Fractional Product Growth & Operational Leadership
10+ years building connected products at scale, including voice integrations with Google and Amazon and a $600M global platform. Now fractional partner to pet tech, wearables, and smart home startups.
Book a 30-min callWhat I do
I work with companies at the intersection of physical and digital, including pet tech, wearables, smart home, and connected wellness, helping strong products scale into growth engines.
In practice, that means:
I've done this at a $600M global platform, as a first-mover in voice integration with Google and Amazon, and as the person who rebuilt a connected small appliance from near-failure to launch. The context changes, but the work is always the same: simplify complexity, build systems, and scale.
From concept to roadmap to launch. I help you define what to build, why, and in what order, then stay in the room to make sure it actually happens.
Platform integrations, retail distribution, channel development. I've closed and scaled partnerships with Amazon, Google, and Fortune 200 partners and know how to move at startup pace.
The hardest part of connected hardware isn't building it. It's making a real person understand why they need it. I design the experience and go-to-market motion that closes that gap.
I align engineering, design, marketing, and commercial teams around a shared vision and make the roadmap reflect what actually needs to happen in the market.
Who I work with
Early-to-mid stage companies building connected physical products, as well as the operators and investors helping them scale.
You might be a hardware-first company that has found product-market fit but hasn't unlocked distribution or recurring engagement. Or a software platform adding a physical layer and trying to bridge the two without losing what made you work. Or a corporate innovation team that needs to move faster than the org chart allows. Or an investor with a portfolio company that needs senior product leadership without a full-time commitment.
Industries I'm especially drawn to:
I work best when there's a real problem to solve and a team that wants to solve it.
How I work
Embedded, ongoing. I join your leadership team at the product level, running strategy, roadmap, and cross-functional alignment 2 to 4 days a week. Best for companies with a product team that needs senior direction and a thought partner in the room.
Time-boxed, high-intensity. We take a defined problem (go-to-market, platform architecture, partnership strategy, growth system) and build the framework or playbook to act on it.
Monthly calls, async feedback, and the kind of direct input that saves months of wrong turns. Best for founders who already have a strong team and want a sharp outside perspective.
Selected work
A global home brand aimed to bring an existing connected product in-house for its first connected small appliance. The original team was let go, documentation was limited, and a new supplier had to be onboarded from scratch.
I led a 20-person cross-functional team across product engineering, ML, and UX, established a supplier communication and validation protocol to ensure knowledge transfer and speed to market, directed new consumer testing, and coordinated go-to-market rollout across marketing, sales, brand, and legal.
We rebuilt the core algorithm, redesigned the app experience, and delivered the full connected product (hardware, software, and ML model), setting the standard for the brand's connected portfolio.
When voice assistants became the new interface for the home, a global appliance company had an opportunity to lead. I led the partnership strategy and product integration across multiple voice platforms, delivering one-click app-to-app linking, notifications, and smart replenishment features.
Adoption tripled, the company became a reference partner for platform leaders, and the smart home team became a model internally for scaling platform partnerships.
A $600M/year product platform spanning North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America requires more than a roadmap — it requires aligned teams, shared consumer insights, reduced manufacturing complexity and coordinated commercial priorities.
I built the annual planning process and 5-year roadmap framework, integrating competitive intelligence, consumer research, and innovation pipelines across regions. The result: global alignment, funded high-value initiatives, and a scalable platform for growth.
About
Maria Roxana Cacenschi
Fractional CPO
Fractional COO
Ecosystem & Product Growth Advisor
Consumer Experience Strategist
Los Angeles, CA
Open to remote & travel
I spent a decade at Whirlpool Corporation, a Fortune 200 company with $19B in annual sales, building connected products and ecosystem partnerships with Amazon and Google. I launched first-to-market voice integrations, led cross-functional teams across four regions, and ran the entire physical-digital product lifecycle from concept to scale. I've lived in 9 countries and get by in 6 languages.
After Whirlpool, I spent time caring for my dog in her final months, which sparked my obsession with how dogs and humans bond, and what the pet tech space is still missing.
I'm based in Los Angeles, vibe code on a daily basis, and surf badly on weekends.
I don't fit neatly in boxes. I'm a systems thinker who moves between the strategic and the concrete, comfortable with ambiguity, and most useful when things are genuinely complicated.
Remote-first, open to on-site in LA or travel.