Iain Weir
Digital product leader with a passion for sport, data and technology
Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom | Sports Technology
Iain Weir is a digital product leader based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. He is Digital Producer atEnigma Interactive, where he leads a team of software engineers on digital transformation projects, and the founder of Fantasy Rowing,TargetSplits, TapDown andWinterRowingLeague: products for rowing fans and athletes that he builds single-handedly, from concept to app store. His specialism is early-stage product development: finding a problem worth solving, scoping the smallest version worth shipping, launching it and iterating on real usage. Before that: The Boat Race Company, sports-technology start-up Endurance Sports Research, ran Rowing Photography, a specialist photo and video business, and had an early career in Product Control and Accounting at Dresdner Kleinwort, ABN Amro and PwC.
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| Recommended | 0 people have recommended Iain. He has never asked. |
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| Connections | 500+ connections, a satisfying number of them rowers |
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| Public Profile | http://www.linkedin.com/in/ifweir (the real one, if you'd like to connect properly) |
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Summary
Twenty years across finance, content, sports technology and digital transformation. The common thread is applying technology in ways that measurably change how people behave.
I set direction for engineering teams, write the specs, own the roadmap and keep clients calm during the interesting bits. On the side I build products for rowing fans and athletes, single-handedly, from concept to app store.
The part I'm best at is the early stage: product discovery, working out what the smallest useful version is, getting it in front of real users fast, and then letting usage rather than opinion decide what comes next. Four shipped products, each taken from zero to one the same way. Increasingly that means AI-assisted development too — prototypes that used to take a week now take an evening, which changes which ideas are worth testing.
Specialties
Early-stage product development, product discovery, MVP scoping and launch, rapid prototyping, AI-assisted software development, product management, digital transformation, roadmapping, user research, analytics and GA4, A/B testing, live broadcast production, iOS and Android apps, behavioural science, email marketing, video production, stakeholder management.
Experience
Digital Producer
Enigma Interactive (Digital agency; Full-time)
June 2024 — Present (2 years 4 months)
Currently holds this position
I set direction and line-manage a team of four software engineers delivering digital transformation projects for clients large and small, running fixed-price projects and longer programmes in parallel. That means workshops and process mapping with clients, writing the user stories and functional specs, owning the roadmap, and partnering with senior developers on security questionnaires and remediation.
- Workflow innovation for a high-volume web-to-print platform, letting customers delegate artwork upload and payment to third parties.
- Migrating home fuel ordering from phone to web, with a Dynamics 365 integration for account pricing and payment on a product with volatile prices.
- Consulting on resilience and mitigation during live cyber incidents, and managing client communication while they were happening.
Founder
Fantasy Rowing (Sports; Self-employed)
June 2023 — Present (3 years 4 months)
Currently holds this position
Built and launched an iOS and Android prediction-league app for rowing fans, single-handedly, from concept to store. Top 50 in the App Store's Sports category, 4.9★ from 36 reviews, and over 60% of surveyed users say they watched racing they otherwise wouldn't have. Read the case study »
Marketing & Communications Lead
The Boat Race Company (Sports)
March 2023 — May 2024 (1 year 3 months)
- Led new website functionality that drove a 173% increase in users and 293% increase in page views year on year.
- Grew email subscribers by 255% while keeping open rates above 50%.
- A new video strategy delivered 46% more views and 64% more new YouTube subscribers at no extra cost.
- Introduced GA4, Tag Manager custom events and an A/B testing framework.
Product Manager
Endurance Sports Research (Sports technology start-up)
August 2021 — October 2022 (1 year 3 months)
A start-up collecting and aggregating sports performance data, with a web platform called Ludum plus iOS and Android apps, serving programmes competing at the highest level.
- Represented the customer internally through data analysis, regular user interviews and product walk-throughs, and used conversion data to overhaul onboarding for multiple user groups.
- Led the company's part in a pilot that brought real-time performance data, transmitted directly from boats on the water, into live broadcast coverage of Henley Royal Regatta and The Boat Race.
- Scoped and specified bespoke work, including a complex health-monitoring feature for an Olympic programme.
- Ran the roadmap and sprint priorities with a remote design and development team in Serbia.
Marketing & Video Manager
Endurance Sports Research (Sports technology start-up)
September 2018 — August 2021 (3 years)
- Produced and directed live streams of racing on the Thames with GPS and accelerometer data overlaid from crews in real time: camera crews, RTMP servers, live editing, commentary liaison and dynamic graphics fed from our API.
- Built a YouTube content strategy from zero to 300K+ views, 37,000 hours of watch time and 1,500+ subscribers.
- Wrote the marketing copy and produced the imagery and app visuals for the website.
Freelance content, photography and video
Self-employed (Media production)
2008 — 2022 (14 years)
Worked with Red Bull, BBC Sport, British Rowing, Monster Energy, Rugby World Cup 2011, Hydrow, Oakley, Visit London and others. Ran RowingPhotography.co.uk, a rowing event photography business built around getting images online and printed faster than anyone else. Spent 2015–16 as Community Manager at f-stop gear, running the EMEA ambassador programme and supporting global content production.
Finance and audit
ABN AMRO · Dresdner Kleinwort · PwC (Banking; Accounting)
2003 — 2008 (5 years)
Product control at ABN AMRO and Dresdner Kleinwort, and audit on the PwC graduate scheme with clients including Shell, Rio Tinto, BT and Samsung. Where the analytical, data and risk habits come from.
Education
Loughborough University
BSc (Hons), Sports Technology, 2:1
Data Science Bootcamp
Imperial College London, with HyperionDev
Recommendations For Iain
Iain has not yet received any recommendations. The twenty years above will have to do; they were endorsed by the people who paid for them rather than by passing acquaintances.