Renato Costa
Renato Costa
Renato Costa
15+ years of experience leading and building high performing products and teams.
Former Head of Product at Varjo, Director of Product Management at Hotjar, Team Lead at Booking.com.
I bring a human, pragmatic, no-nonsense approach to leadership, product management, and business development — from validating and launching new and innovative startups to scaling and optimising products with millions of daily active users.
15+ years of experience leading and building high performing products and teams.
Former Head of Product at Varjo, Director of Product Management at Hotjar, Team Lead at Booking.com.
I bring a human, pragmatic, no-nonsense approach to leadership, product management, and business development — from validating and launching new and innovative startups to scaling and optimising products with millions of daily active users.
15+ years of experience leading and building high performing products and teams.
Former Head of Product at Varjo, Director of Product Management at Hotjar, Team Lead at Booking.com.
I bring a human, pragmatic, no-nonsense approach to leadership, product management, and business development — from validating and launching new and innovative startups to scaling and optimising products with millions of daily active users.
New 1:1 slots available
New 1:1 slots available
mentorship
coaching
advisory
feedback
In-depth 1:1 sessions about you, your ideas, specific challenges and aspirations.
I will help you achieve your goals by providing unbiased feedback, guidance, tools, and actionable advice that is tailored to your unique situation.
In-depth 1:1 sessions about you, your ideas, specific challenges and aspirations.
I will help you achieve your goals by providing unbiased feedback, guidance, tools, and actionable advice that is tailored to your unique situation.
In-depth 1:1 sessions about you, your ideas, specific challenges and aspirations.
I will help you achieve your goals by providing unbiased feedback, guidance, and actionable advice that is tailored to your unique situation.
What they say.
What they say.
"His energy is contagious. He influenced the team's tone, which feels fluid and focused but distended, plus he is very much on top of every single story."
"Renato is great at energizing the team and building a collaborative working environment. He frequently questions what is being worked on in a constructive manner- this helps the team to think more about what we are investing our time in and how its improving customer experience."
"His feedback is always accurate and spot on. He has a great eye for people and the processes we do everyday, and can provide insights and suggest improvements on practically every area of the company."
"Renato can talk to absolutely anyone, and does so in a way that engages and often challenges the listener. He can adapt his approach depending on the context, and really has a skill for getting the best out of people."
"One thing that I see is that Renato asks timely, relevant, and challenging questions to the team. He isn't afraid to go against the flow, which I think brings a nice balance and reality check to team decision making."
"He drives the team towards achieving results quickly through role modeling: try, fail fast and learn by trying new stuff with his teams."
"He constantly shown himself hungry for new missions and achievements and had made a clear difference in terms of team speed, goal focus and presence."
"I like that he has so much energy in his work and that he is always trying to go the extra mile. I enjoy having him in the team!"
"The ability of Renato focusing on just what matters, helps in creating a streamlined environment based on trust and psychological safety."
"Renato's curiosity, ambition, and desire to overcome challenges shines through in everyday interactions with him. He's not afraid to take on completely new things."
"I've never had to wonder where I stand with Renato. He's never afraid to bring up uncertainties, express his different views, or disagree. In various formats, I can count on Renato to provoke conversations that drive clarity by asking things super straight up."
"He puts the customers at the heart of everything and is relentless in his pursuit to make squads do the same. He constantly pushes squads to think about the user experience surrounding their areas."
"Renato is great at making sure there is a good balance between, user-centricity and just enough research."
"Working with Renato has been a pleasure. I couldn't have a better colleague. He is not just supportive and always happy to give me feedback, but the genuinity he has it's impressive. He is a great person with a big heart and a huge passion!"
"Renato is always ready to ask the right questions at the right time. He is never judgmental and always respects others opinion."
"Renato is an ambitious leader who drives change. He is persistent with product goals and is able to motivate the team in taking calculated risks helping us move the needle."
"Renato doesn't let a lack of existing process, guidelines, or anything stop him from doing what needs to be done. Where a process is needed, he just brings it in."
"Renato's consistently fast pace and ability to inspire the same in others is definitely one of his core strengths, and something his leadership skills help amplify across different squads."
"Renato has shared open and transparent feedback with me and pointed things that I have room to improve along the way, and has led by example in terms of vulnerability."
"Renato is constantly challenging us to move faster. "How can you learn earlier?", "What is the smallest thing you can do start?" and the famous "Gain and keep momentum!"."
"For me, the thing I especially value with Renato is his bias towards taking action, rather than getting stuck in analysis mode. I very much appreciate his approach to iteration over perfection."
"Renato continually strives to push past our comfort zones and into challenging new territory. I think this has been well emphasized for me with his focus on encouraging a culture of experimentation."
"It's clear that the people Renato leads really value his leadership and commitments to them. Renato really does put people first."
"One of the things I like most about Renato is his level of energy – he loves talking about the things he's passionate about and that energy is transferred to those around him."
"Renato's casual style makes everyone around him feel very comfortable. He uses humor to lighten the mood in calls, but still has no problem raising difficult topics."
"I'm impressed about his level of knowledge and understanding. Renato has the ability to combine great vision with knowledge while being able to keep everything under control."
"Renato always has new ideas and new suggestions for the team on how we can work more efficiently. Additionally I find him extremely helpful when approached with questions and requests to brainstorm on new ideas."
"He is able to have meaningful conversations around relevant metrics, frameworks and approaches, and encourages all of us to expand our knowledge on those topics."
"Renato is both a great manager and a leader, as he's able to strike a good balance between empowering his team and trusting them to make their own decisions and providing hands on support or feedback whenever the need arises."
"Being a strong PM, he holds himself and others accountable to provide high quality work that leads to meaningful business outcomes."
"As a leader to the tribe Renato has provided a clear vision, helped remove blockers, been fast in decision making, and created rituals to ensure we have everything we need to do our best work."
"On an individual level, Renato has provided opportunities for me to grow and mentorship in topics like creating experimentation and fast delivery culture in the squad."
"His feedback is always accurate and spot on. He has a great eye for people and the processes we do everyday, and can provide insights and suggest improvements on practically every area of the company."
"Renato is very strong in communicating a vision for where we should be headed. This helps build alignment with the team around what we are trying to achieve."
"Renato is an ambitious leader who sets clear expectations and communicates effectively."
"Renato is definitely one of the best managers I've had, and he's clearly actively working to continue to evolve his leadership style and how he works with his team."
"The thing that's consistently impressed with me about Renato is his ability to cut through the noise, and hone in on what is most important. He's great at helping teams find their focus, and become high-performing."
"I've learned a lot from Renato's expertise in experimentation. No decision is made simply on a hunch, he is meticulous in analysing the results of experiments and often derives conclusions that I had not considered."
"Renato has a real talent in empowering people to grow, take ownership and challenge themselves whilst still offering guidance and support."
"Renato acts on a daily basis as a pace maker within our squad. While he is not afraid in taking decisions, he also encourages the team to take them in order to move fast and challenge the status quo from a product, but also from a team perspective."
"He consistently thinks on his feet and doesn't waste any time before acting. While working with Renato, I noticed that the whole squad benefited from fast-moving experiments, (extremely) high cadency of work cycles, and not hesitating about failing in order to learn."
"Renato also advocates a bias towards action and this involves being bold in decision making when you have just enough information."
"I'm always impressed by how creative Renato is, and how much out of the box thinking he does. He's always keen to expand the boundaries and always excited to see what we can do to learn more."
"Aside from his product expertise, Renato is one the most technical PMs I've worked with. I've seen how this skill results in quicker decisions with the engineers and leads to less confusion overall."
"I have firsthand seen Renato work with other Leads/Exec team to influence the strategic direction and regardless if the outcome is not as he might hope/is as he hoped, he passionately and loyally commits to decisions made for the good of the business."
"What I do know of Renato is that he is an exceptional people-person and a brilliant, inspiring and caring leader. From the "outside", I can certainly see he creates an extremely inclusive environment and is really focused on supporting, developing and unblocking his team for greatness"
"I'm always impressed by Renato's capabilities to think high level in one moment and scale down into details in the next. Within groomings or picking up opportunities he emphasizes our company strategy and principles. Also, he let it look easy to handle multiple balls/projects/topics at the same time."
"I can confidently say that he's skilled at bringing out the best out of his team and is very effective into catalyzing those strength in positive (and often impressive) business results."
"Renato is always there for you when you need him, always ready to listen and he does give you the feel that you can trust him."
"Renato is the best PM I have ever worked with. He consistently impresses me with his product expertise, user-focused mindset and creativity."
"Renato is very strong at data-driven prioritization, and he truly understands the value of speed in experimentation, both of which enable him to be bold and move fast."
"Renato is very good at building alignment and transparency around his work through very good communication of his experiments. In fact, his approach to reporting has been taken to be the defacto standard for the team. Renato also always speaks up and challenges the status quo."
"Renato is a very versatile person and the reason for this is that he is capable of very quickly diving into a topic and learning a great deal about it."
"Renato's top strength in my opinion is that he is very reliable and this is a quality I appreciate alot in people I work with."
"Everything he does is fueled by his passion to solve problems, pain-points for users and build experiences that just work and don't make the user second guess themselves. He always provides data to back up his ideas, and is always on the lookout for the biggest impact he can make."
"I consider Renato to have strong leadership skills, and he really knows how to leverage that to help empower those around him. This is quite unique trait of his, and truth is that I haven't worked with many people like this."
"He's very clear when discussing what he expects to achieve, why he thinks it's a good idea, all the context needed, and how he is going to help execute on this plan. Because of this, it's so easy to work with him."
"If there's one thing that I see Renato doing best, it's about taking ownership, learning about the problem space and driving changes in order to see some results."
"He's such a positive person to be around. He brings such a good energy to the conversation, and gets genuinely excited by the work that is being done. He's incredibly kind and honest."
"Renato has had a massive impact on me and my product understanding, in helping guide and mentor me."
"Renato's collaboration skills are his strongest suit, and an example to us all. From his work with exec through to his peers and then with partner functions (CS, Marketing), Renato is an example to follow."
"Renato is a catalyst and motivator for people he works with."
"The thing that inspired me most when working with him, was the way that he empowered every single person on the team to do their best work and drive results, to make them all feel like they were part of the same initiative."
"His energy is contagious. He influenced the team's tone, which feels fluid and focused but distended, plus he is very much on top of every single story."
"Renato is great at energizing the team and building a collaborative working environment. He frequently questions what is being worked on in a constructive manner- this helps the team to think more about what we are investing our time in and how its improving customer experience."
"His feedback is always accurate and spot on. He has a great eye for people and the processes we do everyday, and can provide insights and suggest improvements on practically every area of the company."
"Renato can talk to absolutely anyone, and does so in a way that engages and often challenges the listener. He can adapt his approach depending on the context, and really has a skill for getting the best out of people."
"One thing that I see is that Renato asks timely, relevant, and challenging questions to the team. He isn't afraid to go against the flow, which I think brings a nice balance and reality check to team decision making."
"He drives the team towards achieving results quickly through role modeling: try, fail fast and learn by trying new stuff with his teams."
"He constantly shown himself hungry for new missions and achievements and had made a clear difference in terms of team speed, goal focus and presence."
"I like that he has so much energy in his work and that he is always trying to go the extra mile. I enjoy having him in the team!"
"The ability of Renato focusing on just what matters, helps in creating a streamlined environment based on trust and psychological safety."
"Renato's curiosity, ambition, and desire to overcome challenges shines through in everyday interactions with him. He's not afraid to take on completely new things."
"I've never had to wonder where I stand with Renato. He's never afraid to bring up uncertainties, express his different views, or disagree. In various formats, I can count on Renato to provoke conversations that drive clarity by asking things super straight up."
"He puts the customers at the heart of everything and is relentless in his pursuit to make squads do the same. He constantly pushes squads to think about the user experience surrounding their areas."
"Renato is great at making sure there is a good balance between, user-centricity and just enough research."
"Working with Renato has been a pleasure. I couldn't have a better colleague. He is not just supportive and always happy to give me feedback, but the genuinity he has it's impressive. He is a great person with a big heart and a huge passion!"
"Renato is always ready to ask the right questions at the right time. He is never judgmental and always respects others opinion."
"Renato is an ambitious leader who drives change. He is persistent with product goals and is able to motivate the team in taking calculated risks helping us move the needle."
"Renato doesn't let a lack of existing process, guidelines, or anything stop him from doing what needs to be done. Where a process is needed, he just brings it in."
"Renato's consistently fast pace and ability to inspire the same in others is definitely one of his core strengths, and something his leadership skills help amplify across different squads."
"Renato has shared open and transparent feedback with me and pointed things that I have room to improve along the way, and has led by example in terms of vulnerability."
"Renato is constantly challenging us to move faster. "How can you learn earlier?", "What is the smallest thing you can do start?" and the famous "Gain and keep momentum!"."
"For me, the thing I especially value with Renato is his bias towards taking action, rather than getting stuck in analysis mode. I very much appreciate his approach to iteration over perfection."
"Renato continually strives to push past our comfort zones and into challenging new territory. I think this has been well emphasized for me with his focus on encouraging a culture of experimentation."
"It's clear that the people Renato leads really value his leadership and commitments to them. Renato really does put people first."
"One of the things I like most about Renato is his level of energy – he loves talking about the things he's passionate about and that energy is transferred to those around him."
"Renato's casual style makes everyone around him feel very comfortable. He uses humor to lighten the mood in calls, but still has no problem raising difficult topics."
"I'm impressed about his level of knowledge and understanding. Renato has the ability to combine great vision with knowledge while being able to keep everything under control."
"Renato always has new ideas and new suggestions for the team on how we can work more efficiently. Additionally I find him extremely helpful when approached with questions and requests to brainstorm on new ideas."
"He is able to have meaningful conversations around relevant metrics, frameworks and approaches, and encourages all of us to expand our knowledge on those topics."
"Renato is both a great manager and a leader, as he's able to strike a good balance between empowering his team and trusting them to make their own decisions and providing hands on support or feedback whenever the need arises."
"Being a strong PM, he holds himself and others accountable to provide high quality work that leads to meaningful business outcomes."
"As a leader to the tribe Renato has provided a clear vision, helped remove blockers, been fast in decision making, and created rituals to ensure we have everything we need to do our best work."
"On an individual level, Renato has provided opportunities for me to grow and mentorship in topics like creating experimentation and fast delivery culture in the squad."
"His feedback is always accurate and spot on. He has a great eye for people and the processes we do everyday, and can provide insights and suggest improvements on practically every area of the company."
"Renato is very strong in communicating a vision for where we should be headed. This helps build alignment with the team around what we are trying to achieve."
"Renato is an ambitious leader who sets clear expectations and communicates effectively."
"Renato is definitely one of the best managers I've had, and he's clearly actively working to continue to evolve his leadership style and how he works with his team."
"The thing that's consistently impressed with me about Renato is his ability to cut through the noise, and hone in on what is most important. He's great at helping teams find their focus, and become high-performing."
"I've learned a lot from Renato's expertise in experimentation. No decision is made simply on a hunch, he is meticulous in analysing the results of experiments and often derives conclusions that I had not considered."
"Renato has a real talent in empowering people to grow, take ownership and challenge themselves whilst still offering guidance and support."
"Renato acts on a daily basis as a pace maker within our squad. While he is not afraid in taking decisions, he also encourages the team to take them in order to move fast and challenge the status quo from a product, but also from a team perspective."
"He consistently thinks on his feet and doesn't waste any time before acting. While working with Renato, I noticed that the whole squad benefited from fast-moving experiments, (extremely) high cadency of work cycles, and not hesitating about failing in order to learn."
"Renato also advocates a bias towards action and this involves being bold in decision making when you have just enough information."
"I'm always impressed by how creative Renato is, and how much out of the box thinking he does. He's always keen to expand the boundaries and always excited to see what we can do to learn more."
"Aside from his product expertise, Renato is one the most technical PMs I've worked with. I've seen how this skill results in quicker decisions with the engineers and leads to less confusion overall."
"I have firsthand seen Renato work with other Leads/Exec team to influence the strategic direction and regardless if the outcome is not as he might hope/is as he hoped, he passionately and loyally commits to decisions made for the good of the business."
"What I do know of Renato is that he is an exceptional people-person and a brilliant, inspiring and caring leader. From the "outside", I can certainly see he creates an extremely inclusive environment and is really focused on supporting, developing and unblocking his team for greatness"
"I'm always impressed by Renato's capabilities to think high level in one moment and scale down into details in the next. Within groomings or picking up opportunities he emphasizes our company strategy and principles. Also, he let it look easy to handle multiple balls/projects/topics at the same time."
"I can confidently say that he's skilled at bringing out the best out of his team and is very effective into catalyzing those strength in positive (and often impressive) business results."
"Renato is always there for you when you need him, always ready to listen and he does give you the feel that you can trust him."
"Renato is the best PM I have ever worked with. He consistently impresses me with his product expertise, user-focused mindset and creativity."
"Renato is very strong at data-driven prioritization, and he truly understands the value of speed in experimentation, both of which enable him to be bold and move fast."
"Renato is very good at building alignment and transparency around his work through very good communication of his experiments. In fact, his approach to reporting has been taken to be the defacto standard for the team. Renato also always speaks up and challenges the status quo."
"Renato is a very versatile person and the reason for this is that he is capable of very quickly diving into a topic and learning a great deal about it."
"Renato's top strength in my opinion is that he is very reliable and this is a quality I appreciate alot in people I work with."
"Everything he does is fueled by his passion to solve problems, pain-points for users and build experiences that just work and don't make the user second guess themselves. He always provides data to back up his ideas, and is always on the lookout for the biggest impact he can make."
"I consider Renato to have strong leadership skills, and he really knows how to leverage that to help empower those around him. This is quite unique trait of his, and truth is that I haven't worked with many people like this."
"He's very clear when discussing what he expects to achieve, why he thinks it's a good idea, all the context needed, and how he is going to help execute on this plan. Because of this, it's so easy to work with him."
"If there's one thing that I see Renato doing best, it's about taking ownership, learning about the problem space and driving changes in order to see some results."
"He's such a positive person to be around. He brings such a good energy to the conversation, and gets genuinely excited by the work that is being done. He's incredibly kind and honest."
"Renato has had a massive impact on me and my product understanding, in helping guide and mentor me."
"Renato's collaboration skills are his strongest suit, and an example to us all. From his work with exec through to his peers and then with partner functions (CS, Marketing), Renato is an example to follow."
"Renato is a catalyst and motivator for people he works with."
"The thing that inspired me most when working with him, was the way that he empowered every single person on the team to do their best work and drive results, to make them all feel like they were part of the same initiative."
⚡Let's work together.
⚡
Let's work together.
In-depth 1:1 sessions about you, your ideas, specific challenges and aspirations.
I will help you achieve your goals by providing unbiased feedback, guidance, tools, and actionable advice that is tailored to your unique situation.
In-depth 1:1 sessions about you, your ideas, specific challenges and aspirations.
I will help you achieve your goals by providing unbiased feedback, guidance, tools, and actionable advice that is tailored to your unique situation.
In-depth 1:1 sessions about you, your ideas, specific challenges and aspirations.
I will help you achieve your goals by providing unbiased feedback, guidance, tools, and actionable advice that is tailored to your unique situation.
Building better
Careers
Ideal for
Aspiring product managers and individual contributors looking to take on their next challenge.
Breaking into product
Job application & interviewing
Climbing the ladder
Moving from IC to Manager
Building better
Products
Ideal for
Founders & product managers looking to launch and grow successful products.
New product development
Continuous discovery & validation
Product-led growth
A/B testing & experimentation
Pricing & monetization
Building better
Teams
Ideal for
Team leaders & managers looking to build and lead high-performing teams and organisations.
Team stages of development
Rituals & processes
Working remotely
Communication styles
Conflict management
Team topologies
Any questions or doubts?
© Renato Costa 2023
Currently living, running and working remotely from Finland.