Alexa Kayman

Alexa Kayman

Operations Lead, Product, Growth in New York, NY, she/her

About

Exploring state craft, longevity, and edtech. Prev, Head of Operations @ Bloom (YC W21), Research Fellow @ Contrary Capital.

Work Experience

2024 — Now
Operating Committee Leader at Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs
New York, NY

Focusing on HardCORE, which empowers BioTech and HardTech founders through networking, co-founder matching, and collaboration with VC firms.

$15.2B raised by Columbia startups in the past 12 months. $6.4M awards granted annually to Columbia startups by Columbia University. 3K+ Columbia startups created in the last decade.

2024 — Now
2019 — Now
New York, NY

Powering product, growth, and research for the most promising early-stage companies and world-class digital experiences. Working with YC backed companies with a focus on urban infra, web infra, and fintech.

  • User research, competitive analysis, and wire-framing for startups across urban infra and fintech, working directly with the CEO/CTOs as the primary designer.

  • Designed Paxafe’s showroom demo, leading to 10+ enterprise contracts and revamping supply chain route planning software.

  • Designed the flagship mobile payroll product for Checkr ($5 billion valuation in 2021).

  • Revamped Pirros’ onboarding to maximize conversions from invite to enterprise team setup.

2022 — 2024
New York, NY

The investing app that teaches Americans how to build wealth. Raised $4.4 million, achieved profitability, and $3m ARR. Backed by Y Combinator.

  • Oversaw day-to-day operations, monthly cash accounting to prepare investor updates, service provider contracts, payroll, and HR for 8 full-time employees, and 3 global contractors.

  • Deployed $150K/mo in ad spend across TikTok, Meta, and Google to gain 1M+ users.

  • Wrote 120+ financial education modules for the “Learn and Earn” product, taken by teens over 3 million times. Produced and scripted three “masterclass-styled” video scripts for famous CEOs and two college professors.

2023 — 2023
Remote

Illuminating private markets under Contrary Capital.

  • Published 6 research reports that analyzed industry trends, product, business model, and corporate valuation, including Midjourney, Webflow, Klarna, Intercom, Greenlight, and Zapier.
2020 — 2023

Helping students cultivate passion and discover their futures. An opportunity database for high schoolers.

  • Ideated, designed, and developed the web app that reached 24,000 students and connected 1,000 students to jobs and or programs.

  • Raised $45K from Hack+ and $125K from YC Startup School in software credits, totaling $170K in software grants and $3K in cash grants.

  • Led a team of 20 volunteers and oversaw HR, banking, legal, and our 501(c)3 nonprofit fiscal sponsorship.

2021 — 2022
New York, NY
  • Led strategic partnerships with seven youth nonprofits and 2 VC-backed startups to reach more young investors.

  • Led organic growth and managed five content interns to generate 30,000 sign-ups with a $0 budget in 3 months.

2020 — 2021
Marketing Director, Board Member at Alect Political

Redefining political strategy. Worked on three congressional, two senate, and two stealth startup campaigns.

  • Sourced clients through cold outreach and networking to land an average deal size of $20k.

  • Led six marketing and policy analysis fellows to manage client growth projects.

  • Designed and developed the website, pitched and led the rebrand from “CTF” to Alect, and built the internal IT system.

Education

2024 — Now
Bachelor of Arts - Philosophy, Computer Science at Columbia University
New York

Columbia Quant Group, App Development Initiative Columbia, Columbia Women in CS, Design @ Columbia, Columbia Women's Business Society

2024 — Now
Bachelor of Arts - Philosophy, Computer Science at Barnard College
New York, NY

Projects

Ongoing

$100-500 microgrants for ambitious young builders.

2023

Moments in time and a glimpse through my view finder.

Side Projects

2024

What if we could use biomorphic shapes, specifically artificial cabbage coral, that protects shores, fosters marine fauna, and promotes human<>nature centric design?

2024

A simple banking dashboard for peace of mind.

Building this to touch up on full-stack skills. Plus, would love budgeting, investment overviews, and tax calculators all-in-one.

2023

Describe the data you want - export a .csv in seconds. Github here.

Features

2023

Bloom has raised, in total, $4.4 million in seed funding from investors, much of it in 2022. Investors include Contrary, Slow Ventures, Offline Ventures, Rocketship VC, Slope and a group of angel investors, including Andrew Yang.

2021

This year's Call for Kindness is the biggest yet with a 70% increase in applicants from 2020, hailing from 35 states from around the country.

2021

Projects promoting kindness, empathy and leadership were selected as national winners by the NYC-founded Riley's Way Foundation.

Volunteering

2024 — Now
Records Education at NYC Department of Records & Information Services
New York, NY

Turning NYC's archives into curriculum aids for public school educators.

2020 — 2023

Facilitating dynamic, authentic, and kind leadership through a development fellowship.

  • 2021 $3K Call for Kindness grant recipient for The Generation.

  • 2022 Youth Leadership Mentor. Helped young founders with growth, fundraising, operations, and volunteer retention.

  • Learned about data privacy, media regulations, and childhood development from speakers and workshop leaders.

2021 — 2022
Washington, D.C

A national, nonpartisan Quaker organization that lobbies Congress and the administration to advance peace, justice, and environmental stewardship.

  • 2021: Group Leader for lobby visits with Congresswoman Maloney’s office, researched and advocated for clear paths to citizenship.

  • 2022: Congressional Coordinator for a visit with Senator Schumer. Researched and submitted policy proposals that allowed climate refugees to sue polluting corporations for damages.

Contact

GitHub
LinkedIn
Twitter
Substack