ILIR LARO

Experience

A career across gaming, Web3 and fintech.

My roles have moved across community, marketing, operations, retention, product marketing and go-to-market strategy as the problems I was working on became broader. This is the career view behind the individual case studies.

2025 - Present Crypto.com

VP, Product Marketing

I joined a rebuilt Product Marketing team as the organisation expanded across a broader portfolio of financial products. My work has focused on moving PMM earlier into the product lifecycle, creating a more structured global GTM operating model and connecting Product with specialist Growth, Creative, Legal and Compliance teams.

  • Product positioning, segmentation, messaging and GTM strategy
  • Global intake, prioritisation and launch operating models
  • Advanced trading, retail and emerging financial-product launches
  • Cross-functional Growth activation and scalable PMM workflows
Read the Crypto.com case study →
2024 - 2025 Uphold

VP, Consumer

At Uphold, my work centred on consumer retention, commercial value and the relationship between customer behaviour and the broader product experience. I developed a more structured approach to high-value customer retention, helped build the VIP proposition and explored new commercial mechanisms for re-engaging customers who held meaningful assets but had become relatively passive.

  • Consumer retention, lifecycle and customer-value strategy
  • VIP proposition and account-management operating model
  • Behavioural segmentation and churn-risk signals
  • Commercial proposition design for dormant asset holders
Read the Uphold case study →
2020 - 2024 Binance

Director, Integrated Marketing & Campaigns

My four years at Binance covered a period of rapid growth, international expansion and significant regulatory change. I worked across integrated marketing, operations and UK market execution, including product and campaign launches, customer communications, cross-functional operating models and the implementation required for the UK's cryptoasset Financial Promotions regime.

  • Integrated marketing, GTM and multi-channel campaign strategy
  • UK market operations and cross-functional launch readiness
  • Regulatory GTM and Financial Promotions implementation
  • Product, Marketing, Operations, Legal and Compliance coordination
Read the Binance UK case study → Read the Binance partnerships case study
2018 - 2019 Litecoin Foundation

Associate, Community Manager

The Litecoin Foundation was where crypto became more than an interest for me. My role sat close to the community and education side of an emerging industry, helping communicate the technology to a global audience and supporting initiatives designed to increase awareness and adoption.

  • Global community management and education
  • Content and ecosystem communications
  • Partnership activation, including helping bridge the UFC 232 opportunity
  • Early-stage crypto adoption and community growth
Read the Litecoin x UFC 232 case study →
2017 - 2019 Endeavor Streaming

Specialist, Content Handling

I worked in the London operation supporting live and on-demand streaming services across major sports and entertainment properties. The role gave me direct exposure to the operational side of premium digital media, including the wider Endeavor and UFC ecosystem, and became an important bridge between my earlier gaming background and the partnership work I later supported in crypto.

  • Client operations across live and on-demand streaming products
  • Operational support for premium sports and entertainment platforms
  • Experience within the wider Endeavor ecosystem, including UFC-related services
  • Cross-functional issue resolution in a high-volume live-event environment
2016 - 2018 UMG Media

Specialist, Customer Service

My career began in gaming and esports, working directly with customers inside an industry that was still becoming professionalised. It gave me an early grounding in online communities, customer behaviour and operational problem-solving before I moved into crypto.

  • High-volume customer support and community interaction
  • Dispute and process improvement
  • Gaming and esports customer experience
2012 - 2014 GameBattles / Major League Gaming

Junior, Community Outreach

This was my earliest professional experience in online communities and competitive gaming. GameBattles sat within the Major League Gaming ecosystem and gave me first-hand exposure to how large digital communities form around competition, identity and participation. MLG was later acquired by Activision Blizzard, with GameBattles continuing as part of the broader esports portfolio.

  • Community outreach and engagement across competitive gaming audiences
  • Supporting online tournament communities and player communications
  • Early experience in esports, digital communities and audience behaviour
  • Remote collaboration within a fast-growing online gaming ecosystem
More

The Work section goes deeper into selected projects, while LinkedIn has the conventional chronological version of my career. I use this page to show how the roles connect and where the focus of my work changed over time.

Selected work → LinkedIn →