Juan Paguaga

Juan Paguaga

Startup Generalist in Waterloo

About

I find that often, the biggest problems in a company are not technical or financial, but human. Human problems are deep, multi-layered and convoluted — like a neural net. I love giving a helping hand in solving those issues.

Work Experience

2023 — 2023
Toronto

Led the company-wide rollout of Mission Aligned Teams (MATs) for a Series C, $2B revenue organization. This transition to a hybrid STO-functional model increased company-wide OKR completion by 10%, enhanced team autonomy, and fostered improved collaboration and strategic alignment across 22 cross-functional teams.

Worked with GMs and C-suite to understand the overlap of MATs & OKRs. Evaluated MAT performance and organized offsites and L&D sessions for middle managers and directors

Created SOPs for cross-team collab, organized weekly all-hands, C-Suite meetings, and helped non-technical teams transition to Scrum methodology

Tested and implemented AI software to improve company productivity and internal efficiency

2022 — 2022
San Francisco

Aide is a small ML startup trying to fully automate the resolution of support tickets for e-commerce and SaaS businesses. Their product uses email tagging, resurfacing information, and workflow optimization to improve the efficiency of CS agents and increase customer satisfaction.

Managed CRM pipeline and conducted user feedback on the product specs and functionality

Prepared memo, pitch deck, and other materials used during fundraising and pitched to VCs and Angel Investors

Worked as a PM defining the product’s specs, the company’s roadmap, and managing the team

2022 — 2022
Toronto

Helped launch and market UTU.ONE from 700 to 300K users: a DAO-based social media app that leverages communities and tokenized economies to create new sources of income

Expanded the marketing team and worked on acquisition and retention initiatives including PPC campaigns, in-app events, shipping new features, and UI optimizations

Worked with the C-Suite and HR department to plan and prep for the release of the 2.0 version of the App and on executing a company reorganization

Managed a team of 12 people responsible for managing social media accounts, website layout and copywriting, blog and Help Center

2021 — 2022
Marketing and Ops at UTU Technology
Toronto

Conducted User Research, focus groups, and created engagement and acquisition reports using SQL and GSheets

Sourced and Managed YouTube, Tik Tok and Instagram influencers to market the app bringing thousands of users to the app.

Secured 45K from web3 grants and government subsidies to push for the development of the app and hire co-op students

In charge of de-escalating company-wide situations involving disagreements, delays on projects, and cross-department conflicts

2020 — 2022
New York

Increased CSAT and NPS handling 750 customer interactions and orders in Shopify, Shiphero, Front and Intercom per month

Created CS workflows, reports, email templates and shipping triggers in Front and Shopify

Cleaned orders backlog and resurrected 150 customers that had been churned for over 18 months

Worked with the fulfillment and operation departments to optimize order shipments, consolidate inventory and minimize delays

Conducted influencer research, and drafted communication strategies for the Q4 2021 “Bitcoin Edition” campaign

2021 — 2021
Waterloo

Managed SJU social media accounts for a full term, increased followers by 44%

Audited SJU Social Media Accounts, defined strategy and built a social media tracker from scratch

Hosted Weekly Instagram Livestreams, built the SJU virtual space for 2 major events, and created 16 videos, documents and other materials for recruitment purposes

2019 — 2020
London

This was my first job in Canada, I became really good friends with the owners and with all our regular customers and went from having two short and supervised shifts a week to being in charge of the store and cafe every day during the night shift.

Projects

2021

Received a prize of $10K

Developed and deployed a public Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) for the city of Miami, featuring an NFT marketplace, smart contracts, and a tokenized economy

Aimed to foster public art creation, stimulate tourism, and generate new revenue streams for UTU.ONE and the city of Miami

Presented proposal and demo of a fully functional DAO in the UTU.ONE environment

2020

Medieval research lab concerned with historical weather and natural environment located at the University of Waterloo

This was a short-lived internship due to COVID-19. I worked on admin tasks, spreadsheets, outreach, and brainstorming sessions

I was granted a research opportunity for an archaeological excavation at the Herstmonceux Castle in the UK. I was also asked to speak at the DRAGEN Lab debut ceremony. Sadly, both events were cancelled due to the pandemic

Education

2019 — 2024
Waterloo

Major in Speech Communication and Minor in Human Resources

2017 — 2018
Nicaragua

Average Grade: 96.95

I left after 4 semesters because a civil war broke out in my country and all universities were closed.

Volunteering

2017 — 2017
Special Education Teacher at Universidad Centroamericana (UCA)
Nicaragua

Taught at-risk youth between the ages of 7-14 in Mathematics, English, and Literature.

Collaborated with the team on planning out activities for +250 children twice a week.

Contact

LinkedIn
Website

Teams

Past
Aide