# David Gitman — Full Resume Context

> David Gitman is a Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area–based technology leader specializing in eCommerce, cloud infrastructure, and AI automation.

## Summary

David Gitman is a technology leader in eCommerce, cloud infrastructure, and AI automation. CTO, founder, and operator with 30+ years building digital commerce platforms.

Location: Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area, NC, United States
Email: david@because.ventures
Phone: (917) 723-2895
Website: https://davidgitman.com

## Experience








### CTO / Technology Advisor — Because Ventures (Igniterate Fund)
- Duration: Jan, 2017 — Present
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://because.ventures/
Invested in and advised 24 early-stage commerce and technology companies including Cadence, Manifest Commerce, Composer, and Lola Olivia, supporting eCommerce strategy, operational scaling, platform architecture, and growth initiatives for businesses reaching $90M+ revenue, $28B+ trading volume, 15M+ executed orders, and 97%+ merchant retention. Led distributed cross-functional teams across engineering, product, operations, marketing, finance, and fulfillment spanning the United States, Ukraine, Israel, Armenia, India, and the Philippines, supporting software delivery, eCommerce operations, production support, and growth optimization initiatives. Designed and scaled headless eCommerce platforms across Shopify Plus, Magento, React, Next.js, Node.js, and cloud-native architectures, building APIs, integrations, middleware, and automation workflows connecting ERPs, 3PLs, CRMs, payment providers, and fulfillment systems. Architected and operated scalable AWS and GCP infrastructure utilizing EC2, S3, CloudFront, EKS, RDS, ElastiCache, Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, and Infrastructure-as-Code workflows supporting high-availability eCommerce environments and large-scale traffic spikes. Conducted hands-on AI R&D and workflow automation using ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, GitHub Copilot, vector databases, RAG architectures, semantic retrieval pipelines, and agent-driven workflows supporting eCommerce optimization, operational tooling, and accelerated development workflows. Built eCommerce growth, SEO, CRO, and lifecycle marketing systems across paid search, paid social, affiliate ecosystems, and retention campaigns, increasing eCommerce conversion rates by 165% and driving 130K+ monthly organic visitors across portfolio brands.


### Head Of eCommerce — Napster (Infinite Reality, Display Social, Tsū)
- Duration: Sep, 2020 — Jun, 2022
- Location: Norwalk, Connecticut (Remote)
- URL: https://theinfinitereality.com/
Led architecture, product strategy, and scaling for Infinite Reality's metaverse commerce ecosystem, enabling brands to sell physical and digital goods across Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce-integrated environments; launched affiliate/referral commerce programs for brands including Fanatics, supported Sony Music Entertainment artist migrations to Shopify, and architected AWS Glue ETL pipelines for commerce catalog normalization and distribution. Architected headless commerce infrastructure and metaverse commerce products enabling creators and brands to sell physical and digital goods without relying on traditional eCommerce platforms, developing custom catalog services, cart/checkout APIs, payment and fulfillment integrations, affiliate attribution systems, ETL workflows, and identity/account management across ERP, PIM, 3PL, and digital fulfillment ecosystems. Built and managed a scalable affiliate commerce catalog spanning 250+ partner networks, architecting ETL pipelines ingesting APIs, affiliate feeds, and flat files to normalize, validate, and standardize product, pricing, commission, and catalog data across disparate commerce ecosystems. Architected creator monetization, wallet, and redemption systems supporting mass payouts, digital gift cards, debit card/wallet products, and affiliate rewards, designing ledger-based balance management, payout orchestration, redemption workflows, KYC/identity verification, fraud/compliance controls, reconciliation systems, and settlement operations. Supported creator monetization and commerce infrastructure serving 6M+ registered users and 1M+ monthly active users with high-volume engagement, affiliate commerce, micro-payment ledger tracking, and revenue-sharing models across large-scale social and immersive commerce ecosystems.


### Chief Ignition Officer / Founder — Igniterate
- Duration: Jul, 2020 — Dec, 2022
- Location: Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20220704082345/https://www.igniterate.com/
Founded and led a full-service digital commerce agency focused on social impact organizations, helping mission-driven organizations, nonprofits, and socially responsible businesses leverage technology to increase revenue and amplify impact. Directed end-to-end eCommerce strategy, platform architecture, user experience design, systems integration, and digital marketing initiatives. Designed, built, and optimized online stores and fundraising platforms using modern eCommerce technologies, payment systems, CRM integrations, and marketing automation tools. Advised executive teams on digital transformation, customer acquisition, analytics, and scalable technology strategies. Managed cross-functional teams of developers, designers, marketers, and project managers to deliver complex digital initiatives on time and within budget. Helped organizations align business growth with social impact objectives through data-driven decision making and customer-centric digital experiences.


### Chief Technology Officer / Cofounder — Scalene Group
- Duration: Apr, 2019 — Jan, 2021
- Location: Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20191206025144/https://scalene.group/
Cofounded and led technology strategy for a full-service digital agency serving businesses across North Carolina's Research Triangle. Directed the design, development, and delivery of web, eCommerce, marketing, and business technology solutions that helped clients improve customer acquisition, operational efficiency, and digital transformation initiatives. Managed client engagements from strategy through execution, oversaw technical teams and vendor relationships, and partnered with business leaders to align technology investments with growth objectives. Cofounded and scaled a full-service agency serving clients across diverse industries. Led web application, eCommerce, systems integration, and digital marketing technology projects. Architected custom software solutions and automation workflows to improve business processes. Managed technical teams, contractors, and project delivery across multiple concurrent client engagements. Advised executive stakeholders on technology strategy, digital transformation, and platform selection. Drove client growth through the implementation of scalable, data-driven digital solutions.


### Chief Operating Officer / Chief Technology Officer / Cofounder — Erebral
- Duration: Jan, 2019 — May, 2020
- Location: New York, NY
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20191116235243/http://erebral.com/
Cofounded Erebral to deliver business intelligence and data segmentation solutions for eCommerce businesses, helping online retailers turn transactional and behavioral data into actionable insights for marketing, retention, and growth decisions. Led product, technology, and operational strategy for a platform focused on customer segmentation, cohort analysis, and analytics workflows tailored to direct-to-consumer and online retail environments. Designed data pipelines, reporting systems, and segmentation models that enabled merchants to identify high-value customer segments and optimize acquisition and lifecycle strategies. Partnered with eCommerce operators to translate business requirements into scalable BI tooling, dashboards, and data products supporting day-to-day marketing and merchandising decisions.


### Chief Operating Officer — MageMojo
- Duration: Jul, 2018 — Sep, 2018
- Location: Brooklyn, New York
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20180901192453/https://magemojo.com/
Led sell-side M&A efforts on behalf of the ownership team, identifying and engaging potential acquirers, coordinating due diligence activities, and supporting acquisition discussions. Oversaw business operations for a leading managed Magento hosting provider, aligning engineering, customer success, sales, and support teams to support growth and service excellence. Implemented operational processes, performance metrics, and reporting frameworks that improved organizational visibility, accountability, and execution. Partnered with executive leadership on strategic planning, customer retention initiatives, infrastructure reliability, and revenue growth opportunities. Led budgeting, resource planning, vendor management, and operational execution across the organization. Evaluated strategic partnership, acquisition, and exit opportunities, engaging with prospective buyers and advisors to support the owners' exploration of a potential company sale. Facilitated executive-level discussions, due diligence preparation, and business presentations for potential acquirers and investors. Strengthened cross-functional collaboration and operational discipline to improve customer experience and organizational scalability.


### Chief Acceleration Officer / Founder — Accel Commerce
- Duration: Mar, 2017 — Nov, 2018
- Location: Brooklyn, New York
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20171020040702/https://accelcommerce.com/
Founded and led a full-service eCommerce consulting agency focused on helping brands accelerate online growth through strategy, technology, digital marketing, and operational optimization. Advised clients on eCommerce platform selection, website development, conversion rate optimization, customer acquisition, and retention strategies. Directed cross-functional teams responsible for UX design, development, systems integration, analytics, and digital marketing initiatives. Managed client relationships from discovery and strategy through implementation and ongoing growth, serving as a trusted advisor to executives and business owners. Developed scalable processes and service offerings that enabled clients to improve online revenue, operational efficiency, and customer experience. Oversaw business development, partnerships, project delivery, and financial operations while driving agency growth and client success.


### Technical Advisor — Get Maine Lobster
- Duration: Feb, 2017 — Jun, 2019
- Location: Portland, Maine (Remote)
- URL: https://www.getmainelobster.com/
Served as a strategic advisor to the founder and executive team, supporting technology, eCommerce, operational, and growth initiatives. Helped raise growth capital through private investors and equity crowdfunding campaigns, contributing to the company's ability to scale operations and expand its direct-to-consumer business. Advised on investor presentations, fundraising strategy, business planning, and technology due diligence. Guided eCommerce platform, digital marketing, and customer experience initiatives to support revenue growth and improve online conversion. Recommended technology solutions and integrations across eCommerce, fulfillment, shipping, customer service, and marketing systems to improve operational efficiency. Provided expertise on platform scalability, website performance, security, and technology vendor selection during periods of rapid growth. Partnered with leadership to align technology investments with business objectives, customer acquisition goals, and long-term growth strategy.


### Chief Technology Officer — Cue Connect
- Duration: May, 2016 — Dec, 2016
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20161107204444/https://business.cueconnect.com/
Led technology strategy and engineering operations for an enterprise SaaS platform that unified online and in-store shopper behavior to help retailers increase conversion rates and customer engagement. Architected an omni-channel identity resolution platform that combined eCommerce activity, proximity-based beacon data, and customer intent signals to create a single view of the consumer across digital and physical retail environments. Directed full software development lifecycle across Development, QA, and Production, managing cross-functional teams responsible for backend services, mobile applications, analytics platforms, APIs, and integrations. Spearheaded development of custom Magento and WordPress/WooCommerce extensions that embedded real-time shopper intelligence and behavioral tracking directly into merchant storefronts. Designed scalable Node.js, PHP, MySQL, and ElasticSearch-based systems capable of processing millions of shopper interactions and large retail product catalogs with sub-second query performance. Oversaw delivery of native iOS applications, SDKs, and Angular-based analytics dashboards that enabled retailers to measure customer journeys and optimize marketing performance across channels.


### Chief Technology Officer / Founder — ChannelReply
- Duration: May, 2014 — Jun, 2021
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://www.channelreply.com/
Conceived, architected, and developed the original ChannelReply platform, transforming a marketplace customer support challenge into a SaaS solution for eCommerce merchants. Built integrations connecting Amazon, eBay, and other online marketplaces with leading helpdesk platforms including Zendesk, enabling support teams to manage customer communications from a single interface. Designed scalable API integrations, messaging workflows, and ticket synchronization systems that reduced operational complexity for high-volume online sellers. Worked closely with customers and marketplace operators to prioritize features, improve usability, and drive product-market fit. Helped establish the technical foundation for a business that grew into a leading marketplace customer service platform and was later acquired.


### Chief Technology Officer / Cofounder — Cooper Square Ventures
- Duration: Aug, 2011 — Jun, 2021
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://www.coopersquareventures.com/
Identified, acquired, and scaled eCommerce businesses including Next Day Auto Parts, Auto Parts Nerd, Woodbury Automotive Warehouse, Car Part Kings, Plumburs, and SaaS platform ChannelReply, transforming catalog-driven automotive aftermarket and plumbing operations into scalable Magento-based commerce platforms through ETL-driven catalog migration, marketplace expansion, SEO/CRO optimization, and operational modernization initiatives. Scaled eCommerce revenue from $400K to $8.5M ARR through SEO, CRO, catalog expansion, and marketplace distribution initiatives, growing organic traffic to 130K+ monthly visitors, improving eCommerce conversion rates by ~165%, scaling Magento infrastructure to 1.5M+ products and 2.5B+ landing pages, and building catalog normalization, supplier ingestion, fitment mapping, taxonomy, and marketplace feed-management systems supporting Amazon and eBay marketplaces at scale. Engineered and optimized high-scale Magento/LAMP eCommerce environments across distributed AWS infrastructure utilizing PHP, MySQL, Apache, Nginx, Redis, Memcached, Varnish, HHVM, Linux, Git, Bash, Pentaho ETL, and Symfony to support large-scale catalog operations, performance optimization, caching, deployment automation, and production reliability.


### Chief Technology Officer — Vodyssey Group
- Duration: Nov, 2010 — Jul, 2011
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20130718145901/http://vodysseygroup.com/
Led technology strategy and product development for a healthcare technology startup creating an IP-based patient engagement platform for hospitals, integrating bedside entertainment, communications, telemedicine, eCommerce, and electronic medical record (EMR) systems. Directed platform architecture, infrastructure planning, vendor selection, and software development for a cloud-enabled solution designed to modernize the inpatient experience and improve hospital operational efficiency. Collaborated with executive leadership, healthcare architects, and strategic partners including NEC Corporation and Perkins Eastman to define product requirements, deployment models, and technology roadmaps. Supported customer acquisition, technical sales, investor presentations, and deployment planning for hospital and long-term care facilities across the New York market. Designed scalable integration strategies for hospital systems, patient communications, content delivery, VoIP, video conferencing, and healthcare workflow automation.


### Consultant — MAP Digital: MetaMeetings
- Duration: Oct, 2010 — Jul, 2011
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://www.metameetings.com/
Advised leadership on technology strategy, product development, and digital event solutions for enterprise clients and industry conferences. Collaborated with cross-functional teams to improve platform performance, scalability, and user experience for virtual and hybrid event technologies. Analyzed business requirements and translated them into technical recommendations, helping align technology initiatives with organizational goals. Supported client engagements by providing technical expertise, solution architecture guidance, and implementation oversight. Contributed to process improvements and operational efficiencies that enhanced the delivery of digital engagement and event management services.


### Consultant — American Arbitration Association
- Duration: Aug, 2010 — Mar, 2011
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://www.adr.org/
Designed and implemented an enterprise Network Monitoring System (NMS) to provide centralized visibility into network infrastructure, servers, and critical business systems. Configured monitoring, alerting, and reporting capabilities to improve system reliability, performance tracking, and incident response. Worked with internal IT teams to identify key infrastructure dependencies and establish proactive monitoring for mission-critical services. Developed monitoring standards, dashboards, and operational procedures to support ongoing network administration and troubleshooting. Assisted with infrastructure assessments and recommendations to improve operational stability and reduce downtime.


### Consultant — Synaptic Digital (The News Market)
- Duration: Nov, 2009 — Apr, 2010
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20100515125648/http://www.synapticdigital.com/
Supported executive leadership, including the COO and Head of Technology, during strategic growth initiatives and corporate acquisitions. Assisted with technology, operations, and integration activities related to the acquisition of Medialink and other media technology companies. Coordinated cross-functional efforts between business, technology, and operations teams to support merger planning and post-acquisition integration. Contributed to process improvement, systems analysis, and operational planning initiatives during periods of organizational expansion. Provided project management and technical support for enterprise media distribution and digital communications platforms.


### Consultant — Patrizzi & Co Auctioneers
- Duration: Sep, 2009 — Feb, 2010
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20100207022802/http://www.patrizziauction.com/
Advised executive leadership on technology strategy, business process improvement, and operational efficiency initiatives. Conducted a 6-month assessment of environments, operations, and technologies; identified process, organizational, and technical issues; and recommended a strategy to build a new auction platform leveraging cloud computing and transform the support model to an externally managed structure. Evaluated, selected, and implemented technology solutions supporting auction operations, client services, and business growth. Improved infrastructure, security, reporting, and data management capabilities while reducing operational complexity. Managed vendor relationships and cross-functional projects to enhance scalability, reliability, and organizational effectiveness. Provided hands-on support for systems, networks, and business-critical applications.


### Chief Executive Officer / Cofounder — Involve Media
- Duration: Feb, 2009 — Sep, 2009
- Location: 
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20110202092030/http://involvemedia.com/
Cofounded a public relations, digital marketing, and media services startup focused on integrating traditional broadcast media with emerging social media and online marketing channels. Developed the company's business model, go-to-market strategy, financial projections, investor materials, and operational plans. Designed a scalable technology vision, including a client self-service platform for campaign management, reporting, asset delivery, and performance tracking. Built strategic partnerships and pursued funding opportunities, including bank financing, SBA lending, and private investor outreach. Led market research and product strategy around social media, online video, mobile marketing, and digital communications trends. Managed company formation, branding, service development, and early business development efforts before the venture was discontinued following the departure of a cofounder.


### Director of Operations and Infrastructure — MediaLink
- Duration: Oct, 2007 — Apr, 2009
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20090212024003/http://www.medialink.com/
Recruited to lead IT transformation initiatives for a global video distribution platform serving 250,000+ media outlets across 190 countries, driving infrastructure modernization, operational scalability, compliance, and high-availability systems initiatives. Established technology strategy and operational frameworks supporting SOX compliance, ITIL-based service management, automation, virtualization, infrastructure consolidation, and large-scale systems modernization while reducing downtime, operational overhead, and vendor costs. Built a fully automated, high-availability environment, enabling a 75% reduction in IT staff. Created and implemented product development, release management, change management, and configuration management lifecycles across development, quality assurance, and staging environments for over 150 products. Architected and centralized infrastructure operations across 8 global locations into a tier-one co-location environment, consolidating 150 servers into 6 virtualized blade servers and modernizing storage, security, backup/ recovery, change management, and production operations across multi-platform enterprise environments. Built a dedicated Help Desk organization and established service management procedures based on ITIL standards, improving quality of services to users and clients by 620%. Successfully transitioned MediaLink's proprietary Teletrax platform to the Philips environment following acquisition.


### Consultant — Contactual
- Duration: Aug, 2006 — Jun, 2007
- Location: San Carlos, CA
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20080410225155/http://www.contactual.com/
Consulted on Contactual OnDemand, a SaaS-based alternative to traditional call center infrastructure. Designed and implemented network, VPN, and WAN connectivity solutions to support a rapidly growing hosted contact center platform. Improved infrastructure reliability, security, and performance through network architecture enhancements, QoS optimization for VoIP traffic, and secure remote access capabilities. Partnered with executive leadership and engineering teams to modernize operations and support scalable service delivery.


### Director of Operations — Waterfall Mobile
- Duration: Jun, 2006 — Oct, 2007
- Location: San Francisco, California
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20071012020605/http://www.waterfallmobile.com/
Led operations for a mobile channel platform tackling cost, complexity, and time barriers to managing mobile content. Directed product portfolio including Msgme (www.msgme.com), a self-managed mobile content sales and marketing platform for monetizing digital assets and adding mobile interactivity to online, print, broadcast, and in-venue marketing campaigns. Supported AlertU (www.alertu.com), an enterprise class SMS-based emergency alerting system for schools, communities, organizations, enterprises, and governments.


### Consultant — TrustedID
- Duration: Jan, 2006 — May, 2006
- Location: Redwood City, California
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20060719095839/https://www.trustedid.com/
Designed and implemented the IT infrastructure supporting the launch of TrustedID, an identity theft protection startup. Built and documented the company's Network Operations Center (NOC), leveraging Cisco networking and UNIX-based systems to support scalable operations. Implemented network monitoring, security controls, and operational processes to ensure reliability and service availability. Supported deployment and administration of Cisco networking equipment and VoIP communications infrastructure. Developed the organization's information security and compliance program, establishing policies, procedures, and controls aligned with ISO 17799 standards. Partnered with executive leadership to create a secure, scalable technology foundation capable of supporting rapid business growth.


### Consultant — Platform Learning
- Duration: Sep, 2005 — Dec, 2005
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20060613200148/http://www.platformlearning.com/
Executed a pilot online learning program designed to evaluate the feasibility of transitioning a major after-school education provider from traditional teacher-led instruction to a scalable technology-enabled learning model. Traveled throughout the New York metropolitan area to deploy laptops, wireless networking infrastructure, and educational software at inner-city schools and community-based after-school learning centers. Provided onsite technical support, training, and troubleshooting for students, educators, and program staff to ensure successful adoption of the technology platform. Managed hardware, software, networking, and operational issues while documenting program performance, lessons learned, and recommendations for future expansion. Collaborated with educational leaders and Platform Learning management to improve program delivery and support the successful execution of the pilot.


### Chief Technology Officer — Digital Management Services
- Duration: Apr, 2004 — Aug, 2005
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20050402043321/http://dmserve.com/
Cofounded a managed service provider delivering custom hosted voice and data services for small and medium sized businesses. Defined strategic business plan, service offerings, delivery models, and operating infrastructure for professional and managed services across the United States. Consulted with clients on hosted VoIP, IT security, digital and wireless infrastructure, storage, business continuity, applications, middleware, and data warehousing solutions. Built and managed 2 data centers providing integrated voice and data services to 20 clients. Instituted quality of service best practices, enabling the capture of Mean Opinion Score ratings of 4+. Led the design, installation, and management of custom network infrastructures, data centers, network operations centers, security systems, and office networks and Internet infrastructures.


### Senior Network Engineer — The FeedRoom
- Duration: Jan, 2002 — Mar, 2004
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20051023010149/http://www.thefeedroom.com/
Managed and scaled infrastructure and production operations for a high-growth digital media and streaming company, supporting secure LAN/WAN environments, Linux/UNIX systems, Windows/Exchange platforms, and large-scale broadcast infrastructure. Designed and implemented security, networking, and systems management processes across routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, SANs, and production environments supporting high-availability streaming operations. Led technical design and production support for high-profile internet broadcast events including NCAA March Madness broadcasts for CBS SportsLine and CSTV.


### Senior Network Engineer — i-drive.com
- Duration: Jan, 2001 — Sep, 2001
- Location: San Francisco, California
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20011130032417/http://i-drive.com/
Managed and scaled network infrastructure for a leading online storage provider, supporting high-availability production services in a 24x7 environment. Administered Cisco-based LAN/WAN networks, DNS, routing, monitoring, and enterprise systems supporting large-scale data storage operations. Oversaw colocation facility operations, including network connectivity, server deployments, storage infrastructure, vendor coordination, and capacity planning. Supported and expanded multi-terabyte storage environments, ensuring reliability, performance, and availability for customer backup and data protection services. Collaborated with engineering and operations teams to deploy new infrastructure, troubleshoot production issues, and improve platform scalability. Implemented network monitoring, traffic analysis, and operational processes that improved service reliability and accelerated issue resolution. Participated in on-call operations and disaster recovery planning to maintain continuous service availability.


### Senior Network Engineer — eBay
- Duration: May, 2000 — Nov, 2000
- Location: San Jose, California
- URL: https://www.ebay.com/
Served as eBay's first Senior Network Engineer, administering Cisco-based infrastructure supporting 2,000 internal users and 64M+ site users while designing security, monitoring, and network management systems across large-scale production environments. Optimized infrastructure reliability to 99.999% uptime and led infrastructure auditing and integration efforts for two acquired companies within the corporate environment.


### Senior Network Engineer — Toys"R"Us
- Duration: Feb, 1999 — Apr, 2000
- Location: Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey
- URL: https://www.toysrus.com/
Served as the first technical hire supporting the launch of ToysRUs.com, architecting and building the eCommerce data center infrastructure, including systems, security, applications, and operational procedures. Implemented LAN/WAN and security infrastructure enabling the launch of ToysRUs.com within three months.


### Network Engineer — theGlobe.com
- Duration: Aug, 1998 — Jan, 1999
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/19990208020837/http://www.theglobe.com/
Assisted in designing and deploying infrastructure supporting the launch of theGlobe.com, one of the earliest social media platforms and the company behind one of the largest first-day IPO gains in market history.


### Systems Administrator — Inventure
- Duration: Nov, 1997 — Jul, 1998
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/19971022093710/http://www.inven.com/script/index.html
Systems Administrator for a financial technology software company serving the trading and financial services industry. Managed server, network, and systems infrastructure supporting software development, testing, and production environments while ensuring reliability, security, and operational performance.


### Systems Administrator — Cyber Cafe
- Duration: Jun, 1997 — Nov, 1997
- Location: New York, New York
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/19961221040546/http://www.cyber-cafe.com/
Systems Administrator for the first "Cyber Cafe" in New York.


### Founder / Principal — JewelryXChange.com
- Duration: Nov, 1996 — Feb, 1997
- Location: New York, New York
Founder and Principal of a jewelry eCommerce site.


### Systems Administrator — NP Systems
- Duration: Jan, 1996 — Jun, 1996
- Location: Staten Island, New York
Design and implementation of 100-node Novell networks. On-site troubleshooting and repair of networks.


### Technical Support — Planet Earth Communications (earthcom.net)
- Duration: Jan, 1996 — Jun, 1996
- Location: Staten Island, New York
- URL: https://web.archive.org/web/19980518044140/http://earthcom.net/
Technical support for the first Internet Service Provider in New York City.


## Education


- Hunter College — Computer Science (1996)

- Wake Tech — Cybersecurity (2024)

- Sentinel Cybersecurity Bootcamp — Cybersecurity (2026)


## Certifications


- AWS Certified Solutions Architect — Associate — Amazon Web Services (AWS) (Apr 19, 2016)

- Magento Certified Solution Specialist — Adobe Commerce (Apr, 2016)

- Cisco Certified Support Technician — Cybersecurity — Cisco (Dec 3, 2025)

- Cisco Certified Support Technician — Networking — Cisco (Jan 23, 2026)

- Cisco Certified Support Technician — IT Support — Cisco (Feb 18, 2026)

- Certified Wireless IoT Solutions Administrator — CWNP (Mar 6, 2026)

- ISC2 Candidate — ISC2 (Feb 9, 2026)

- Make Intermediate Certificate — Make (Apr, 2024)

- Explore Emerging Tech — IBM SkillsBuild (Nov 20, 2025)


## Skills


- Artificial Intelligence (AI): Cursor, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT (GPT-4/5), Gemini, Claude, Claude Cowork, Claude Code, Vision API, Make (Celonis), n8n, Zapier, Pinecone, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, agent workflows

- Venture & Advisory: Early-stage investing, portfolio advisory, investment and technical due diligence, founder coaching, fundraising strategy, go-to-market planning, marketing strategy, sales management, eCommerce/Software as a Service (SaaS) assessment, operational scaling, platform architecture review, growth and monetization strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) preparation, strategic partnerships, Carta

- Methodologies: Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Continuous Integration/ Continuous Delivery (CI/CD), Waterfall

- Project Management: Jira, Confluence, Trello, Monday.com, ClickUp

- Cloud: Amazon Web Services (AWS) (Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Lightsail, Amazon WorkSpaces, Elastic Block Store (EBS), Simple Storage Service (S3), Relational Database Service (RDS), Lambda, CloudFront, Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), ElastiCache, MemoryDB, Glue, CloudFormation, CodeDeploy, CloudWatch, Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Route 53, Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Google BigQuery, Cloudflare

- DevOps: Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes, Git, GitHub, GitHub Actions, GitLab, Bitbucket, Chef, AWS OpsWorks

- Observability: Prometheus, Grafana, New Relic, Nagios (NetSaint)

- eCommerce: Shopify Plus, Magento, BigCommerce, WordPress, WooCommerce, Amazon Marketplace, eBay

- Marketing: Google Analytics 4, Looker Studio (formerly Data Studio), Microsoft Power BI, Klaviyo, Ahrefs, Google Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), JSON-LD, A/B testing, Mailchimp

- Customer Relationship Management (CRM): HubSpot, Salesforce, Bonterra EveryAction

- Customer Support: Zendesk, Gorgias, Intercom

- Logistics: ShipStation, ShipBob, ShipperHQ, manifest.eco

- Payments & Finance: Stripe, PayPal, Payoneer, Braintree, Tango Card, Privy

- Programming Languages: Python, JavaScript, PHP, SQL, Java, PowerShell, HTML, CSS, Bash, BASIC

- Development Frameworks: Laravel, Symfony, Shopify Liquid, Zend

- Databases: MySQL, Supabase, DynamoDB, Redis, Microsoft SQL Server

- Web & Application Infrastructure: Nginx, Apache, HipHop Virtual Machine (HHVM), Varnish, ElasticSearch, Memcached

- Integrations: Pentaho Extract, Transform, Load (ETL)

- Collaboration & Productivity: Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Notion, Figma, Lucidchart, Asana

- Finance & HR: QuickBooks, Xero, Bill.com, Gusto

- Cybersecurity & Network Security: Splunk, Sophos Email, 1Password, Cisco PIX/ASA, Policy Manager, Access Control Server, Virtual Private Network (VPN), Intrusion Detection, Security Scanner, Check Point Firewall-1, Raptor Firewall, WatchGuard, ISS RealSecure, Internet / System / Database Scanners, RSA SecurID / Keon, Snort, Nessus, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS)

- Physical Security & Access Control: Brivo

- Operating Systems: Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows Server 2025, Windows 11, iOS, iPadOS, BSD, Sun Solaris, Cisco IOS

- Software & Tools: Microsoft Exchange, imapsync, Internet Information Services (IIS), VSS, Office, Visio, Project, Backup Exec, NetBackup, Amanda, Bacula, SVN Resonate, Symantec Antivirus, McAfee VirusScan, Trend Micro OfficeScan, VMware Enterprise, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, Remedy, Tomcat, BIND, Sendmail, Qmail, SpamAssassin, ClamAV, F5 BIG-IP, 3DNS Ghost, Asterisk, Ethereal, tcpdump

- Network & Application Monitoring Platforms: OpenNMS, Zenoss, MRTG, Cricket, Big Brother, Nmap, RANCID, NetFlow Monitor, Webalizer, AWStats, Cisco Works, HP OpenView, Concord Network Health, MicroMuse Netcool, SolarWinds Orion, SiteScope

- Storage: EMC Symmetrix, Clariion, Dell EqualLogic, 3PAR InServ

- Protocols: ARP, IP, ICMP, RIP, OSPF, E/IGRP, BGP, TCP, UDP, FTP, SSH, Telnet, SMTP, WINS, WHOIS, GRE, TACACS, DNS, TFTP, HTTP, Kerberos, POP3, SFTP, NNTP, NTP, NetBIOS, IMAP, SNMP, BGP, IRC, LDAP, HTTPS, ISAKMP, Syslog, RIP, RPC, DHCP, iSCSI, rsync, NFS, IPSec, RADIUS, RTMP, HSRP, SCCP, MGCP, SIP, Active Directory, Wi-Fi (802.11)

- IoT Protocols: Matter, Thread, Zigbee, Z-Wave, MQTT

- Spoken Languages: English (Native or Bilingual), Russian (Limited Working), Spanish (Limited Working), Polish (Limited Working)


## Recognition


- IBM Champion for Cloud — IBM (2017)


## Associations


- Triangle Tweener Fund — Limited Partner (Jan, 2022 — Present)

- Techstars — Raleigh-Durham Startup Digest Curator (May, 2019 — Present)

- Techstars — Raleigh-Durham Startup Week Organizer (Jun, 2019 — Mar, 2020)

- MIT Technology Review Global Panel — Member (Jul, 2019 — Present)

- Raleigh-Durham Magento Meetup — Organizer (Nov, 2018 — Present)

- NYC eCommerce Merchants MeetUp — Co-Organizer (Sep, 2014 — Aug, 2018)

- Meals on Wheels Durham — On-Call Driver (Dec, 2022 — Present)

- Second Chance Pet Adoptions — Foster Parent (Jan, 2022 — Present)

- CodeBrooklyn — Volunteer (2015 — 2018)


## Links

- Website: https://davidgitman.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dgitman/
- GitHub: https://github.com/dgitman
- Wellfound: https://wellfound.com/u/david-gitman
- Full machine-readable summary: https://davidgitman.com/llms.txt