Cedric Strickland, in practice.
Visionary product leader with 15 years driving innovation at Microsoft, Google, and high-growth startups. Transforming ideas into billion-user products through strategic vision, technical excellence, and exceptional leadership.
- Role
- Product & AI Executive
- Based in
- Seattle, WA
- Currently
- Google · Neua
The short version.
As a visionary product executive and Computer Scientist, I bring 15 years of experience driving strategy, delivering innovation, and fostering growth through data-driven insights and machine learning technologies.
My journey spans leadership roles at Microsoft and Google, where I've managed cross-functional organizations of 100+ employees, delivered billion-user products, and driven multi-billion dollar revenue streams.
Beyond corporate excellence, I'm a successful CEO & Founder, community leader, culture advisor, and published author, committed to enriching society through transformative innovation.
Professional Journey
Staff Product Management Lead
- Leading Gmail Service & AI Platform strategy for 100+ member organizations
- Curating 2026 Workspace billion dollar monetization strategy
- Driving Workspace strategy to increase Gemini DAUs
- Managing regulatory compliance protecting 10% of Alphabet's ARR
Chief Executive Officer & Founder
- Driving vision and mission to enrich society through transformative innovation
- Leading all business functions: finance, P&L, supply chain, sales, product, engineering
- Chief marketing strategist for integrated campaigns
- Creative Director of Neua Publishing House
Director/Principal Product Management Lead
- Led Windows commercial and consumer product strategy for 60+ member organizations
- Retained billions in government contracts responding to Executive Order EO14028
- Reduced toil by 40% and increased release agility by 250%
- Delivered Microsoft Teams to 12k commercial customers
Adjunct Graduate Studies Professor
- Designed and lectured CSS 566: Product & Software Management
- Instructed and led 30+ graduate professional students through the full program
- Forged partnerships with businesses nationwide for practical capstone program
- Delivered production applications to partner businesses
Senior AI Product Manager
- Led 10+ Windows OS releases to over 800M devices
- Pioneered first ML model for OS releases, reducing toil by 90%
- Increased incident detection by 10x using ML anomaly detection
- Captured 10M PC Game Pass subscribers seeding $2.3B ARR stream
Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer
- Co-founded first social podcast platform with shared listening and group spaces
- Led product strategy, UX design, and competitive research end-to-end
- Architected database schemas and role-based access controls
- Delivered multimillion-dollar acquisition pitches — acquired
Growth Product Manager
- Activated first 100M users on Windows 10 via the Get Windows 10 reservation campaign
- Upgraded 500M consumers from Windows 7/8 to modern platforms
- Acquired 50M commercial customers through Windows Update Assistant and Media Creation Tool
- Transformed Windows into an OTA release platform
Areas of Expertise
AI & Machine Learning
Leading AI platform strategy, implementing ML models for billion-user products, and driving Generative AI initiatives.
Product Strategy
Defining vision, roadmaps, and investment strategies for enterprise and consumer products at scale.
Business Growth
Driving multi-billion dollar revenue streams through strategic initiatives and market expansion.
Leadership Excellence
Building and leading high-performing cross-functional teams of 100+ professionals globally.
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Founding successful ventures, driving 0-to-1 products, and fostering innovation culture.
Enterprise & Compliance
Managing regulatory compliance, risk foundations, and government partnerships for critical systems.
Obsess over what customers truly deserve. Set goals that scare you. Then move with enough precision to earn both.
The receipts.
Off the clock.
My Black Job
An inspiring children's book series celebrating Black professional excellence and encouraging young minds to explore diverse career paths. This labor of love combines education, social justice reform, and technology to empower the next generation.
Additional Ventures & Impact
- Founded Neua Holdings LLC - driving transformative innovation
- Taught at University of Washington - mentoring next generation
- Published author promoting diversity and inclusion
- Advisory roles in multiple high-growth startups
Say hello.
I'm most active on LinkedIn and welcome meaningful conversations about technology, leadership, and innovation.
- /cedstrickland
- GitHub
- /cedstrickland
- Neua Labs
- /Neua-Labs
Executive Advisory & Strategic Guidance · Board Advisory Positions · Speaking & Thought Leadership · Strategic Consulting & Partnerships · AI Innovation Collaborations · Product Strategy Consulting