JEFF YOUNG
Summary
At the intersection of creativity , strategy and execution lives Product Management . I have spent two decades creating brands of craft beer, developing production methods for commercial viability, and analyzing the consumers and market for optimized sale. I'm searching for a market-leading company that makes a product that I'm passionate about. Using my experience and education, I want to assist in taking that product to the next level.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
Work History
Product Manager / Executive Brewer / Founder / Owner
Blue Owl Brewing
01.2014 - Current
- Created an entirely new market for accessible, mid-tier sour beers. In addition to building, funding, and running a $2M business, my main day-to-day responsibility was the Product Management of the Blue Owl Brewing sour beer line, Bob's Fine Beer line, and many sub-lines of products.
- The go-to-market strategy included taking advantage of a niche within the craft beer industry — approachable, everyday sours in cans. With intense initial education-forward marketing and word-of-mouth, I established Blue Owl Brewing as the leader and expert for this newly developed style of beer. Relationships with retail vendors and on-site craft beer bars around Texas allowed us to grow 10x over the first 6-7 years.
- The standard product lifecycle method was applied for both the initial catalog of sour beers as well as introducing a non-sour line as the sours reached the maturity/decline stages. Examples of these stages for Blue Owl Brewing are as follows:
- Launch — Research of brewing techniques and insights about the craft beer industry led to the development of a new, hybrid style of beer that included both the hype of sour beers with the higher sales velocity of approachable, everyday sales. Heavy investment into introductory and educational marketing quickly got the brewery noticed nationwide.
- Growth — As the sour beers hit their growth phase, they reached all of Texas, some California, and even Australia and Thailand. More variety in the beer styles was developed following market trends of fruit forward and sweet sour beers. Equipment and personnel were upgraded and added to to run accommodate demand.
- Maturity — During the maturity phase, the sales started plateauing so a 2-stage strategy was employed: 1) refine and reduce number of overlapping sour beers to maximize profits, and 2, R&D shifted some resources towards current beer trend styles — IPAs and pilsners.
- Decline — As sour beers declined, optimized our portfolio to focus on highest margin beers. In the meantime, a new brand under the Blue Owl Brewing name was introduced — Bob's Fine Beers. This line of more “standard” beers quickly took over the majority of sales as the sour family marketing was refocused to highlight more premium sour styles with higher margins and hold sales at a lower, but steady and profitable level.
- The decline of the sour beers led to the new product lifecycle for the Bob's Fine Beers line. This shows that the business is adaptable and can live on even as trends change.
Manager / Brewer / Founder
Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery
01.2009 - 01.2014
- Business Development — I helped create a new style of hybrid business model that continues to be copied around the US — Consumer Co-operative Brewpub.
- Product Manager — After launching in 2010, I developed the craft beer products that both had their own individual product lifecycle, but also the lifecycle of the craft beer portfolio as a whole.
- Brewery Leader — I trained and managed many brewers over the years to work towards excellent craft beer production but also how to be part of a team and a leader.
Manager / Analytical Pharmaceutical Chemist
PharmaForm
01.2006 - 01.2009
- Team Manager — I led a small team of advanced chemists in ensuring pharmaceutical production equipment was clean and validated for future production.
- Chemist — I used innovative equipment to develop and validate methods, SOPs for the Cleaning Validation group.
Education
Bachelors of Science - Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry
University of Montevallo
01.2006
Skills
- Product strategy
- Product lifecycle management
- Project planning
- KPI tracking
- Product roadmaps
- Data-driven decision making
- Teamwork and collaboration
Hobbies and Interests
Sailing the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia, Hiking the Camino de Santiago, Visiting family in Scotland, Playing fetch with my heelers
Timeline
Product Manager / Executive Brewer / Founder / Owner
Blue Owl Brewing
01.2014 - Current
Manager / Brewer / Founder
Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery
01.2009 - 01.2014
Manager / Analytical Pharmaceutical Chemist
PharmaForm
01.2006 - 01.2009
Bachelors of Science - Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry
University of Montevallo
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