Tony FarnsworthProduct leader & builder
HARDWARE · SOFTWARE · HANDS-ON

Experience

Jan 2024
Oct 2024

Skylight

Senior Product Manager — Hardware

Alpine, Utah

Hardware product lead for digital picture frames and calendar products, combining product management and program execution.

Jan 2022
Jan 2024

Vivint

Director of Product Management

Lehi, Utah

Product portfolio owner for security panels, sensors, networking, cellular, cloud platform, and mobile infrastructure.

  • Managed the product portfolio roadmap and strategy for the smart-home platform.
  • Led a team of product managers while individually owning the security-panel hardware and software experience.
  • Launched a new DIY security-system product line and led go-to-market work for a next-generation security panel.
Dec 2020
Jan 2022

Vivint

Group Product Manager

Lehi, Utah

Product team lead for security panels, screens, control devices, sensors, networking, and cellular.

  • Led the product team for smart-home device infrastructure.
  • Resolved bugs that reduced service costs by 15%, totaling $3M in annual savings.
  • Developed the next-generation security panel and grew the team from two to five.
Oct 2018
Dec 2020

Vivint

Senior Product Manager

Lehi, Utah

Security panels product owner.

  • Supported operational field issues for sales, installation technicians, and customers, reducing installation time by 10 minutes.
  • Launched a DIY security market test with 24,000 sales in the first summer.
  • Led early customer discovery for next-generation security panels.
Jun 2018
Oct 2018

Overstock.com

Senior Product Manager

Midvale, Utah

Product owner for international sales.

  • Helped optimize advertising spend, saving $700K per month.
  • Developed an operational-efficiency roadmap and trained the team in Scrum and agile methodologies.
Jan 2017
Aug 2018

USAA

Strategic Innovation Director

San Antonio, Texas

IoT product R&D lead for wearables and connected home.

  • Owned a $5M future-revenue portfolio and led early ideation through pilots.
  • Served as the agile process owner for new product innovation.
  • Coordinated technology commercialization with corporate development and expanded research through university relationships.
Feb 2016
Jan 2017

USAA

Research Team Lead

San Antonio, Texas

Automotive research lead.

Feb 2014
Feb 2016

USAA

Senior Researcher

San Antonio, Texas

Unmanned aerial vehicles and drone research lead.

  • Led work on drone-based disaster assessment in the insurance industry.
  • Identified startups and collaborated with corporate development on partnerships resulting in more than $2M in investments.
Aug 2009
Feb 2014

USAA

Front End Software Engineer

San Antonio, Texas

Web and mobile development for banking.

  • Worked across HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and iOS development.
  • Advanced website performance practices.
  • Delivered virtual auto-insurance damage assessment, a mobile website redesign, and an iPad application launch.
Aug 2017
Apr 2018

Tinted

CEO & Founder

San Antonio, Texas

Part-time venture exploring AI-assisted paint-color selection, developed during my master’s program.

  • Developed the business plan, problem definition, execution plan, and three-year roadmap for venture funding.
Feb 2009
Jun 2009

BYU–Idaho

Web Developer

Rexburg, Idaho

Worked on a student team redesigning the college website, including information architecture, user testing, and page templates.

Jun 2008
Sep 2008

USAA

UI Designer/Producer & Java Developer — Intern

Designed and produced web pages for USAA’s desktop and mobile websites and developed Java enterprise-infrastructure applications.

May 2008
Jun 2008

DishOne Satellite

Web Designer/Developer

Designed web-based reporting for sales, installations, and customer service using PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, XML, and Flash.

Skills

Product strategyHardware product managementProduct research and developmentAgile methodologiesBusiness case developmentPortfolio managementCross-functional leadershipIoTWeb and mobile development

Education

2017–2018

M.S., Technology Commercialization

The University of Texas at Austin — McCombs School of Business

2005–2009

Bachelor’s, Computer Information Technology

Brigham Young University–Idaho

2005–2009

Minor, Automotive Technology Management

Brigham Young University–Idaho

Selected patents & applications

  • USAA — Multiple-channel authentication: 12155790, 11677870, 10965810, 10389874, 10033861, 9749463, 9479491.
  • USAA — Unmanned vehicle service delivery and property surveys: 12361497.
  • USAA — Additional work: indoor drone flight awareness, interactive remote inspections, structure-damage sensing, and unmanned vehicle management.
  • Vivint — Continuous active mode for security and automation: 12658022, 11893875.
  • Vivint — Camera design: D1129532. Electronic display designs: D1126300, D1153195.
  • Vivint — Audio detection at a control system: 11756531.
  • Vivint — Disaster detection and recovery: published application 20240119424.

Selected personal projects