collaborated with the COO on improving financial performance; led a global, cross-functional initiative with Finance, Legal, and HR to optimize operations, driving large-scale cost reductions across all markets.