Mike Heneka
Get in Touch
New York · Product, Operations & Commercial Advisory

Helping organizations uncover real friction, align their teams, and build products that work.

Hi, I’m Mike Heneka. I serve as VP, Product & Operations, leading builders and technical teams across Engineering, Product, and Operations while working across internal business units, executive leadership, and external partner and customer stakeholders.

Alongside my executive role, I advise and mentor organizations of every size, from small businesses, cities, and counties to venture-backed companies and multinationals. Whether you need to solve operational bottlenecks, align commercial and technical execution, or use modern AI workflows to strip away daily busywork, I help teams focus on what actually moves the business forward.

Work With Me How I Help Travel & Photography
Background & Perspective

Why I start in the field, not in a slide deck.

Fifteen-plus years of building products, scaling teams, and working directly with customers on the ground.

Startups, Exits & Venture Scale
Scaled early-stage startups through acquisition, operated inside high-growth venture-backed companies, and led post-merger integrations.
Commercial & Strategic B2B Partnerships
Experienced working alongside venture capital teams, structuring B2B alliances, and aligning commercial strategy with technical execution.
Small Businesses & Cities to Multinationals
Comfortable working with local agencies, counties, cities, and small business owners as well as Fortune 100s and global enterprises.
Patented AI, DFR & Field Operations
Co-inventor on multiple U.S. patents in AI and voice technology, involved with UAS professionally via Drone-as-First-Responder (DFR) as well as in volunteer emergency response and FAA Part 107 operations.

You cannot build great products or run a strong commercial organization from behind a desk alone. Over the past fifteen-plus years, I have scaled software and operations used by over a million people worldwide while staying grounded in the real world as a builder, FAA-certified remote pilot, and community volunteer first responder in Upstate New York.

My career covers the full arc of company building: helping grow a lean startup through a national acquisition, leading multi-product post-merger integrations, structuring B2B partnerships, and scaling global engineering, product, and operational teams.

Just as importantly, travel has been a constant thread throughout both my family life and my career. Whether I am flying out to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with clients and distributed teams across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, or exploring new countries and national parks with my family and a camera, the takeaway is always the same: the real answers live on the ground with the people doing the work.

Advisory & Mentoring

How I Help Organizations & Teams

Practical, hands-on guidance for leaders, managers, and teams across small businesses, local municipalities, venture-backed companies, and multinationals.

Start a Conversation
How I Look at Business

Full-spectrum Commercial, ELT, and Field Investigation: learning friction directly from your customers.

I do not look at businesses through rigid departmental silos. Whether I am operating at the executive table, leading technical and operational teams, or advising a client, I focus on connecting what happens in the field directly to commercial and product execution.

01 / In the Field with Clients

Field Investigations & Friction Discovery

The most expensive mistakes happen when leaders guess what customers need. I go straight to the source, spending time with clients, operators, and end-users in their actual environment to see where workflows break down and where real friction lives.

02 / Commercial & Product Execution

Bridging Sales, Product & Delivery

Once you uncover the friction, the commercial and product path becomes clear. I connect the commercial side of the house with Product and Engineering to shape solutions, AI workflows, and B2B partnerships that customers immediately value.

03 / Executive Leadership (ELT)

Cross-Team & Stakeholder Alignment

At the executive level, I align Engineering, Product, and Operations with commercial teams and external stakeholders around one shared goal, removing handoff friction so what gets sold is delivered fast, adopted deeply, and retained.

01 / Commercial Growth, Product & Client Friction

From Field Discovery to Revenue & Partnerships

When growth slows or adoption stalls, the cause is almost always hidden friction in the customer’s day-to-day workflow. I work directly with founders, executives, and commercial teams to diagnose bottlenecks, refine product positioning, and structure high-impact B2B partnerships.

  • Direct client discovery and field investigations to uncover operational bottlenecks
  • Structuring strategic B2B partnerships from mid-market companies to multinationals
  • Pricing, packaging, and go-to-market alignment between sales and product teams
02 / Scaling Teams, M&A & Local-to-Global Ops

Execution Across Every Stage & Sector

Every organization has its own gravity. Whether advising a small business or local municipality (cities, counties, local agencies) on modernizing operations, or helping a venture-backed company or multinational navigate M&A integration and organizational scale, I tailor execution to the people on the ground.

  • Scaling and mentoring Engineering, Product, and Operations leadership teams
  • Venture capital due diligence and post-merger integration execution
  • Practical technology and operational modernization for SMBs, cities, and counties
03 / Practical AI Workflows & Team Mentoring

Removing the Toil That Makes Work a Chore

One of my passions is helping teams actually benefit from the latest AI tools. Handing people a basic LLM chat prompt is not enough. I mentor individuals, managers, and leadership teams to use agentic AI workflows that eliminate repetitive busywork (running reports, manual data tasks, status chasing) so your people can focus on client relationships and high-value work.

  • Individual Contributors: Simple workflow efficiencies that save hours of manual work each week
  • Managers & Leaders: Hands-on coaching to rethink team habits, visibility, and velocity
  • End-to-End Organization: Connected workflows across commercial, product, and operations
Visualizing the Playbook

One-Page Product Discovery Meets Right-Sized Operating Rhythm

Good execution comes down to two things: how you validate what to build, and how your team runs week to week. Rather than forcing heavy corporate templates onto every business, I use a lightweight, visual playbook tailored to the size of the organization.

1. The One-Page Product & Research Map

Replacing 40-page specs with a single living page grounded in client field research.

Product & AI Research
01 · Field Friction
The Real Problem

The top 1 to 3 bottlenecks observed directly with clients in the field, not internal assumptions.

02 · Current Reality
Existing Workarounds

How people cope today (manual spreadsheets, repetitive reports, disconnected tools).

03 · Target Users
Who Feels It Most

The specific frontline operators, managers, and buyers who need relief first.

04 · The Build
Solution & Agentic Flow

The simplest product or agentic AI workflow that removes the manual chore end to end.

05 · Commercial Edge
Why Clients Buy & Stay

Clear value proposition, pricing fit, and what makes the solution hard to copy.

06 · Proof Signals
Success Metrics

The 2 or 3 measurable indicators (time saved, adoption, retention) that prove it works.

Goal: Test assumptions fast with real customers before committing heavy engineering cycles.

2. Right-Sized Operating Rhythm

Structured organizational efficiency calibrated so it helps rather than slows you down.

Org Efficiency
90d
Quarterly Priorities & Clear Ownership

Agreeing on the 3 to 5 most important outcomes for the quarter so Engineering, Product, and Operations pull in the same direction.

Wk
High-Signal Weekly Operating Pulse

Replacing rambling status updates with a focused weekly cadence: review real scorecards, surface customer or technical blockers, and solve root issues live.

Why Stage Calibration Matters (One Size Does Not Fit All):
Small Teams & SMBs Keep it lightweight. Heavy process turns into overhead; focus on fast customer feedback and simple weekly priorities.
Multi-Team & Enterprise Scale Structured weekly alignment, shared scorecards, and clear handoffs across Engineering, Product, Operations, and external stakeholders.
Beyond the Desk · Global Perspective

Travel, Family & Seeing the World First-Hand

Travel is one of my greatest passions, both exploring the world with my family and traveling globally throughout my career across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

Whether we are hiking waterfalls in Iceland and British Columbia, wandering historic canal streets in Gouda, exploring England and Wales, or climbing high-alpine passes in Colorado, traveling with my family and capturing the world through photography and film keeps me curious, grounded, and connected to how people live and work everywhere.

Where Career & Curiosity Meet

Throughout my career, being willing to get on a plane to meet customers in their own communities, work alongside international engineering hubs, and experience places first-hand has been central to how I build trust and lead teams.

Travel & Family Film Reels

Select a destination below to watch our travel and aerial cinematography reels:

Watch on YouTube

Photographs from the Road

Architecture, alpine landscapes, coastal watersports, and wildlife captured during travels with family (click any photo to enlarge).

Gouda City Hall, Netherlands
Gouda City Hall Netherlands
Gouda Street Scene, Netherlands
Historic Canal Street Gouda, NL
Bridal Veil Falls, British Columbia
Bridal Veil Falls British Columbia
Mount Evans Alpine Lake, Colorado
Alpine Lake Reflection Colorado
Mountain Goat on Mount Evans, Colorado
Summit Mountain Goat Mount Evans, CO
La Jolla Cove Sea Lions, California
La Jolla Cove Sea Lions California
Macaws Wildlife Photography
Scarlet & Gold Macaws Wildlife
Wing Foiling Watersports, Florida
Coastal Wing Foiling Florida
Snowy Egret Portrait
Snowy Egret Portrait Coastal Wildlife
Brown Pelican Close-Up
Brown Pelican Study Coastal Wildlife
Pacific Northwest Forest, BC
Old-Growth Trail British Columbia
UAS Operations, DFR & Visual Production

Autonomous UAS, Field & Creative Portfolio

My work with unmanned aircraft spans both my professional career in Drone-as-First-Responder (DFR) and autonomous UAS integrations and my hands-on field life in volunteer emergency response and FAA Part 107 commercial flight operations. Below is a selection of commercial aerial and creative video productions.

Drone & UAS Commercial Forestry Shoot FAA Part 107 UAS · Watch Video

Commercial UAS: Forestry Operations

Multi-camera drone and DSLR forestry production in Upstate New York.

Oneida Lake Action Shoot Marine & Aerial · Watch Video

Action: Oneida Lake Aerial & Marine

Multi-perspective aerial and on-water cinematography on Oneida Lake, NY.

RHDC Concrete Aerial Commercial Industrial · Watch Video

RHDC Concrete: Construction Aerials

Top-down commercial jobsite documentation and licensed Part 107 flight operations.

Silver Spruce Real Estate Aerial Real Estate UAS · Watch Video

Real Estate & Property Aerials

Aerial property showcase ("Silver Spruce") highlighting architecture and acreage.

Underwater Bosses One Shot Video One-Take Gimbal · Watch Video

Underwater Bosses: Warehouse Live

Continuous one-shot warehouse concert film captured on a 3-axis gimbal.

Alveare Production Studio Production · Watch Video

Alveare: Studio Production Shoot

Multi-camera studio lighting, video, and photography collaboration in Upstate NY.

Get In Touch

Let’s connect.

Whether you are looking for an advisor on commercial and product friction, agentic AI and team mentoring, scaling operations, B2B partnerships, or a commercial UAS collaboration, I would love to hear what you are working on.

Direct Email info@mikeheneka.com
Location Upstate New York · Available Globally & Remotely