Vetted Mentoring Professionals

Jared Alessandroni

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Executive CTO specializing in AI, cloud platforms, and scaling SaaS products

21y exp

“NYC-based startup founder/CTO who sold products to Omnicom and Sprinklr, then built an AI-powered cultural insights engine inside Omnicom using AWS Lambda + ML to process ~1M items/day and reached ~$1MM ARR in year one. Former senior leader at Sprinklr managing 200+ people globally, delivering enterprise martech solutions with SLAs and high-reliability social data pipelines (Twitter firehose).”

Britney Russ

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Executive product leader specializing in consumer technology and EdTech

Los Angeles, CA13y exp

“Senior product leader from Codecademy who has spent roughly a decade building and mentoring cross-functional organizations while leading major strategic pivots in education. Most notably, they repositioned Codecademy toward a new learner segment and launched an AI-native learning platform that tripled signup rates, while also creating new revenue streams like live learning and accessible AI workshops.”

“Former COO of Hamilton Lane’s direct investment unit (appointed in 2007) who helped professionalize operations in an early-stage environment—implementing DealCloud, revamping investment committee materials, and creating valuation governance. Known for pairing process/technology upgrades with culture repair through high-touch communication and transparent leadership.”

“Project lead who partners with PM and customers to gather requirements, adjust project plans, and deliver new functionality that drives customer satisfaction and revenue. Has experience building features end-to-end and presenting successful technical demos to engineering and management audiences; no stated experience with LLM/agentic systems.”

“Unity/C# gameplay engineer from Rec Room who owned end-to-end systems spanning downloadable avatar content delivery (Addressables + auth/CDN), build automation/CI for asset bundles, and creator tooling (Avatar Studio). Also implemented AI-driven localization and generative mesh features, and has deep multiplayer experience with Photon and Photon Quantum across VR (Meta Quest) and mobile platforms, citing a 20% retention lift from faster content delivery and customization.”

“Product leader with experience at ZipRecruiter, Quora, and Turing, spanning marketplace growth, AI/ML moderation, and talent-matching systems. They pair strong product intuition with operational rigor, having driven measurable wins like a rare +5% onboarding completion lift in a mature product, cutting Quora spam exposure from ~8% to <1%, and improving Turing fulfillment from ~20% to ~30%. Strong cross-functional leader and manager with a clear human-centered philosophy on AI.”

“Operations/Continuous Improvement leader with 25 years of Lean/Kaizen experience, including roles at Danaher and 10x Genomics. Known for building enterprise operating rhythms (True North + daily management) and developing internal CI certification programs, while delivering measurable quality and cycle-time gains (e.g., NCR/MRB lead time cut 47→14 days and FPY improvements via global test-equipment relocation).”

“Operations leader/advisor focused on rapid, data-driven optimization and scalable org/process design. Has rebuilt internal structures, automated and streamlined customer-journey workflows, and delivered measurable cycle-time improvements (cut onboarding from 90–120 days to under 30). Previously built a new operations team that scaled to over $4M in revenue and frequently mentors non-operations executives using tailored, practical coaching.”

Scott Hwang

Screened

Senior Game Designer specializing in multiplayer systems and live service experiences

Irvine, California18y exp

“Gameplay systems designer with shipped AAA experience on Overwatch, including end-to-end ownership of player progression and major systems like matchmaking (role delta system cutting uncertainty/volatility by 50%) and Stadium mode round/shop + MMR/balancing systems (second-highest engaging mode). Strong in KPI/retention-driven design, player research, and telemetry-based balancing, with a UE5 Blueprint prototyping workflow built for modularity, data-driven tuning, and handoff to engineering.”

“Engineering leader with hands-on product and platform experience spanning AI-powered web forms, multi-region Azure/OpenAI architecture, and full-stack team scaling. They also remain close to production systems, citing a concrete debugging example involving iOS WebView local storage behavior causing token loss in embedded mobile web forms.”

“Senior software engineering leader with 20+ years of management exposure who has alternated between IC and director-level roles, leading teams of up to 25 across AI platform, analytics, Salesforce, and systems software projects. Particularly compelling for roles needing both technical depth and organizational leadership: they have architected systems themselves, built teams in new geographies, and coordinated platform, AI/data, and consumer engineering groups to deliver successful turnkey AI solutions.”