Vetted Product Development Professionals

Luciano Barrios

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Principal Hardware & Systems Architect specializing in edge AI and biometrics

Buenos Aires, Argentina25y exp

“Career startup operator now building a self-funded venture in home, professional, and industrial automation plus physical access control. Brings hands-on early-stage hardware/platform development experience along with investor-facing fundraising support, including technical presentations and introducing new ventures to existing funding relationships.”

Brandon Pav

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Executive CTO specializing in cloud architecture, DevSecOps, and scalable SaaS platforms

Indianapolis, IN13y exp

“Founder of Pavtek Consulting LLC who acts as a hands-on technology leader for startups, building MVPs and full-stack AI products, custom ERPs, integrations, and AI agent chat tools. Notably led a major turnaround at Dyknow (EdTech), cutting major cloud waste and moving the business from a $500k annual loss to double profitability within two years before a successful acquisition.”

“Built a production AI-native internal onboarding feature that reduced manual product setup effort by combining barcode API data, product photos, structured LLM outputs, and a polished real-time camera UI. Demonstrates hands-on experience across the full stack of LLM systems: prompt/schema design, multimodal inputs, backend orchestration with SQS and vector retrieval, and production reliability through evals, telemetry, and drift monitoring.”

“Operations/people-ops leader who helped an industrial fabrication company (Carlucci) scale through a major contract by standardizing operations, rolling out iPad + barcode workflows, and building workforce planning/onboarding/succession systems—doubling headcount. Uses a structured 100-day diagnostic and KPI-driven operating cadence (dashboards, AOP, goal deployment, 9-box, DISC) and mentors founders/executives by translating operational detail into strategic decision-making.”

Sophie Adams

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Senior Full-Stack Engineer specializing in event technology and interactive systems

New York, NY20y exp

“Full-stack product engineer in event tech who has owned AI-powered web products from architecture to live production, including a no-code SaaS/marketplace for event activations and real-time AI kiosk experiences. Particularly strong in building for non-technical users in high-stakes live environments, with hands-on experience across Vue/Laravel, LLM workflows, image generation pipelines, and operational reliability.”

Ron Buchanan

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Executive technology leader specializing in cloud architecture and Healthcare IT

Summerville, SC20y exp

“Startup-focused builder currently developing a values-driven multi-platform mobile app in beta. Previously led a major technical turnaround at Lucina Analytics, taking the product from 0-to-1 and rebuilding it into an enterprise Azure-based SaaS platform that contributed to its acquisition by Unified Women's Health.”

“Bootstrapped founder/fractional-CTO type building a community-first tooling platform and niche product lab, emphasizing trust and "family" culture. Operates extremely lean by self-hosting open-source LLM tooling locally and leverages a network of senior generalists willing to trade short-term compensation for learning and equity. Has worked across real estate tech, logistics, and hospitality POS and is applying a multi-modal "brain trails" concept to product opportunities.”

“Operations and manufacturing leader with CEO/Chair turnaround experience who has built a greenfield robotics-focused manufacturing operation from scratch, including equipment selection, engineering org buildout, and ERP-based inventory/BOM/WIP controls. Strong cost-accounting/standard-costing orientation for diagnosing inefficiencies and optimizing pricing, plus a demonstrated mentorship track record and a Juran-based quality philosophy (build quality into the process).”

“Early-career engineer who built and launched a zero-to-one AI-driven approval workflow at SDSU that is used daily by roughly 2,000 university users. They owned the system end-to-end—from FastAPI/PostgreSQL backend to React UI—and showed strong judgment around LLM reliability, using a two-step pipeline, validation checks, and human-review fallbacks to cut manual processing time by about 80%.”

“Repeat founder/operator who has raised over $1M across three companies and has hands-on experience advising fundraising, including helping a biotech company secure a $500K+ accelerator round through IndieBio. Brings a strong point of view on early-stage investing, founder quality, and startup traction metrics, with a clear intention to build or lead a company rather than join one long-term.”

Steven Dewey

Screened ReferencesModerate rec.

Director-level sales leader specializing in OEM, aftermarket, and industrial equipment markets

Hudsonville, MI19y exp

“Public-sector sales leader in emergency vehicle and municipal fleet equipment who drove $90M in combined incremental growth across SoundOff Signal and Buyers Products. Stands out for winning entrenched government accounts through product-led displacement strategies, disciplined KPI/CRM management, and persistence in long-cycle agency sales, including converting Houston PD from a longtime competitor.”

“Retail sourcing leader (currently a General Manager) with 11 years at a South Korea-based retailer and 20+ years in non-food product sourcing. Experienced owning end-to-end sourcing from supplier discovery and commercial negotiation through mass production, audits (BV/UL), and on-time delivery to distribution centers, with strong trade compliance/landed-cost focus (HTS, COO, FTA, tariffs/duties).”

“Exited Founder-CEO with deep-tech experience who raised capital and built a venture around making end-to-end encryption with cloud-level performance and data sovereignty feasible. Demonstrated first-principles technical rigor (network/TCP analysis) to prove scientific feasibility, then progressed from proof of concept to prototype and eventual exit, with a strong bias toward ultra-lean, customer-paid MVPs.”

Muhammad usama Subhani

Screened

Mid-level Performance Marketing Manager specializing in digital advertising

Lahore, Pakistan5y exp

“Performance marketer with hands-on experience managing $50K+/month media budgets, including Universal Studios campaigns on DV360 and The Trade Desk. They bring broad cross-channel expertise across programmatic, search, social, and DSP platforms, with a practical testing mindset focused on ROAS, CTR, and conversion efficiency.”

“Full-cycle B2B seller who says he has never relied on inbound and has consistently self-sourced deals through outbound prospecting. He highlights being the top salesperson at both companies he worked for and cites a 3-month, $150k one-off project sale equal to 10% of annual quota, involving senior research, IT, legal, and procurement stakeholders.”

Shady Alzayat

Screened

Executive engineering leader and full-stack builder specializing in platforms, payments, and healthcare

San Francisco, CA20y exp

“Serial entrepreneur building appetier.com, an agentic restaurant marketing and ecommerce automation platform for restaurants. Previously raised for Atlas Mental Health and brings thoughtful fundraising perspective centered on investor alignment, GTM partnership, and vertical SaaS/SMB infrastructure expertise.”

“Backend engineer who has built end-to-end data and platform systems across domains: a Scala/Java media data warehouse with a custom query language and Elasticsearch search, plus production security patterns (RBAC, RLS, audit trails) including a telehealth platform. Also demonstrated strong operational rigor by using feature-flagged side-by-side migrations and by catching ecommerce checkout edge cases that were dropping revenue.”

“Industrial design + mechanical engineering product developer with 15 years in venture-backed startups and venture studios, including CTO-level leadership and a recent equity exit. Now building a sustainability/recycling technology venture with a prototype and patent counsel engaged, currently in the City of Austin Circular Economy Accelerator and aiming to secure a municipal waste-management pilot partner at an upcoming pitch event.”

Uday Dorawala

Screened

Director-level Engineering Leader specializing in SaaS platforms, data, and cloud modernization

Raleigh, NC25y exp

“Former founder with an acquired venture who later led R&D at McClatchy and joined multiple startups. Identified a major client need and built a mobile app platform using ML and AR for home builders, driving adoption by dozens of customers and $1M+ ARR. Strong hands-on builder who can architect MVPs, iterate quickly with A/B testing and user feedback, and scale early engineering teams and culture.”

“Commercially minded candidate with exposure to private equity firms as sales targets and experience building partnerships around venture-backed company ecosystems. They appear more inclined to join an existing company than found one, bringing a metrics-driven, process-oriented approach and creative execution style with a strong focus on clear growth paths and capital stability.”

“Serial founder/engineer who has raised capital for two prior startups and is now building a mental awareness venture. Drove rapid early traction for Fashom after an organic YouTube unboxing sparked demand, then scaled using influencer-led growth with no paid ads for ~2 years, achieving ~150% YoY growth and staying profitable through COVID.”