Product & Platform Strategy
Commerce · Marketplaces · Applied AI

I architect commerce infrastructure –
where AI, logistics, and marketplaces converge to power platforms that scale from zero users to millions.

Previously led product orgs at Meta, TikTok, Grab & Linktree, owning P&L impact across billion-dollar product lines.
Now building at the frontier of AI-powered commerce infrastructure.

Exploring AI interfaces that compute intent, model incentives, and drive fulfillment.

Why This Matters →

A SHIFT IN HOW VALUE MOVES

AI Meets Commerce

The next era of technology won’t just make commerce more efficient — it will rearchitect how value is owned, moved, and experienced. That belief underpins the three frontiers I’m actively shaping:

01.

APPLIED AI FOR COMMERCE INFRASTRUCTURE

AI shouldn’t just optimize commerce — it should operate it. I'm building:

  • AI agents that negotiate, recommend, and transact autonomously

  • Dispatch & routing systems that adapt dynamically to real-time demand

  • Fulfillment interfaces that adjust to buyer context, intent, & language

→ The long-term view: commerce built on autonomous decision systems.

02.

NEW OWNERSHIP MODELS & MARKET DYNAMICS

We’re moving beyond transactions — toward participation and ownership. I’m architecting:

  • Real-time marketplaces for both physical & digital assets

  • Fractional, scheduled, and usage-based commerce models

  • Systems that enable multi-party commerce at global scale

→ The future: commerce as an operating system — not a storefront.

03.

LOGISTICS AS A LIVING SYSTEM — POWERED BY AI

Logistics shouldn’t be linear — it should be alive. I'm engineering:

  • AI-driven fulfillment networks that self-adjust to demand

  • Predictive supply chains that model congestion before it happens

  • Last-mile models that adapt to local context automatically

→ Logistics will evolve from infrastructure… to intelligent infrastructure.

→ Explore My Thesis

DRIVING TEAMS, PLATFORMS & GLOBAL P&L OUTCOMES

PROVEN LEADERSHIP AT SCALE

I’ve architected and led product organizations across the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Africa — building platforms that move value at global scale. My work has spanned product, engineering, design, operations, and partnerships — aligning teams around a single principle: systems should think, adapt, and generate value long after launch.

From 500+ cities to multi-billion-dollar GMV lines, I’ve designed roadmaps, built cross-functional orgs, and shaped the P&L trajectory of platforms used by millions.

What I’ve learned: great teams don’t just execute strategy — they expose it through how systems scale. I build teams that think like system architects — not feature factories.

A person holding a smartphone displaying the TikTok app logo on the screen.
Meta logo with black background and white text.
The Grab logo in white on a black background.
Image of the Linktree logo with white text and a starburst symbol on a black background.

Case Studies — From The Field

My work lives in the real world — where architecture moves markets, and systems generate value across regions and users at global scale.

  • Architected Meta’s third-party commerce ecosystem across Facebook & Instagram Shops — transforming seller engagement and unlocking a $10B/year revenue engine.

    What I Built:
    A scalable partnerships & platform layer to integrate thousands of merchants into Meta’s commerce ecosystem.

  • Launched the advertising, merchant, and search products that shaped the emergence of TikTok Shops — redefining how content, intent, and conversion intersect.

    What I Built:
    The product foundation for performance-driven commerce inside an entertainment platform.

  • Built Linktree’s first third-party e-commerce suite — unlocking partnerships with PayPal, Shopify, and Venmo, and expanding the platform into a revenue-generating marketplace.

    What I Built:
    The infrastructure that enabled Linktree to evolve from “link-in-bio” to “commerce ecosystem.”

  • Led — and continue to advise — Fulfillment at Grab, owning strategy & execution across dispatch, scaled logistics, and fulfillment interfaces spanning 500+ cities.

    What I Built:
    An operational layer to move food, people, and parcels through one intelligent fulfillment network.

Principles I Build By

The future of commerce won’t be led by feature builders — but by system architects who understand how value moves.

  • A product doesn’t win when it ships — it wins when it scales. Every system I build must withstand its own success.

  • User friction is not a flaw — it’s a map. The sharpest product insights live at the edge of frustration.

  • Commerce is not a catalog — it’s a movement of atoms and intent. Any platform that moves value must understand how value travels.

  • AI is infrastructure.
    When applied well, it becomes prediction, dispatch, personalization, and economic model — simultaneously.

  • The products of the next decade won’t just help users consume — they will help them own, participate, and build wealth.

→ Explore the Architecture
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Background

Before building technology platforms at scale, I trained in the disciplines of finance, strategy, and decision-making — across business schools, combat environments, and global markets. That foundation continues to shape how I build today.

I began my career at Credit Suisse in New York and subsequently joined Renaissance Group in Russia and later in Nigeria. I primarily worked on financing M&A transactions in Sub Saharan Africa.

Thereafter, I took up a role in New York in the Financial Sponsors Group at Citigroup, where I advised private equity firms, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, and pension funds on capital issuances and transactions involving their portfolio companies.

Outside of work, I enjoy investing in early-stage African startups. In my capacity as an angel investor, I support the Mensarius Oath for ethical investing.

I am American by birth and Nigerian by parentage.

Education

The Wharton School MBA, Ismoila Alli

Master of Business Administration

The Wharton School

Harvard Business School SVMP, Ismoila Alli

Summer Venture in Management Program

Harvard Business School

Baruch College, Ismoila Alli

Bachelor of Business Administration

Bernard Baruch College

Military

United States Army, Ismoila Alli

Sergeant | Veteran

United States Army

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10th Mountain Division

57th Gun Truck Company

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Combat Action

Operation Iraqi Freedom

A collection of military and service ribbons and medals, including Army Good Conduct Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Army NCO Professional Development Ribbon, Army Overseas Service Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal, Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, and Armed Forces Reserve Medal.

Fellowships

Sponsors for Educational Opportunities, Ismoila Alli

Career Program

Management Leadership for Tomorrow, Ismoila Alli

MBA Prep

Robert Toigo Foundation, Ismoila Alli

MBA Program

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Teaching Fellow

Collection of logos from various online services and companies, including payment platforms, web hosting, e-commerce, banking, and asset management firms.

During my career, I’ve had the chance to collaborate in different capacities with these great companies.

Due to NDA limitations, a selection of case studies is available, upon request, to recruiters and hiring managers only.

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With Regards,

The word 'ismoila' written in a black, cursive script on a white background.