Paul Brenner

Background

About Paul Brenner

I’m a technical leader with a unique mix of startup hustle, deep data expertise, and product intuition. Most recently, I co-founded a consumer startup where I led the full development of a social iOS app—transforming a raw idea into a live product that resonated with real users. I handled everything from architecture and infrastructure to front-end polish and user feedback loops, collaborating closely with a designer and mentoring a remote iOS engineer along the way. We also explored a second product idea—a data insights tool for non-technical users—which we prototyped and tested extensively. While we chose not to pursue it, that experience sharpened my instincts for what users actually want vs. what they say, how to separate hype from utility, and how to spot early signs of product-market misfit before over-investing. Before that, I led Data Science at PlaceIQ, where I helped shape the company’s technical roadmap, mentored an exceptional team, and built innovative data products that processed 100s of TBs of location data into client value. My background includes a PhD in Plasma Physics, a few years in strategy consulting and finance, and over a decade of building data and product systems that tie directly to business success. I’m especially excited by opportunities to lead a high-impact technical team, shape product and engineering strategy, and make the call on when to build scrappy vs. when to build for scale. I’ve worked hands-on with everything from AI agents and full-stack apps to Spark clusters and custom algorithms, and I still love rolling up my sleeves when it matters.