About
Founder & Principal
Erick Watson is the founder and principal of SproutVest, a consultancy that helps founders, funds, and family offices commercialize emerging technologies in AI, blockchain, and enterprise SaaS. With 15+ years of experience spanning Google, Microsoft, Protocol Labs, and high-growth startups, Erick has contributed to more than $1.33 billion in documented revenue impact across 4 startup exits. Member of the Toptal network (top 3% of freelance product managers).
His work includes driving $1.22B in incremental ARR at Google, serving 34M+ users at Elevance Health, generating $12M+ in B2B sales at Quantarium, leading product-market fit discovery at Trensant (acquired by Interos.ai), launching dcipher.network with $3.3M in pre-seed funding, and raising $24.3M total across multiple ventures. Full bio → · Speaking & media →
Philosophy
"Equitable Corporate Development means building companies where technical excellence, commercial sustainability, and ethical stewardship reinforce one another."
SproutVest operates on the belief that the best products emerge when deep technical insight meets disciplined go-to-market execution. We don't just optimize for growth—we help teams build infrastructure that earns trust and compounds value over time.
This philosophy extends to how we engage with clients: transparent communication, outcome-driven partnerships, and a commitment to transferring knowledge so your team can operate independently.
Experience
Randamu
Co-Founder & CEO · 2023–2025
Spun out of Protocol Labs to build threshold cryptography infrastructure for Web3. Raised $3.3M, shipped dcipher.network to production across Cosmos, Filecoin, and Ethereum L2s.
Protocol Labs
Entrepreneur-in-Residence · 2023–2024
Commercialized drand, transforming a research-grade cryptography project into a market-ready decentralized service powering verifiable randomness across Web3, gaming, and AI.
Angi
Principal Product Manager · 2022–2023
Increased website conversion by 8%, generating tens of millions in additional annual gross revenue. Reduced abandonment by 3%. Built a data science experimentation framework for rapid SEM prototyping.
Senior Product Manager · 2021–2022
Led Search Advertising product driving $1.22B in incremental ARR. Integrated AI/ML into advertiser workflows with a 20+ person cross-functional team.
Elevance Health
Principal Digital PM · 2019–2020
Led product and DevOps for identity and access management supporting 34M+ members. Improved adoption by 10%, member CSAT by 7%, and reduced inbound call volume by 6%.
Quantarium
Chief Product Officer · 2017–2019
Built the top-ranked AI valuation platform for real estate, covering 105M U.S. households. Generated $12M+ in AWS Marketplace sales. Managed a team of 8 and a $10M P&L. Led corporate spin-out and acquisition.
Trensant
Co-Founder & CPO · 2015–2017
Predictive analytics using NLP and graph databases. Raised $6M. Predicted the 2016 U.S. election by one electoral vote. Acquired by Interos.ai.
Microsoft
Principal PM & Director · 2010–2015
Led AI/ML technical program management at Microsoft Research, building CodaLab (300+ ML competitions, 3,000+ community). Earlier, ran a $150M P&L and 130-person team in Beijing, growing China partner ecosystem investment by 33%.
What Sets Us Apart
Full-Stack Perspective
Equally comfortable discussing cryptographic primitives with your engineering team and unit economics with your board. We bridge the gap between technical depth and commercial strategy.
Operator Experience
Not just advisors—we've built products, raised capital, and shipped at scale. Our recommendations come from hands-on experience in the same environments our clients navigate.
Network Effect
Access to a curated network of technical experts, investors, and operators across AI, blockchain, and enterprise SaaS. We make introductions that matter.
Outcome-Driven
We align our success with yours. Flexible engagement models, milestone-based deliverables, and a commitment to measurable results rather than billable hours.
Ready to Work Together?
Whether you're evaluating a deep tech investment or building AI/blockchain infrastructure, let's explore how SproutVest can help you move faster and smarter.
Book a Discovery Call →