Emotional Investors' Update (2023-05-14)
Every month I send a letter to the people in my life in a similar manner that I'd send to investors that have given me money. It provides the latest updates about what I'm working on and what is coming up.
👋 Hi! I’m Zack Gilbert –
I like to think of myself as a business-savvy, customer-centric, product engineer with soft skills. That’s just a long-winded way of saying I help bridge technical and non-technical worlds to make sure that the end user’s experience is always top of mind. I love building projects that help solve real problems.
I’ve had successful exits from 4 of my projects and was previously a Solutions Engineer in Foursquare’s Chicago office where I helped enterprise companies integrate and optimize their geo-location needs. Most recently I was the engineering lead at Able.com, where I was primarily responsible for the planning and execution of mobile and server development.
As one of the founding members of Technori and Chicago.concat(), I’ve been involved with the Chicago tech and developer communities since 2010.
Projects
I have build a few interesting projects.
billQ
A simple bill tracking and reminder tool. Still has paying customers. Built in PHP.
mybillq.com
WPComplete
A Wordpress plugin that adds completability to your course. Sold to iThemes.
wpcomplete.co
Fixtail
A newsletter segmentation SaaS that connected Stripe sales to Mailchimp subscribers. Sold. Built in Ruby on Rails.
fixtail.com
Able
Mobile and web based tools that helped independent workers and freelancers manage their money and taxes. Built in Ruby on Rails, native iOS and Android.
able.com
LeaderBird
A Twitter based leaderboard competition and accountability SaaS. Has paying customers. Built in 2 weeks, in Sinatra (Ruby).
leaderbird.co
ProjectGarden
A place for makers to showcase and grow their projects from idea to launch. Built in 2 weeks, in Sinatra (Ruby).
projectgarden.co
My Mini Sabbatical
After leaving Able.com, I took 2 months off to regroup and work on whatever I wanted. I finished 2 programs, wrote a bunch, built two products and launched a productized consulting offer to help people build their MVPs.
Work
- Company
- Able.com
- Role
- Engineering Lead
- Date
- Company
- Foursquare
- Role
- Enterprise Solutions Engineer
- Date
- Company
- Highrise
- Role
- Software Engineer
- Date
- Company
- Cloudbot
- Role
- Software Engineer & Product Manager
- Date
Testimonials
I have worked with hundreds of amazing people.
“Zack is the first call when I need anything built, period. He is an amazingly talented, yet humble individual who listens more than he speaks and guides more than he corrects. He is able to get out of you what you want even when you can’t quite tell him what it is. He is also extremely flexible and able to adapt and change at the drop of a hat, which if you have built anything from scratch you will know how often that can happen. Lastly, Zack is an amazing father and husband too which may be the only thing more impressive than his ability to build!”
Vince Cortese
CEO of Able.com
“Working with Zack has been a true pleasure. His deep technical expertise is matched by high levels of collaboration and results. Under his guidance, we delivered several high-stakes projects at Foursquare. His pragmatic approach, coupled with an ability to foster a cooperative work environment, made him a key asset to our organization.”
Gareth Paul Jones
“Working with Zack was an absolute dream. He took my idea and vision for a new online scheduling tool for my cake shop and turned it into an easy-to-use solution that was exactly what I needed. Less friction at checkout led to higher sales, and his streamlined scheduling system saved me stress AND administrative costs. Total game changer for my business!”
Emily Nejad
BonVivantCakes.com
“just saying, @zackgilbert is the best cofounder a boy could have.”
Paul Jarvis
Cofounder of WPComplete & Fixtail
“Zack’s an incredibly talented developer but what makes him stand out is his hyper collaborative DNA, high velocity of shipping and a strong sense of design. I loved working with Zack on the SaaS app he built for me so I could get to revenue very quickly. I’d 100% recommend him to any other ambitious founder.”
“It’s time to build that idea you keep coming back to! @zackgilbert is obviously my MVP, but now he can build yours too.”
Kelsey Kreiling
“I couldn’t imagine a better person to partner with if you want to test bringing an idea to life…trying to come up with something we can work on together!”
Allen Penn
“For everyone that wants to build an MVP, strongly recommend Zack as a sharp fast and great developer”
Miguel Muñoz Duarte
“Anyone getting Zack for a month is lucky. He’s the unaffordable and unhirable combo of talented designer meets talented engineer meets experienced entrepreneur.”
Seth Kravitz
“For anyone who is looking to spin up a high quality mvp super quick @zackgilbert is your guy! He’s been doing this for 20 years....and now he’s sharing his talents with you.”
Jesse Link 💭
“Stop thinking. Get your MVP out there. @zackgilbert is incredible if you’re looking to get shit done.”
⚡️Mei
“Having used @leaderbirdco as a customer I’d say @zackgilbert is a pretty talented guy 👀”
Laura is building 🚀🧪💯
Interested in working together?
Currently available for contract or full time opportunities.