Robert MacKenzie

Executive Leader | Investor | Company, Product, Technology Strategy and Execution

Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

About

I build technology companies for readiness, not just ambition. I am the evolver, the fixer, the Swiss-Army Knife of strong product and technology company leadership at Switzerland's leading tech companies. I am a technology and product executive with more than a decade of experience as CTO and Chief Product Officer in complex technology environments. Resourceful, decisive, and curious, I have led product, engineering, and organizational development in deep tech companies, and recently scaled organizations from dozens to hundreds. I have led thousands. My work sits at the intersection of technology, product strategy, and organizational leadership. I build the systems, capabilities, and decision-making needed to turn complex technologies into real products, real companies, and real market impact. I transform organizational learning and help master outside-in perspectives. I am especially strong in environments where hidden complexity is high: robotics, AI, MedTech, and other deep tech domains where success depends not only on technical ambition, but on product completeness, execution readiness, and organizational design. Over the years, I have built company processes from scratch, led large cross-functional organizations, shaped product and technology strategy, and helped companies navigate the path from innovation to scalable execution. Alongside operating roles, I also work as a Venture Partner and advisor in deep tech. That perspective keeps me close to emerging technologies, investment thinking, and the realities of building in learn-before-earn markets. I am currently open to organizational leadership roles where I can contribute as a CEO, COO, CTO, CPO, or equivalent executive leader in a technology or deep tech company. The feedback of others (see LinkedIn recommendations) confirms my advanced leadership skills and style. SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENTS - Global speaking engagements (e.g. WEF, UN, Top Tech Conferences, Royal Society of Medicine) - ANYbotics: 4x awards,e.g. Winner of Digital Economy Awards 2023 (Next Global Hot Thing) - Labster: 4x EdTech Innovation awards, including Re-Imagine Education 2x Gold Medal 2020 - Fatherhood (x2) - Completion of the Transa & Fjällräven Classic Trekking Competition (110 km in 3 days) - Completion of 200 hours Yoga Alliance certification for Hatha & Vinyasa Yoga - Hocoma: 10x award winner with Valedo, a first-of-its-kind consumer wearable medical device EMAIL: [email protected]

Experience

  • Head of Product Management at TWINT
    Jun 2026 - Present · 2 mos

    TWINT is Switzerland's super-app for one's everyday life and currently the country's most known brand and product. - Leading Product Management - Shaping product strategy - Designing and implementing an AI-powered Product Operating Model - Company sponsor goal-based working and disseminating company strategy e.g. OKR & KPI

  • Venture Partner at ellipsis
    Mar 2025 - Present · 1 yr 5 mos

    As a company builder (see ANYbotics, Labster), I help robotics & AI startups in our portfolio succeed. As an investor, I lead Ellipsis Ventures's robotics investment, help win deals, and build a valuable portfolio. As a "special forces" operator, I help all succeed. Robotics Portolio: Levtek, Flink Robotics Notable engagements: - WEF 2026 moderator “Robotics and Physical AI” roundtable - Speaker: CEIBS Global Executive MBA Programme "Executive Strategic Thinking for Robotics & AI" - Keynote: Liechtenstein Robotics Investor Evening "A Golden Age of Robotics Investment" - Speaker: AI Crossroads "A Golden Age of Robotics Investment; The Hidden Complexity of Robotics" - Panel: Zurich AI Week, SICTIC & AWS "Robotics & AI"

  • Investor and Advisor at Mac n Cheese Games
    Jan 2023 - Present · 3 yrs 7 mos

    I invested, we spar on strategy and fundraising, I connect Mac n Chesse Games with my network, I play and spread the gaming love.

  • ANYbotics ()
    • Chief Product Officer (AI & Intelligent Systems, Cybersecurity, Product Design)
      Jul 2024 - Dec 2024 · 6 mos

      ANYbotics: Building the autonomous robotic workforce of the future. As Chief Product Officer I led product strategy, all formal product roles, and "top-of-stack" end-user solution development to create an ever-more capable mobile robotic co-worker. I ultimately owned and formally led the Technical Leaders of: Artificial Intelligence, Architecture, Cybersecurity, User Interaction Design (UX & Design). Organizationally, I established and strengthened strategic partnerships, coached IP portfolio management, project management, and both initiated and collaboratively shaped people/HR and learning programs. Summarized Results - 200+ robots deployed globally - Growth from low single-digit to significant double-digit million annual revenues - Company scaling from 40 to nearly 200 team members - 130+m company funding leadership, including a 110m Series B (2023/2024) and a 20m Series A (2020) - AI: 99+% industrial stairclimbing with AI (Reinforcement Learning), first-ever industrial application - AI: Development of Machine Learning and modern Computer Vision visual inspection framework - AI: Strategy, partnerships and application of multimodal foundation models - Company-wide introduction of goal-setting framework based on OKRs (& KPIs) at scale - Design and implementation of a cross-department collaborative roadmap-building process - New product strategy and roadmap rolled out to nearly 200 employees - Design and roll-out of transformation to cross-functional development organization (Team Topologies) - Commercial growth via establishing technical partnerships with major hyper scalers (AWS, Google, NVIDIA)

    • CTO Solutions (AI, Architecture, UX Design, Cybersecurity, R&D Testing, Robotics)
      Sep 2020 - Jul 2024 · 3 yrs 11 mos

      As CTO I grew and led Software Engineering (AI & machine learning, perception, navigation, locomotion, cloud robotics, end-user applications, data engineering, etc.) from 15 to nearly 70 direct team members. I additionally advised Product Management. I formally led these technology areas: Artificial Intelligence, Architecture, Cybersecurity, Robotics, User Interaction Design (UX & Design), R&D Testing Automation & Quality. Awards - Winner of Digital Economy Awards 2023 - Next Global Hot Thing - Winner of SPRINT Robotics Challenge 2022 - Winner of Mars Habitat Challenge 2021 - Winner of Swiss Economic Award 2020

  • Executive Team Member (CPTO) at Labster
    Apr 2016 - Jun 2020 · 4 yrs 3 mos

    Today Labster serves more than six million learners in 3,000 institutions across 100 countries, focusing on equitable learning and career readiness. My responsibilities and results: - Member of Labster's "C-Level" Executive Team as CPTO - Leading the Product Development & Strategy for the digital transformation of education - From "0" to 30+ mUSD ARR in Labster’s revenues via the introduction of a new SaaS license model - Shaping company growth, structures and processes from ca. 30 to 250 team members worldwide - Scaling Product R&D from ca. 25 to 80+ people, local & remote in 20+ countries/locations - Company-saving coordination of 2m USD in 2020 R&D cost savings in response to Covid19 - Guiding Labster to 35m USD funding (Series A, Series B), setting up a 60m USD Series C round - Creation, growth and leadership of Product Management team within Product R&D - Direct involvement in large and multi-million dollar deal shaping and closure - Expert use of OKRs, Holacracy, Agile for self-organization, distributed teams and leadership - Direct budget responsibility exceeding 5 million USD annually - Program management, roadmap planning, innovation management, coordinating engineering execution - Finances and budget Planning: headcount, cost-forecasting, metric definition and tracking - Technical partnership agreement negotiation, signing and coordination Awards: - 2018 2x Reimagine Gold i) Life Sciences & Medicine: https://www.reimagine-education.com/discipline-2019-award-winners/ and ii) VR/AR in Education: https://www.reimagine-education.com/vr-ar/ - 2017 Index Design Award "People's Choice" for best Product Design (https://theindexproject.org/post/labster-2017-peoples-choice-winner) - 2016 Reimagine Education "Overall Winner" (http://www.reimagine-education.com/2016-winner-labster/)