Elmo Chong

Product leader with 8+ years of experience driving interactive digital products from concept through live operations.

Background spans mobile game systems, in-app economies, analytics infrastructure, and cross-functional publishing strategy. Founder-operator with full ownership across product discovery, monetization architecture, and go-to-market execution. Experienced in free-to-play progression systems, retention design, KPI instrumentation, and executive-level business case development. Comfortable operating from high-level strategic framing down to feature-level implementation.

Founder & CEO / Principal Product Lead - Sonical.ly Inc. - Vancouver, Canada

(2020-01 - 2026-01)

Led strategy and execution for a mobile-first interactive product suite combining game mechanics with educational progression systems.

• Identified and validated new market opportunity at intersection of gaming, creator economy, and skill-based progression
• Conducted TAM analysis, competitive benchmarking, and monetization modeling
• Built structured product discovery framework to evaluate feature-market fit before full development
• Created investment-ready business cases outlining retention forecasts, revenue scenarios, and expansion pathways
• Launched Mix Master (mobile, Unity-based), a free-to-play progression-driven product with 40,000+ downloads
• Designed multiple shipped gameplay modules within the platform (progression units, challenge modes, leaderboard systems)
• Implemented daily streak mechanics, challenge ladders, reward systems, and competitive ranking loops
• Structured difficulty balancing and skill-gated progression systems
• Designed full IAP stack: subscriptions, consumable credits, cosmetic upgrades, unlockable content
• Built virtual economy balancing framework tied to engagement depth and player progression
• Instrumented DAU, ARPDAU proxies, retention cohorts (D1, D7), session length, and conversion metrics
• Optimized onboarding funnel to reduce time-to-value (~2 minutes) and improve early retention
• Established KPI dashboards and weekly performance reviews
• Ran feature experiments and iteration cycles informed by player behavior data
• Designed repeatable event-style engagement hooks to drive reactivation
• Led cross-functional strike teams across design, engineering, analytics, and content
• Built internal launch checklists, milestone tracking systems, and post-launch review frameworks
• Developed go-to-market strategy across owned media channels (~100k audience reach)
• Structured documentation to transition validated features into execution-ready roadmaps
• Managed multidisciplinary team across Unity engineers, designers, and audio developers
• Defined sprint cadences, KPIs, and product accountability structures
• Mentored junior contributors on product thinking and performance measurement

Product Strategy & Interactive Systems Consultant - Self-Employed

(2017-01 - 2020-01)

• Led product strategy initiatives for interactive digital experiences and game-adjacent platforms
• Developed monetization concepts and user engagement frameworks
• Produced commercial music releases for international artists (XG, NCT 127, Rain, Drunken Tiger; SM Entertainment, AVEX), translating entertainment production workflows into scalable interactive systems thinking

International Trade - BCIT

Startup School - Founder Program - Y Combinator

Product Cohort - Kernel Gaming Guild