Yaakov Yisroel Kopstein Email & Phone Number

Pontiac, Michigan, United States

Jerusalem, Israel

This role is all about responsibility to future growth and sustainability. My biggest success happens when the company can seamlessly integrate new technologies, pivot to a different solution, scale for unexpected growth, or outmaneuver competitors because our code base and our software development processes are designed for change. I enable that through four areas𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧Reduce the amount of iteration we need to succeed with new projects by anticipating areas we’re likely to extend or modify the system and baking in the technical basis for those changes. This investment actually increases efficiency by ensuring future iterations need less changes to existing code.𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲I enable devs to spend most of their time on developing features and not stuck in related tasks. This includes maintaining writing and maintaining a "Dev Guidbook" covering common scenarios and solutions, providing guidance for shared infra, and working with the team to keep overall maintenance load low.𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩Entropy. It's a law of physics and software systems are definitely not exempt. Expedient decision making leads to cutting corners, not fixing "low value" bugs, not investing in design or testing, and not reviewing the state of the system. When left unchecked, this behavior devalues the system itself. Devs and investors lose confidence and end up abandoning it. Stewardship is about creating an opposing force - about continually evaluating the system, keeping operations cost low, keeping flexibility high, and keeping uptime high.𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐞By giving voice to architectural concerns during executive decision making, I can address potential issues before they're a huge fire. That means offering technical solutions that might otherwise be overlooked. And for the future? Simple - I actively foster and develop these skills in other team members.

Jerusalem, Israel

If you've ever experienced organizational chaos, you know the story: unclear and conflicting business goals, more half finished abandoned projects than features, lost outsourced knowledge, and sleepless nights. So many sleepless nights spent manually working through a critical operations backlog. Or fighting with a temperamental production system. Or debugging an issue for a "priority" customer. The details may change, but the story stays the same - it's a cycle of reacting to daily fires and no time to execute business goals, leading to missed deadlines and angry customers.When Revelator challenged me with these issues, I applied three strategies to rein in the chaos and solve real problems𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆The single most important force behind decision making. I worked with the executive team at Revelator to understand our customers, our costs, and growth areas. Together, we condensed conflicting ideas into a cohesive goal. We documented it. We communicated to all stakeholders. And we made decisions based on the goal.𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀Harder than it sounds. Existing processes, teams, and even ideas have inertia. Overcoming that requires getting buy in from stakeholders. It requires fostering a sense of team and shared purpose. And sometimes, it requires pushing back on decisions that violate the goals whether they come from below or above.𝗥𝗲𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗨𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹I took a system level view on infrastructure and architecture. There was countless areas we could improve performance, but most of them were a mirage. They didn't have any meaningful impact on customer or team experience, so improving them was a waste of resources. I worked with support and product to identify which modules had the biggest impact and rewrote those to reduce lead times on all operations throughout the app.

During my tenure in IT support, I gained valuable insights into the daily technological challenges faced by business owners and employees. I witnessed firsthand the inefficiencies caused by broken systems and wasted effort, which inspired me to make a difference.To address these issues, I founded Soris Software. I observed that at most companies, the most important parts of their work are unconscious and undocumented. Business owners would begin with a straightforward process, make incremental changes, and gradually improve through iteration - but the process would stay as institutional knowledge in their heads! At Soris Software, we collaborated closely with these business owners to understand and formalize these processes. We assisted them in identifying their strengths and pinpointing areas that hindered their efficiency. Most importantly, we uncovered opportunities for custom software solutions that could enhance their existing workflows through automation, analytics, and integrations.

One of the highlights of the course was the two-month mock startup accelerator project. I found standard final projects to be too predictable and uniform, failing to showcase the unique skills and creativity that students developed throughout the program. The projects all end up looking the same. They don't reflect the unique skills students developed in the program.To address this, I developed the mock startup accelerator project. Treating each cohort as a startup team, I guided them through every stage of building a product, from ideation and problem definition to minimum viable product (MVP) development, data design, app design, and implementation. This approach not only produced distinct and innovative products with each group but also provided students with a realistic experience of real-world work processes, enhancing their readiness for professional challenges.

San Luis Obispo, Ca

Netsmith was a local IT support company that provided a comprehensive IT solution for small and medium businesses on the California central coast. Our services included on site and phone support, planned maintenance, new equipment, employee onboarding, server management, website design, and hosting.I joined Netsmith as an IT technician, gaining valuable experience working with clients across various business sizes and industries. This role was my first exposure to real-world problem-solving, and I discovered a strong aptitude and passion for delivering technical solutions to customers.Over time, my responsibilities expanded to include website development. Eventually, I played a key role in broadening Netsmith's service offerings to include basic web application development for our larger clients. This experience provided me with a significant learning opportunity, allowing me to manage all technical aspects of app development within the supportive environment of a well-established company.