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About Us

ProdPad: The Origin Story

ProdPad started as the idea of a product manager who didn’t have the tools needed to do their job. Back in 2012, Product Management tools didn’t exist outside of collections of templates and proformas created in generic business tools like Word and Excel. It was clear that a more permanent solution was required to meet the needs of Product Management teams.

That product manager was Janna Bastow, who, along with fellow product manager Simon Cast, had already been instrumental in founding ProductCamp London, and later, the much bigger product community that formed the basis for Mind the Product.

Janna took the early ideas for ProdPad to Simon for feedback and between them and their peer community of product experts, they tested and reviewed the idea. They realized they had a product that understood users’ pain points and helped them solve their problems.

Between them, they divided the build between front-end and back-end, were able to get an early version of ProdPad up and running within a few weeks, and were soon using it in their own jobs and with their own teams.

A decade later and ProdPad is used by thousands of successful Product teams around the world as their single source of product truth. From customer feedback and ideation tools which help to gather insight on the problems that need solving, to prototyping product strategy through roadmaps, and aligning stakeholders and devs on the same objectives.

ProdPad’s mission remains the same: to make you a confident product manager. We provide the best tools and resources to help you manage your products and your people.

From that fuzzy little idea all the way to launch, we’re here to help you push your best product forward.

Image of Janna Bastow, Co-Founder and CEO of ProdPad

Janna Bastow, Co-founder & CEO

Like a lot of people in the product world, Janna became a product manager almost by accident after spending time in customer-facing roles that required liaising with tech teams. It was this intersection between product and customer that proved essential to quickly learning on the job.

As an early adopter of Product Management, Janna has seen the field grow from almost nothing into what it is today. Along the way, she has become one of the key talents in the industry, and can be frequently found sharing her knowledge and insight at Product conferences around the world.

Simon Cast, Co-founder & CTIO

With a background in Mechanical and Space Engineering, Simon first started in Product by aiming for the stars and building automation software for satellites. Having honed his product skills, identifying problems, testing, and iterating to achieve useable solutions, Simon relocated to the UK to continue to develop his product skills through consultancy work, and further product manager and Head of Product roles. 

It was around this time Simon met Janna and began working together over weekends and in the evenings to bring their idea of a suite of product management tools to reality, while also contributing to Mind the Product. Eventually, like Janna, Simon was able to focus full-time on ProdPad to help it become the tool it is today.

Picture of Simon Cast, Co-founder and CTIO of ProdPad

The Rest of the Team

Danielle Vautier

Danielle Vautier - Chief Operating Officer

Tomaž Štrukelj

Tomaž Štrukelj - DevOps

Wills Grigg

Wills Grigg - Senior Back-end Developer

Kirsty Kearney-Greig

Kirsty Kearney-Greig - Head of Product

Sam Peerless

Sam Peerless - Head of Support & QA

Sharon Kalewski

Sharon Kalewski - Principal Sales Consultant

Maneesha Silva

Maneesha Silva - Marketing Manager

Kate Knott

Kate Knott - Operations Director

Dan Collins

Dan Collins - SEO Content Writer

Bozena Zawilinska

Bozena Zawilinska - Junior Front-End Developer

Megan Saker

Megan Saker - Chief Marketing Officer

Ira Bolshakova

Ira Bolshakova - Associate Product Designer

Matt Fletcher

Matt Fletcher - Front-End Developer

Matt Owen

Matt Owen - Product Support Specialist

Georgina Munn

Georgina Munn - Customer Success Manager

Richard Cawkill

Richard Cawkill - Inbound Sales Manager

Image of our roadmap on the side of a bus, for all to see

Our roadmap is public, for all to see