Erem Cem

Rotterdam, NL

  • Product
  • Growth
  • Business development
  • Strategy

Value, engineered to last.

Erem Cem, smiling, in round tortoiseshell glasses, a dark blazer and a white shirt

I turn customer problems into products that ship and grow. As COO and product lead, I grew Carrtell, a B2B logistics SaaS, from Istanbul to Dubai and on to an acquisition. Now I do product and growth at Surfaced in Rotterdam and study at RSM.

See the workSay hello

Education

  • Rotterdam School of Management

    Master in Management (MSc)

    Now 2026 to 2027

  • Boğaziçi University

    BSc Mechanical Engineering

    2018 to 2026

Selected work

Problems I turned into products, and what they grew into.

Delivery routesDaily parcelsIn transitDeliveredShipmentsIn transitDeliveredDelayedIn transitDelivered

Case study · B2B logistics SaaS · 2020 to 2024

Every carrier in one place.

As COO and product lead at Carrtell, a B2B logistics SaaS I co-founded, I owned product, operations and key partnerships. We built two B2B platforms and a mobile app that let e-commerce sellers manage their carriers in one place, grew to enterprise customers including Aramex and Amazon, and expanded into MENA from Dubai through a joint venture with Seed Group. Then Navlungo (opens in a new tab) acquired us.

  • B2B SaaS
  • Logistics
  • E-commerce
  • Partnerships
  • MENA expansion

Read the Carrtell case study →

Carrtell highlights

Company results, 2020 to 2024

  • 500+E-commerce sellers
  • 10+Carrier partners
  • 2Markets: Türkiye, UAE
  • $500KRaised by Carrtell
  • $8MCarrtell valuation

  • Product & growth

    Surfaced

    getsurfaced.ai (opens in a new tab)

    An early-stage SaaS that measures and improves how brands appear in AI-driven search.

    Role
    Product & Growth Associate · Rotterdam
    Period
    Since September 2026
    • AI search
    • Early-stage SaaS
    • Product priorities
    • Usage data
    • Release testing
    • I work with the founders and developers on product and growth priorities.
    • I work with usage and campaign data.
    • I talk to users and work on the onboarding material.
    • I test new features before they're released.

  • Board advisory

    Timeheroes

    timeheroes.app (opens in a new tab)

    Board advisor on strategy and commercialisation for Time Heroes, a free multiplayer idle game you play in the browser.

    Role
    Board advisor, strategy and commercialisation
    Period
    Since September 2024
    • Board advisory
    • Strategy
    • Commercialisation
    • Browser game
    • I advise Time Heroes on strategy and commercialisation.
    • Time Heroes is a free multiplayer idle game you play in a desktop browser.
    • Players hatch eggs, collect pets across 10 worlds and build colonies with friends.

  • Business systems

    Restaurant finance

    A financial-performance tracking system for a branch of a well-known restaurant chain.

    Role
    Designed and built the system
    • Finance
    • Performance tracking
    • Restaurants
    • System design
    • I designed and built a system to track the branch's financial performance.
    • Made for one branch of a well-known restaurant chain.

  • University project

    Autonomous EV

    My senior project at Boğaziçi: a limited-domain, AI-assisted self-driving electric vehicle demonstrator for campus roads.

    Role
    Requirements, system testing and documentation
    Period
    2025 to 2026
    • Requirements
    • System testing
    • HMI design
    • Documentation
    • I defined the requirements and ran the system tests.
    • I turned engineering limits into practical software and interface decisions.
    • I wrote the technical documentation.
    • The project covers lane following, adaptive cruise control and forward collision warning, with sensor integration, actuator control and HMI design.

About

Where I add value.

I work where product, growth and business development meet. I start from the customer's problem, turn it into clear priorities, test what we ship and take it to market, with feedback loops that keep it improving. Based in Rotterdam, working across the Netherlands and Europe.

  • Product

    From customer problem to tested release.

    • Owned product at Carrtell: two B2B SaaS platforms and a mobile app for e-commerce sellers and their carriers.
    • Turned customer problems into requirements, prioritised the roadmap and tested releases.
    • Mapped the customer journey end to end, from onboarding to support, and prioritised the fixes with operations and development.
    • At Surfaced, I work on product priorities with the founders and developers, and test features before release.

  • Growth

    Data, onboarding and feedback loops that keep a product improving.

    • At Surfaced, I work with usage and campaign data, user conversations and onboarding material.
    • Built feedback loops between users, operations and product at Carrtell, so improvements were tracked instead of forgotten.
    • Turned customer pain points into onboarding material, workflows and service-level processes.
    • Helped grow Carrtell to enterprise customers including Aramex and Amazon.

  • Business development

    Partners, new markets and the go-to-market to reach them.

    • Owned Carrtell's key partnerships, alongside product and operations.
    • Regional lead for Carrtell's MENA expansion from Dubai, through a joint venture with Seed Group.
    • Met regional shipping companies to assess partnership fit, and turned market feedback into localisation and go-to-market actions.

  • Strategy

    Clear choices on where to focus and how to commercialise.

    • Board advisor on strategy and commercialisation at Timeheroes.
    • Advise companies on strategy.
    • Supported Carrtell's fundraising, investor reporting and grant applications.

Background

Before Carrtell, I ran day-to-day operations in delivery and logistics.

Languages

  • English Fluent
  • Turkish Native
  • Dutch Learning, taking lessons

Education

  • Current

    Master in Management (MSc)

    Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

    Dates
    August 2026 to August 2027
    Location
    Rotterdam, the Netherlands

    Focus

    • Strategic management
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Business transformation
    • Data-informed decision-making

    Highlights

    • Thesis: exploring AI twins.

  • Completed 2026

    BSc Mechanical Engineering

    Boğaziçi University

    Dates
    September 2018 to June 2026
    Location
    Istanbul, Türkiye

    Focus

    • Autonomous vehicles
    • Requirements and testing
    • Research

    Highlights

    • Senior project: an AI-assisted autonomous electric vehicle for campus roads, 2025 to 2026.
    • Co-authored “Compressive Behavior of Spherical Components” with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Right now

A role, a degree, a thesis and a new language: where my time goes this autumn.

  • Working

    Since September 2026

    Product & Growth Associate

    Surfaced, Rotterdam

    Surfaced measures and improves how brands appear in AI search. With the founders and developers, I work on product and growth priorities, usage and campaign data, user conversations, onboarding material and testing features before release.

    • AI search
    • Product
    • Growth
    • SaaS
    getsurfaced.ai (opens in a new tab)

  • Studying

    Since August 2026

    Master in Management

    Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

    Focused on strategic management, entrepreneurship, business transformation and data-informed decision-making.

    • Strategic management
    • Business transformation
    • Data-informed decisions

  • Advising

    Board advisory

    Timeheroes

    Strategy and commercialisation for Time Heroes, a free multiplayer idle game you play in the browser. On the board since September 2024. I also advise companies on strategy.

    • Board advisory
    • Strategy
    • Commercialisation
    timeheroes.app (opens in a new tab)

  • Exploring

    AI twins

    My thesis at RSM

    The topic I'm exploring for my Master's thesis. More on that soon.

  • Learning

    Dutch

    Taking lessons

    Langzaam maar zeker.

Say hello.

A product to shape, a market to open or a question? Send me a note.

Prefer LinkedIn?

Connect on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)

My full background, and the quickest way to reach me.