Chad Kruse Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Il, Us

Chicago, Il, Us

I took a sabbatical from a full-time software engineering role to modernize Grantmakers.io, a popular philanthropic endeavor I founded 7 years ago.• Transformed the v1 static site developed with vanilla JavaScript, to a dynamic, modern web application using Typescript, Svelte, SvelteKit, Tailwind CSS, and Cloudflare Workers. • Designed an event-driven architecture for the ETL pipeline and refactored legacy components, using Node.js, Bash, and Typescript. • Applied my product experience to convert user feedback and analytics into innovative 0-1 features, experimenting with new AI APIs, services, and LLM platforms to develop promising proofs of concept (POCs).Repo: https://github.com/grantmakers/grantmakers-next[Cloudflare Workers, Cloudflare R2, Cloudflare Pages]

Irving, Tx, Us

Part of a small, agile team responsible for digital innovation opportunities across Kimberly-Clark, the Fortune 150 company best known for its global consumer brands including Huggies and Kleenex.• Built prototypes showcasing the art of the possible - React/NextJS, Typescript, Tailwind, Azure. • Collaborated with diverse, global teams to translate nascent ideas into reality. • Championed the Voice of the Customer (VoC) perspective in innovation engineering efforts, demonstrated by a 6x boost in conversions for a Spanish-language proof-of-concept (POC). • Developed the company's first internal large language model (LLM)-based chatbot as a proof of concept (POC), inspiring innovation within business teams globally.

Conceptualized, created, and launched SmarterGiving, a prototype studio focused on market opportunities throughout the "charity stack".• Architected and developed data pipelines using bash, Node.js, AWS S3 SDK, and Google Cloud Platform.• Leveraged and explored various machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) APIs to bring advanced classification algorithms in-house. • Optimized user experience through extensive use of Algolia Search API, incorporating customer feedback and A/B testing.• Drove Grantmakers.io to product-market fit, reshaping the grants data landscape with a free, open-source platform optimized for the needs of smaller nonprofits.

Cupertino, California, Us

I had a decision to make. The space I was excited about wouldn't hit the zeitgeist for many years - bad market timing already left a long line of startup casualties. Besides, I needed to learn Node.js and strengthen my coding skills. But I also needed health insurance and ramen money. 🤔So I rolled up my sleeves and did the exact opposite of what every other bootstrapper would do: I opted for a part-time gig at Apple so I could focus on the venture nearly full-time instead of the reverse. Incredible five years working with some of the most intelligent, dedicated workers ever.

Partnered with domain experts and technical founders to focus, launch, or expand. As a COO-for-hire, my roles ranged from business development and API evangelism to fundraising, product, and corporate strategy.• Served as product lead and COO for Forkfly, managing the launch of three web applications and two mobile platforms. Transitioned the company from single app to digital advertising platform, tripling the team from 4 to 12 and bringing the company to first revenues. • Crafted and evangelized the platform strategy for innovative sensor startup GreenGoose, resulting in a successful seven-figure fundraise. • Turned two pilot projects from ecosystem services company WiLD Inc. into an institutional timberland investment management fund.Full interactive list of roles and projects available at www.chadkruse.com

Us

First non-partner hire for Riverlake Partners, a lower middle-market private equity fund. Assisted partners in all aspects of the fund, from modeling to negotiations and portfolio management activities.• Responsible for deal flow program including sourcing, vetting, assessing, and modeling potential deals. • Raised debt capital in support of acquisitions, collaborated with other potential funding partners and other industry colleagues, and worked extensively with outside attorneys to close transactions.• Assisted in ongoing portfolio-level improvement activities including the development of add-on acquisition strategies, financing expansion plans, and other ad-hoc projects.

Mountain View, California, Us

Served as one of four dealmakers for Intuit, the Fortune 500 consumer and SMB-focused technology company. Our group not only explored new growth markets and executed software M&A deals, but also served as internal sound board for business unit leaders while continuing to push for innovation across all levels of the company.• Recognized by CEO for my leadership in driving large, cross-functional teams of internal and external resources to quickly and efficiently close complicated and dynamic deals.• Led the company's first partnership with Paypal, ultimately resulting in $100M of value creation for the company.• Explored new avenues for growth, identified and prioritized opportunities, cultivated internal collaboration, developed internal plans, and led internal buy-in and eventual deal execution.• Developed investment theses across the build, buy, partner spectrum.

Reston, Va, Us

An early employee of the predecessor group to SAIC Ventures. Investments focused primarily on next generation telecom including VOIP, virtual assistants, and speech recognition, but also included internal tech commercialization.A small team of three, my role covered the full investment cycle, from deal vetting and investment thesis creation to term sheet negotiations and assisting with closing activities.• Placed $90M of early to mezzanine stage venture capital in 15 months (11 transactions).• Built and evangelized a new valuation model subsequently adopted company-wide (40k employees; 600+ business units).

Portland, Oregon, Us

My first job out of undergrad. Also the place I got my de-facto MBA thanks to the active and engaged mentoring I received from the firm's partners. Amazing experience working with these nationally-recognized business valuation experts.• Assessed future prospects of clients through extensive market research and heavy financial modeling.• Performed business valuations and other investment banking related services.• Trained new analysts on research strategies and financial modeling.