Nick Pawson | Portfolio

Work Experience

Palko AI

May 2022 - Apr. 2024

Chief Operating Officer

Global

Project Management:
Developed plan for the execution of the business model, key strategies for operations, revenue generation, and customer acquisition, identified markets, and designed targeted campaigns for growth.
Led development and launch of customer facing PWA application and platform for access to our AI toolkit.
Organized customer relations and marketing tactics to acquire customers.
Operations:
Developed the business model, financial models and projections.
Designed a product roadmap and executed milestones based on a determined schedule.
Managed day-to-day operations of the business.
Sales:
DTC, B2B, CRM, and customer acquisition campaigns.
Marketing strategy on Meta, Google, and TikTok, achieving industry leading Customer Acquisition Cost and conversion results.
Fundraising and investor relations; forged partnerships with executives, investors, and venture capitalists.
Design:
Led the design of the product and PWA application, including UI/UX and user journey.
Created marketing and advertising materials (image, video, search, SEO) using Adobe, Figma, and other design tools.
Conducted light development on AI technologies and web development using Python, HTML, and CSS.

CoWork Reho, Cafe Reho

Jan. 2021 - Nov. 2022

Project Manager

Rehoboth Beach, DE

Construction Management:
Architectural and CAD design, managed general contracting, licensing and submittals.
Completed renovations under budget and within deadlines.
Worked with the local government to approve use cases of space previously not allowed.
Implemented sophisticated networking infrastructure to satisfy the heavy demand of our customers.
Project Management:
Developed a plan for renovation into a high-end coworking space with an attached cafe for servicing our customers.
Acted as a liaison between the project, contractors, local authorities, and city officials.

Hospitality Group

May 2016 - Jun. 2021

General Manager

Rehoboth Beach, DE

Management:
Managed three high volume concepts simultaneously: Dalmata, Houston White Co., and La Fable.
Built a team of front of house (foh) & back of house (boh) leaders, along with management for each concept to smooth operations and foster a healthy work culture amongst all concepts with clear leadership.
Food & Labor cost, Ordering, Recipes, Scheduling, Bookkeeping, P&L, Payroll.Project Management:
Developed concepts and organized renovations from previous businesses in cooperation with general contractors.
Organized construction timeframe and restaurant specific details like equipment, front of house & back of house layout.
Implemented necessary systems, accounts, labor, food & beverage direction, menus, and online presence for each concept.
Achievements:
Led southern Delaware in beef quality (upper prime, wagyu, aged) at Houston White Co.
Achieved industry-leading profit margin for fine dining French concept at La Fable.
Gained notoriety from Good Housekeeping, Forbes, OpenTable, Delaware Today at La Fable.

Wawlee

Jan. 2019 - Mar. 2020

Project Manager

Rehoboth Beach, DE

Invention & development of patent-pending smart home audio device.
Within budget (<$120k) production-ready prototype in six months; worked closely with manufacturers in southeast Asia and northeast USA.
Fully custom PCBa design (10-layer, and 8-layer); Arrow certified technology & BOM.

NPC

Jan. 2009 - Mar. 2020

Freelance Designer

Philadelphia, PA

Branding, Graphic Design, Web Development; notable concepts: Mixx & Mingle, La Fable, Houston White, Co., Dalmata, CoWork Reho, Cafe Reho, Palko AI.
Web Development of Palko AI's MVP PWA application.
Design & execution of Palko AI's web, marketing, and advertising presence.
CAD & Architectural planning; notable concepts: La Fable, Houston White, Co., Dalmata, CoWork Reho, Cafe Reho.

Skills

Over a decade of experience leading and managing teams with extensive operations experience in both the Hospitality and Tech sectors.
Co-founder in AI & Machine Learning startup. Restaurateur of four concepts from cafe to elite-fine-dining. Partner in oceanfront co-working space. Inventor with patents pending.
Operations; planning; business modeling; revenue forecasting; sales; CRM; customer acquisition; account management; partnerships; fundraising; marketing; social media advertising; food & beverage; management; payroll; hiring.
Experience: conceptualized, designed, and executed numerous user/guest experience projects to stand out from the crowd and use novel techniques for converting/reaching users and guests.
Grew restaurant/co-working/cafe concepts to over $4.2M in annual revenue.
Achieved industry leading social media advertising conversion metrics by training and maintaining our predictive neural network with Palko AI.
Successfully reduced CAC to industry leading costs by fine tuning conversion tactics with Palko AI.