Tara Annison
Product Owner
Elliptic - a company bringing compliance to crypto assets. Our software provides blockchain analytics for crypto businesses and financial institutions, allowing them to manage financial crime risk, achieve regulatory compliance, and grow with confidence.
I sit across both our product and engineering teams to create new product ideas and manage them through the build process and into launch.
I love coming up with new ideas for products and functionality which will help our users better manage their crypto risk, but I'm also super organised so love taking something from an idea all the way to a finished product. I manage two engineering teams so there's lots of people and projects to juggle - but I really enjoy this and making sure everything is staying on track and on time. I am also incredibly passionate about the industry and how the technology works so I feel incredibly fortunate that I get to work every day in something I'm so excited about and interested in.
My day roughly splits into two type of work; - Making sure we're on track with what we're building. So knowing who's working on what, if anyone is blocked, and trying to anticipate challenges the engineers may face so I can remove them before they become a problem. This involves lots of taking with the engineers and using the project management software to ensure we stay on track with what we're building. - The second part is thinking of new products/functionalities so working with the rest of the product team and our designer to come up with new or improved ideas. Then working with the engineers to technically define what we might build and how it will work.
I studied Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Psychology for my A Levels . I then studied Maths and Philosophy at university which I really enjoyed (although it was super hard!) because I got to think about big questions of life (What is creativity, are mathematical concepts discovered or invented, What does it mean to exist?) , as well as learning about lots of different mathematical fields. From there I joined HSBC on the commercial graduate scheme, leaving early to take a full time role in the bank's digital team. After launching the bank's internal website to teach all 230,000 staff about digital trends and new technologies I joined a cryptocurrency start-up to follow my passion in blockchain and cryptocurrencies. I then worked in another crypto start up and then moved to Elliptic where I'm the Product Owner.
I really want to make a difference in the blockchain industry - it's only 12 years old and so I'm really excited about the ability to shape the direction it's going in and the positive difference it can make to people's lives. I also LOVE the technical aspect of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, so enjoy nothing more than teaching new people about how blockchain technology works, I hope to continue this as more people enter the space and want to understand what the technology does and what it could do.
I have played hockey for 16 years and am currently the captain of the East London Ladies 4s. Pre-corona, every Saturday you'd find me on a hockey pitch somewhere between Mile End and the depth of Essex (usually in the rain of cold) running around and trying to score goals. I also have a French Bulldog called Stitch so love taking him for walks.
"There's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing" - Alfred Wainwright, A Coast to Coast Walk Having a family who love nothing more than a good 17 mile hike in the driving rain I know this to be true - all you need is a rainproof coat, some waterproof trousers and a positive outlook (some chocolate can also help!). But more broadly though, I love this quote because I think it speaks to the importance of having a positive outlook in all situations and always seeing the potential for a good solution.