data + design + dev
Ivan Vasilev, 2023
  • Ivan Vasilev →
  • Founder at Presentum, hiring platform for digital creatives, UK (since 2021);
  • Marketing director at VisitHealth, private clinic in Central London (since 2024);
  • Director of digital product design at Scentbird, YC alumni, retail subscription, New York (2018 – 20);
  • VP of Design at Alfa-bank, online/mobile banking, fintech, Moscow (2012 – 18);
  • Designer at rockbee.com (since 2000).

The most powerful open MRI in the UK

Into healthcare.

In January 2024, I joined a healthcare startup that established a flagship clinic in Central London, armed with some unique equipment: a powerful open MRI with advanced screening from Fujifilm that allows for confident diagnoses. Beyond diagnostics, the clinic boasts a distinguished urgent care department and a host of specialists in cardiology, orthopaedics, urology and so on. It’s a rare configuration for private healthcare in London.

Growth.

At the beginning of the year, I outlined our strategy for growth, and I’m happy to say that the first part (re digital advertising) has paid off and works like a well-oiled machine, helping people find us when they need us. ROAS > 1.

If all goes well, the next steps will include updating our website with better information structure and functionality (work in progress—will update soon!), launching more interesting products, and then...

Next steps.

If we peek into the future, we will see more products related to battling cancer through earlier diagnoses and better imaging. My dream is to make this affordable and worry-free for as many people as possible, and this clinic, this machine, and the team I’m working with right now feel like a very good first step in that direction.

We already collaborate with the NHS and are eager to cooperate with charities and research centers. Please reach out if you think we can work together.

24 November 2024

•••

I’ve been interested in imaging, MRIs, and healthcare for quite a while now. Back in 2019, I visited Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and listened to their CTO talking about machine learning, data management, imaging, and how they’re contributing to the fight against cancer. I was impressed and inspired, and I kept looking for opportunities in the industry. I’m happy to be a part of it now.

Y Combinator recently updated their Requests for Startups page, and MRI and early cancer diagnosis are part of it, too.

And, of course, it goes without saying (just sayin…) that healthcare is becoming more and more personal as I age :-)

Clients/jobs

VisitHealth
Marketing
Healthcare
Scentbird
Product design, retention
Retail, subscription
Alfa-bank
Product design, strategy
Fintech, Retail
Goldman Sachs
Product design
Fintech, Security
Ultimate Guitar
Design hiring
Creative
Home Credit Bank
Design management
Fintech
Yandex
Product design
Technology
Osome
Product management
Fintech
Presentum
Product management
Creative, Recruitment
Visithealth
since 2024
London
digital product / customer acquisition
healthcare
Presentum
since 2021
London
founder, product designer
recruitment
Scentbird
2018–2020
New York
digital product / customer retention
retail
Alfa-bank
2012–2018
Moscow
design management, CX / online channels
fintech
rockbee
since 2000
design

Updates

Now for Kinesis Advance 36025 August 2024

A few weeks ago, a pain in my wrist intensified. I worked a lot, a lot of coding and editing, and my hand started to hurt more and more. at some point, I was afraid of touching the keyboard, and even thinking of typing caused pain. Not great! I took a break for a couple of days, and the pain started fading away. Then I decided to switch keyboard again… after talking to one of my mates who wrote code for the last 30 years. He said he uses an ergonomic keyboard and mouse, and I started googling for options. I decided to try Kinesis Advance 360. I couldn’t type more than 2-3 words per minute in the first two weeks. Very slow. I switched keyboards now and then and was not productive at all, but the pain started to fade. Then I went on to travel for three days and didn’t touch keyboards at all. When I returned and tried Kinesis, something clicked and I started working a bit faster than before and still improving. I spent some 20-30 minutes reading the manual and remapping some keys, and now things are even better. The pain keeps fading away; I am still very slow, but I can continue working which is way better than nothing. I am also discovering layers and different keyboard layouts: I can set up and switch between nine layouts; I am seriously considering setting up one for coding, one for Figma, and one for video editing; this might just eliminate an idea/craving for a programmable extra keyboard… Btw, I keep creating a course for design dojo / presentum and it will soon be available on YouTube. I hope to become more productive with this keyboard, eventually getting back to my typing speed or even improving it. I will post about it again in a couple of months with a progress update.

I joined a healthcare startup1 February 2024

The healthcare industry in the UK reminds me of the banking industry in Russia in 2012: it is ripe for change, proper digital experiences, and, with improvements in ML (what they call AI nowadays), an even more radical overhaul. VisitHealth is a clinic in (almost-) Central London, with great diagnostics equipment and an ambition to deliver a 'Hospital-at-home' concept, utilizing the technology to bring medical assistance where needed. My role is officially called 'Marketing director'; however, it revolves around all digital channels and experiences and extends to developing medical services as well. I will publish a link once we update our website ;-)

P.S. I still develop Presentum as well. More updates on this matter are expected in late autumn, hopefully.

Presentum's UI refresh23 November 2023

I decided to refresh Presentum's UI a bit before going public with the service. If you've been following our story, you'll likely find this update enjoyable. Please visit the updated presentum.io and share your thoughts!

Whisper AI at the heart of Presentum7 November 2023

OpenAI recently open-sourced their speech recognition model, which is fantastic news. This development allows me to integrate this tool into Presentum. I've built a prototype that processes a video from the platform and generates accurate text. Combined with OpenCV, an open-source computer vision library, interviewing practices are transformed into searchable documents. Based on the data, I can create comprehensive profiles for each candidate, enabling meaningful searches. You can describe what you're looking for, and the system will find candidates based on their stories. Plus, hiring managers can immediately watch the related video. Incredible!

Vipassana experience1 November 2023

I hadn't taken Vipassana seriously until summer 2023, when I applied and was accepted for a 10-day course. My experience in October was refreshingly awesome. It's not about religion or spirituality; it's about self-understanding. Ten days of noble silence and meditation, completely disconnected from all communication, were enlightening. I highly recommend it, though it's far from a vacation – meditating for about 10 hours daily is challenging. My only regret is not doing it 15 years earlier.

My mechanical keyboards journey (ended..?)5 October 2023

I recently realised I've tried around half a dozen mechanical keyboards and consistently used three over the last five years. However, since switching to the M1 MacBook Air with its excellent keyboard, I've been using it more frequently. Eventually, I needed a full keyboard with a numpad for Blender and similar apps, leading me to the Magic Keyboard, which I'm very satisfied with. My top three keyboards are: Das Keyboard 4, Logitech MX Mechanical (with fantastic backlighting), and now the full-sized Apple Magic Keyboard. I know some people aren't particular about keyboards, but for me, they've become an extension of my hands, especially since I began coding and writing extensively every day.