I build the 0-to-1 — then the team that scales it.
I'm Gopal Agrawal — a product owner and operations leader who joined Hapana at inception and helped take it from a startup idea to a global fitness-management platform. Along the way: airline booking flows for British Airways and Aer Lingus, healthcare portals in the US, and a front-end craft I never fully put down.
My career comes down to two things: shaping product visions with real business weight, and building the teams that carry them out. I've led design-to-delivery for brands like British Airways and MakeMyTrip, and built the India operations and product roadmap for Hapana from the ground up.
I started as a hands-on developer and grew into the kind of "founding team" person companies bring in early — the one gathering raw requirements, shipping working prototypes, and standing up the operational and technical infrastructure a company needs before it can scale. I've set up teams from scratch more than once, and I still enjoy owning the unglamorous foundational work as much as the roadmap.
The winding path
Not a ladder — more like a route, with a few deliberate detours. Each stop taught me something the last one couldn't.
Product & Operations Head — Founding Team, India
Hapana (formerly OneFitStop)Joined at inception and grew with the company from startup to a global fitness-management platform, moving from lead consultant to core full-time leader. Built and scaled the India development team from zero — hiring, mentoring, and technical culture — while directing the product vision that bridged business goals with technical execution. Owned end-to-end India operations including budget and administrative strategy, and in the early days ran QA and customer support personally to keep the product stable.
Technical Analyst
NIIT Technologies LimitedLed design and development for high-traffic travel and aviation platforms — front-end and UI for Aer Lingus, the design-to-delivery pipeline for British Airways, and UI execution for Carey's premium limousine service in the US. Acted as primary point of contact for international clients, taking requirements from first conversation through to a frozen, buildable spec.
Professional Freelancer
Independent UI/UX Consultant & Front-End DeveloperRan an independent consultancy bridging business requirements and technical delivery for global enterprises, including strategic front-end work for Genpact Headstrong and end-to-end design and development for Clovia — turning brand vision into responsive, high-converting web experiences.
Consultant UI Developer
hCentive, Inc.Owned the full UI lifecycle in the US healthcare domain — gathering requirements, building high-fidelity prototypes for complex healthcare workflows, running stakeholder demos, and syncing front-end work tightly with backend teams for sensitive data environments.
Senior Front-End Developer, Team Lead
ISHIRLed a team of eight, owning the full project lifecycle from initial concept to final deployment — a mix of hands-on technical execution and strategic coordination. Split time between overseeing design and front-end quality across the team, defining scope and delivery timelines, and interfacing directly with clients to finalize scopes and present work.
Senior Executive — Front-End Developer & Designer
MakeMyTripOwned the design and front-end architecture for the Rail Ticket Booking module, one of the platform's critical travel segments — translating complex user requirements into intuitive, high-performance layouts built for speed and reliability during high-traffic periods.
Web Designer
Olive e-Business Pvt. Ltd.Where it started. Spent over a year mastering the transition from design to development — crafting layouts from scratch and converting static mockups into clean, pixel-perfect, cross-browser HTML, beginning with the Sri Ram College of Commerce web portal.
Formal grounding
Master of Business Administration, Project Management
Sikkim Manipal University
Bachelor of Arts, Economics
University of Madras
10+2, Commerce
CBSE
What I bring to a team
Product & Operations
Design & Front-End
Brands I've built for
Interests
I like turning complicated problems into interfaces and processes that feel obvious in hindsight — that's true whether the medium is a website or a team's workflow. Outside of work, I'm usually knee-deep in the garden: organic farming and research into indigenous cow byproducts have become a genuine, ongoing project rather than a hobby that stuck around by accident.
Certifications
- Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)Scrum Alliance · 2022
- Certified Usability AnalystHuman Factors International (HFI)
- ADIMS, Advanced Diploma in MultimediaArena Multimedia · 2006
From the people I've worked with
Reliable across a long working relationship — praised for sound business judgment, consistent quality, and range that spans web development, design, and broader consulting.
Brings energy and enthusiasm that lifts the whole team, picks up new UX technologies within weeks, and consistently delivers high-quality, user-focused web UI work.
Genuinely curious and always improving — took full ownership through demo-heavy months packed with UI customization requests, and a strong addition to any team.
Known for strong UI instincts and a knack for improving user experience, paired with a calm, proactive demeanor that holds up even when juggling multiple projects at once.
Stepped up to lead the UI team through a rough patch of low morale and attrition, rebuilding momentum through relentless commitment and consistently on-time delivery.
A composed, determined operator under pressure — the kind of team leader who takes initiative rather than waiting to be asked.