I help companies build world-class products.

I'm Maxime Vonthron — French product leader, shaped by 6 years living and working in Japan and a decade in Silicon Valley's tech ecosystem. I bridge these cultures: the velocity and product-first thinking of the Valley, the industrial rigor and zero-defect mindset of Sony and Honda.

Over 20 years, I've led products across mobility (Drivemode, Honda RoadSync — 1M+ users), computer vision (Sony), SaaS modernization, and AI. I work across the entire stack — from UX/UI design to back-end architecture to GenAI — which means I don't just manage products, I understand how they're built.

What I do

Today, I operate as Principal at Refervesco — a hands-on strategic partner helping companies align engineering with product strategy so teams solve the right problems, not just ship features.

My Foundation

I design and I build. I prototype on Figma, I architect AI pipelines, and I ship production tools, using AI as my engineering force multiplier. I've turned a 1-month manual data analysis into a 2-hour automated agentic workflow, and saved years of work with AI for clients. I have always stayed close to the code, working across the full product stack. This means I don't just manage tech products, I actually know how they are built. When I advise on product strategy, it comes from systems I have designed and shipped, not decks I have borrowed.

Beyond the Screen

Martial arts, piano, and strategy games.