{"id":12,"date":"2021-04-07T12:51:03","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T12:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lukakacil.bio\/?page_id=12"},"modified":"2024-07-25T11:46:16","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T11:46:16","slug":"about-me","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lukakacil.bio\/","title":{"rendered":"About me"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"12\" class=\"elementor elementor-12\" data-elementor-settings=\"[]\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-section-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-ff761d7 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"ff761d7\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-1a9ed13\" data-id=\"1a9ed13\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-752f130 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"752f130\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lukakacil.bio\/wp-content\/uploads\/elementor\/thumbs\/profile-pro-202112a-mini-phuemxshqwnee6khlz194u8q6hkkixkcyqy7aa8q98.png\" title=\"profile-pro-202112a-mini\" alt=\"profile-pro-202112a-mini\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-e993441\" data-id=\"e993441\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-562d994 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"562d994\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p><i>5+ years of running a SaaS b2b company with Fortune 100 customers.<br>6+ years of leading fully remote and globally distributed teams.<br>10+ years of designing and building highly distributed and data-intensive systems.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #7a7a7a; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400;\">I am an engineer at heart, passionate about tackling complex challenges. I led a remote-first SaaS company through to its successful acquisition in 2020. I have spent time traveling globally, engaging with fellow entrepreneurs\u2014an experience highlighted in <\/span><\/span><a style=\"background-color: #ffffff; font-family: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-family ), Sans-serif; font-weight: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-weight ); font-size: 16px;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/small-business-network\/2015\/apr\/07\/meet-entrepreneurs-jetting-off-co-working-holidays\">The Guardian<\/a><span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text ); font-family: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-family ), Sans-serif; font-weight: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-weight ); font-size: 16px;\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span><a style=\"background-color: #ffffff; font-family: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-family ), Sans-serif; font-weight: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-weight ); font-size: 16px;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/on-leadership\/wp\/2015\/06\/03\/how-to-convince-your-company-to-let-you-keep-your-job-and-travel-the-world\/\">The Washington Post<\/a><span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text ); font-family: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-family ), Sans-serif; font-weight: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-weight ); font-size: 16px;\">.<\/span><\/h5>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #7a7a7a; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400;\">A sports enthusiast, I&#8217;m dedicated to mastering my Olympic weightlifting technique, refining my tennis forehand with the perfect top-spin, and pursuing the art of carving on the ski slopes.<\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n<h5><br><\/h5>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-e54b70d elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"e54b70d\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-f723ecf\" data-id=\"f723ecf\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-87c572b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"87c572b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h5>Co-Founder @ <a style=\"background-color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shovels.ai\/\">Shovels<\/a><\/h5>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>I lead our technical team in building cutting-edge AI solutions designed to revolutionize the way we understand and analyze data. My role involves strategic planning, innovative product development, and the implementation of advanced technologies to deliver exceptional results for our clients.<\/p><p>Shovels specializes in providing unparalleled data analytics and insights, empowering businesses to make data-driven decisions with confidence. By leveraging our AI capabilities, we help our clients uncover hidden patterns, optimize operations, and drive growth.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #7a7a7a; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bolder;\">Past<\/span><\/h5>\n<div><span style=\"color: #7a7a7a; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bolder;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h5>Head of Data Acquisition @ <a href=\"https:\/\/airnow.com\/\">AirNow<\/a><\/h5>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Led the integration project to consolidate data acquisition efforts across different data teams.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text );\">Rearchitected parts of the core data acquisition back-end.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text );\">Redesigned technical interview process and conducted interviews.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text );\">Ran weekly 1:1s.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text );\">Participated in tech audits and helped develop tech strategy. Delivered different analyses (e.g. tech-oriented SWOT analysis) of internal technology and systems.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text );\">Engaged with existing customers on important issues and requests.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h5>Head of Engineering @ <a href=\"https:\/\/mightysignal.com\">MightySignal<\/a><\/h5>\n<div>App data acquisition and API team.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text );\">Led the effort to integrate our existing product into Mightysignal&#8217;s ecosystem.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text );\">Delivered new data features utilizing different techniques from reverse engineering to machine learning.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text );\">Continued to nurture existing client relationships via frequent meetings and calls.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h5>COO\/CTO @ <a href=\"https:\/\/appmonsta.com\">AppMonsta<\/a><\/h5>\n<p>I managed the company until its successful acquisition at the beginning of 2020.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We sold our API solutions to Fortune 100 companies, VCs, and startups from different industries. I directly managed business development, including sales, negotiations, and customer relationships.<\/p>\n<p>I acted as the head of engineering, overseeing engineers and their work. We were a globally distributed (fully remote) team. Our emphasis was on high code quality, code reviews, high test coverage (2,000+ unit and integration tests), automation, and shared ownership of code. I conducted 100+ technical interviews and mentored engineers we hired. This ranged from software development best practices to interview coaching.<\/p>\n<p>We were developing and managing highly distributed systems: crawling clusters (up to 1,500 nodes), data processing pipelines, DB clusters, and API clusters.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3a3939; font-family: K2D, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold;\">Software Engineer @ <\/span><a style=\"font-family: K2D, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; background-color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/appmonsta.com\">AppMonsta<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Built distributed and data-intensive systems to collect huge amounts of data about mobile apps and their usage and turn them into valuable metrics. Conducted technical interviews and actively participated in the hiring process.<\/p>\n<h5>Software Engineering Consultant and Business Advisor&nbsp; @ <a href=\"https:\/\/0xcert.org\">0xcert<\/a><\/h5>\n<p>Advising and solving technical and business challenges. Worked on the first open-source protocol for certified non-fungible tokens (NFTs) utilizing blockchain technology (Ethereum).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d9b62bf elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"d9b62bf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong><span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text ); font-family: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-family ), Sans-serif;\">Other projects<\/span><\/strong><\/p><h5>Co-Founder @ <a href=\"https:\/\/functional.ninja\">Functional Ninja<\/a> | 2020 | Non-profit<\/h5><p>Bringing together functional training enthusiasts who want to compete on an amateur level but don&#8217;t have access to nearby competitions.\u00a0<\/p><h5>Co-Founder @ <a href=\"https:\/\/lukakacil.bio\/blockscribed\/index.php\">Blockscribed<\/a>\u00a0| 2018<\/h5><p>Exploring the viability of making a product that would bridge the gap between recurring subscription payments and blockchain technology.<\/p><h5>Member of <a href=\"https:\/\/manjilan.github.io\/EIP1337\/\">1337 Alliance<\/a> | 2018<\/h5><p>Part of the working group that designed Ethereum Improvement Proposals draft <a href=\"https:\/\/eips.ethereum.org\/EIPS\/eip-1337\">ERC-1337: Subscriptions on the blockchain<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-79fc0cc elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"79fc0cc\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-81c4c25\" data-id=\"81c4c25\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-14a149c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"14a149c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: bolder;\">Education<\/span><\/p><h5>Executive MBA @ <a href=\"https:\/\/quantic.edu\/\">Quantic School of Business and Technology<\/a>\u00a0| 2023\u00a0<\/h5><div>\u00a0<\/div><div><h5>Computer and Information Science @ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uni-lj.si\/\">University of Ljubljana<\/a> | 2012<\/h5><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-db60545 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"db60545\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-16b91e3\" data-id=\"16b91e3\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3e3ebfe elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"3e3ebfe\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-dc78236 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"dc78236\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-1c01f55\" data-id=\"1c01f55\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-50c10f2 elementor-grid-4 elementor-shape-rounded e-grid-align-center elementor-widget elementor-widget-social-icons\" data-id=\"50c10f2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"social-icons.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-social-icons-wrapper elementor-grid\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-grid-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-icon elementor-social-icon elementor-social-icon-linkedin elementor-repeater-item-ea6a629\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/lknix\/\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-screen-only\">Linkedin<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<i class=\"fab fa-linkedin\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-grid-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-icon elementor-social-icon elementor-social-icon-envelope elementor-repeater-item-de53570\" href=\"mailto:hello@lukakacil.bio\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-screen-only\">Envelope<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<i class=\"fas fa-envelope\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>5+ years of running a SaaS b2b company with Fortune 100 customers.6+ years of leading fully remote and globally distributed teams.10+ years of designing and building highly distributed and data-intensive systems. I am an engineer at heart, passionate about tackling complex challenges. I led a remote-first SaaS company through to its successful acquisition in 2020.<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link\">\n             <a href=\"https:\/\/lukakacil.bio\/\" class=\"read-more\">Read More<i class=\"fa fa-caret-right\"><\/i><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukakacil.bio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukakacil.bio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukakacil.bio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukakacil.bio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukakacil.bio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":173,"href":"https:\/\/lukakacil.bio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260,"href":"https:\/\/lukakacil.bio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12\/revisions\/260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukakacil.bio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}