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Chuck Blake

Strategy & Operations Executive

I am a startup executive with early-stage DNA and a bias towards action; Whether collaborating on a team, overseeing an initiative, or addressing a problem head-on, I have a do-what-it-takes approach to solve fundamental business problems and make things happen. While working across every aspect of startups, I have built up a swiss-army knife of skills; businesses leveraging technology to propel themselves forward is my sweet spot.

Experience

Wallaroo Labs, New York, NY January 2015 to October 2020
SVP Operations

Wallaroo's focus is on building infrastructure to productionize big data and data science applications. I joined the company as its first employee took on critical roles to grow from two to twenty people while raising $6.8M in seed capital. After leaving the company at the end of 2020, I continue to serve in an advisory capacity.

  • Collaborated with the CEO on organizational strategy, planning, and implementation of initiatives.
  • Organized the companies' daily operations and special projects using project management tools and processes.
  • Established processes to manage cash flow projections, budgets, accounts payable, payroll, benefits, and annual renewals of healthcare and retirement plans.
  • Drove key processes: product roadmap, planning, business reviews, annual performance review, product development, team communication and team events
  • Led business development efforts with the US Department of Defense SBIR program, ultimately acquiring a $1.5M contract from USAF.
  • Served as point-person for communication and oversight for client projects (USAF, Bank of America, McCann), collaborating to develop business goals and certify requirements while leading a team of developers to build solutions.
  • Developed product roadmap using inputs from analytics (surveys and usage data) as well as qualitative inputs (customer interviews and sales call feedback).
  • Oversaw the recruiting and staffing initiatives and building out of the engineering team.
  • Facilitated review of various MSAs, contracts, and software licensing agreements with external counsel.

Choozer, New York, NY September 2012 to December 2014
Chief Technology Officer

Choozer is a SaaS application that helps companies target and attract the best potential job applicants. As CTO I oversaw the production-ready codebase and weekly software releases and worked closely with the CEO and COO on company strategy steering strategic decisions and resource allocation.

  • Developed social employee referral system through coding (Ruby on Rails) and targeted project outsourcing, streamlining client hiring practices.
  • Administered customer focus groups, individual feedback sessions, and user testing, yielding customer needs specific to referral system development.

Email Insights, New York, NY January 2012 – January 2015
Founder

Launched SaaS email platform, capable of tracking and monitoring email campaigns from market competitors and industry leading brands. Platform released to the public following positive reception from industry, email marketing professionals.

TheStreet. New York, NY December 2009 to March 2012
Vice President, Premium Service Operations

Created and supervised dashboard and daily report development used by department heads to identify KPIs (customer acquisition, retention, B2B metrics). Managed eight operational and development employees, providing training, goal setting and needs assessments. Led contract negotiations for A/B testing tool, choosing vendor (creative, copy and landing page) and commencing. Produced sales funnel conversion improvements through on-going marketing tests conducted by direct-report personnel.

  • Streamlined continuous marketing strategy for new products, developing and applying blueprints for rollout.
  • Increased new subscribers via email channel, per send, by 20%. Accomplished through integration of Exact Target, improving deliverability, creation of lead nurturing and re-marketing efforts, increased segmentation and streamlining the creative process.

Kikucall, New York, NY January 2001 to December 2009
Chief Operating Officer/VP of Technology

Constructed web, e-commerce, and content management subscription marketing platform. Experimented with new development, marketing, and subscription ideas. Executed online marketing strategies across mobile, social, email, and web. Led long-term planning/processes strategy development and facilitated leadership meetings.

  • Conceived and assembled SMS text message marketing software, bolstering marketing campaigns for high-profile clients (Nike, Samsung, Kraft).
  • Developed recurring billing engine and marketing landing page testing suites during initial platform start-up.
  • Improved acquisition, retention, and ROI by up to 30% average through analytics and cohort analysis.

VP of Product, Sonata, NYC January 1999 to December 2001
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Director of Technology, The Princeton Review, NYC January 1994 to December 1999

Education and Training

  • Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems and Computer Science, La Salle University, Philadelphia, PA
  • Seth Godin altMBA

Technical Skills

  • Productivity (Notion, OmniFocus, Evernote)
  • Office (Google Suite, Office Suite, Airtable)
  • CRM (HubSpot, SalesForce)
  • Analytics (Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Segment)
  • Marketing (Mailchimp, Sendgrid)
  • Languages/Platforms: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, Heroku, Sublime (Text Editor), Git/Github, Balsamic (Wireframing)
  • Process Management: Pivotal Tracker, Basecamp, Trello, Jira
  • SEM: Google AdWords, Twitter

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