0-to-1 product building
Especially in domains where existing solutions miss the deeper problem
About · Altura
About Altura
Altura is the in-the-moment speaking coach for high-stakes conversations. It helps professionals close the gap between knowing what to say and being able to say it under pressure — interviews, presentations, customer calls, all-hands meetings.
Sheryl ZhangFounder · Altura
Who's behind Altura
Who's behind Altura
I'm Sheryl Zhang, founder of Altura. I've spent nearly 30 years in tech as a product executive — most recently as VP of Product at Docker and at ThoughtSpot.
I built Altura because nothing else could close the gap between knowing and doing in the moments that matter most. The full story is on the founder story.
Read the founder storyCareer
Career
● Present
AlturaFounder
Building the in-the-moment speaking coach for high-stakes conversations.
2024 — Present
Snow Strategy & InnovationFounder & Product Strategy Advisor
Independent firm advising founders and product leaders on SaaS monetization, product-led growth, and Generative AI integration. Altura is the firm’s first owned product.
2024 — 2025
DockerVP of Product — Data, Growth, Monetization, PLG
Docker’s first executive to lead a centralized monetization, data, and growth function. Led the company’s most significant pricing and packaging overhaul in six years, delivering 5% incremental ARR (tens of millions) in three months. Built and scaled Docker’s first product-led growth team.
2020 — 2024
ThoughtSpotVP of Product — SaaS Lead (GM capacity)
Built ThoughtSpot’s SaaS platform from concept to launch, leading the company’s transformation from on-premise to SaaS in a General Manager capacity. Drove 2X revenue growth over three years and a 300% increase in commercial accounts through a consumption-based pricing model.
— 2020
Earlier roles
Head of Product Management and Marketing at Platina Systems; co-founder and CPO at Firewalla (consumer IoT security — exceeded crowdfunding goal by 300%); Chief Product and Partnership Officer at the Linux Foundation's Open Network Foundation; Director of Product Management and Business Development at HPE (formerly Juniper); and 13 years at Cisco Systems in roles spanning product management, engineering, sales, and corporate marketing.
Platina SystemsFirewallaLinux Foundation · ONFHPE / JuniperCisco Systems
What I work on
What I work on
SaaS monetization, pricing architecture, and product-led growth
The disciplines that turn good products into scalable businesses
AI integration in real products
Large language models, agentic systems, retrieval-augmented generation — applied to actual user problems, not as decoration
Background
Bachelor of Engineering in Information Technology from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. I've lived and worked in the US tech industry since the late 1990s. I've built my entire career in a second language — which is part of why I care about communication being something every professional can master under pressure, native speaker or not.
Your next conversation is coming.
Altura will be there.
You've done the preparation. Now let it show up when it counts.