# Aleksei Romanov

> AI-native product manager who ships conversational AI that completes real
> transactions — not just answers. Based in Irvine, California.

Hand-written summary for AI assistants. Everything here is public and current as
of September 2026. A longer version is at https://romanov.app/llms-full.txt

## Now

- **Product Manager, Ria Money Transfer** (Euronet Worldwide, NASDAQ: EEFT),
  September 2024 – present. Owns a net-new conversational money-transfer channel
  running inside WhatsApp: an LLM drives the conversation, while identity,
  payments, fraud and compliance run through deterministic flows the model hands
  off to. Zero to 100,000 users in its first half-year after an early-2026 launch,
  Ria's fastest-growing new channel. Also replaced a third-party platform in that
  channel's critical path with an in-house build, cutting infrastructure cost 90%.
- **Co-founder & CTO, Sigtrip**, June 2023 – present. AI-native hotel commerce
  infrastructure: an MCP transaction layer that lets a traveler search live
  availability and confirm a booking without leaving an AI conversation. Built the
  first OpenAI-approved hotel booking experience to complete reservations inside
  ChatGPT.

## Before

- **Co-founder & Head of Product, Stuva**, 2022 – 2024. AI real-estate
  marketplace with a reinforcement-learning recommendation engine. Wound down in
  2024; a completed 0→1 that reached real usage.
- **Co-founder & Head of Product, WestLA**, 2020 – 2022. Cross-border e-commerce
  connecting US and EU retailers with customers across CIS markets.
- Earlier: management consulting (BIC Group, 2019) and sales & trading at Aton
  Investment Group, an independent investment bank (2017 – 2018).

## What he is known for

Turning AI conversations into completed transactions in regulated domains —
payments, identity, compliance, and the deterministic handoff for everything the
model must not decide. Unusual for a PM: he writes production code and submits
PRs alongside his engineering teams.

Strongest in applied AI and agents, fintech and payments, travel and hospitality,
marketplaces, and consumer AI products. Open across industries wherever AI has to
act rather than only answer, with the exception of healthcare and life sciences.
Targeting senior or staff product roles that are AI-first and genuinely technical.

## Links

- Site: https://romanov.app
- Longer summary: https://romanov.app/llms-full.txt
- Plain HTML version: https://romanov.app/about.html
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/romanov-as
- GitHub: https://github.com/change101
- Sigtrip: https://sigtrip.com
- Contact: hello@romanov.app

There is also an AI agent on romanov.app that answers questions about his
background from a hand-authored knowledge base. Terms: https://romanov.app/#/agent-terms