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Clarity

Phil Freo

St Augustine, FL

I'm a product person, a programmer, and an engineering leader. I ❤ creating scalable web apps with amazingly great UI/UX. I'm interested in startups and entrepreneurship, and especially B2B SaaS. After nearly 7 years working in Silicon Valley, I'm now back in Florida where remote work is my jam.

I’m currently Director of Engineering & Product at Close.com (which I helped start), building a product people love and growing our SaaS business to be something great.

Previously I spent two years leading the Engineering team at Quizlet, building study tools that millions of students relied upon. I’ve also interned at Google and Yahoo! as a software engineer, and did lots of freelance website design while at the University of Florida.

I write in JavaScript, CSS, Python, and PHP. I also can speak to databases and make servers do stuff. I like working on scalability, performance, design, and great user experiences.

https://philfreo.com/
https://twitter.com/philfreo

$2.92/min

10 Calls

14 Reviews

41 minutes
Avg. call

JavaScript Startups Product Management Hiring Product Development SaaS CRM Engineering Management Full Stack Web Development Early-stage Startups

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Scalability

I've worked on high trafficked websites such as Quizlet.com

Startups / Entrepreneurship

I've been a part of early stage startups and like discussing new startup ideas.

Close.com
• Helped design, build, and launch Close from scratch. Helped grow Close from 0 to profitable with millions in ARR when we were a company of 6 people.
• Led our initial 3-person Product+Engineering team, where I wore many hats. I was the our primary Frontend/JavaScript developer and architected and built most of our initial Backbone.js single page app / UI. I also served as our Product Manager and Product Designer, and contributed with on the Backend (Python/Flask/MongoDB/Elasticsearch) and in DevOps (AWS/Puppet/CI/CD).
• Contributed in many other ways – doing support, helped close early deals, worked with integration partners, etc.

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Quizlet.com
I was the first Engineering hire at Quizlet.com, a study website used by 6M students (60M page views) monthly. I worked closely with the company's founders and led Engineering/Product and helped grow Quizlet in its early days.

Full Stack Web Development

I'm comfortable in all parts of the web stack and like advising people on their stack. I write in JavaScript, CSS, Python, and PHP. I also can speak to databases and make servers do stuff. I like working on scalability, performance, design, and great user experiences.

Close.com
• Led our initial 3-person Product+Engineering team, where I wore many hats. I was the our primary Frontend/JavaScript developer and architected and built most of our initial Backbone.js (later, React) single page app / UI. I also served as our Product Manager and Product Designer, and contributed with on the Backend (Python/Flask/MongoDB/Elasticsearch) and in DevOps (AWS/Puppet/CI/CD).

Quizlet.com
• I was the first Engineering hire at Quizlet.com, a study website used by 6M students (60M page views) monthly. I worked closely with the company's founders and led Engineering/Product.
• Focused on designing/developing new features (PHP, JavaScript), backend scalability (MySQL, Memcached, devops), improving UX/UI, Engineering Recruiting, and Product Management.

PhilFreo.com
Portfolio: https://philfreo.com/
• Designed and developed websites for dozens of happy clients. Included project management, custom design work, custom development, CMS integration, eCommerce, and more.
• Tech: JavaScript (Ajax, jQuery), PHP 5 (Zend Certified), SQL / MySQL, HTML5, CSS
• Photoshop / Design, HTML, User interface design (UI), usability, SEO, ExpressionEngine CMS, WordPress themes and plugins

Engineering Hiring

I've hired & led the Product & Engineering team at Close.com from 2 to 20 people.

I wrote:
When, Who, How to Hire an Engineering Team (including Hiring Remotely)
http://philfreo.com/blog/when-who-how-to-hire-an-engineering-team-including-hiring-remotely/

Running a Product & Engineering Team

Close.com (formerly Close.io) is a B2B SaaS product that helps salespeople be more productive and close more deals.

2012-2014: Head of Product & Engineering
• Helped design, build, and launch Close from scratch. Helped grow Close from 0 to profitable with millions in ARR when we were a company of 6 people.
• Led our initial 3-person Product+Engineering team, where I wore many hats. I was the our primary Frontend/JavaScript developer and architected and built most of our initial Backbone.js single page app / UI. I also served as our Product Manager and Product Designer, and contributed with on the Backend (Python/Flask/MongoDB/Elasticsearch) and in DevOps (AWS/Puppet/CI/CD).
• Contributed in many other ways – doing support, helped close early deals, worked with integration partners, etc.

2015-2018: Director of Product & Engineering
• Grew the Product/Engineering team from 3 to 20 people. Started hiring more specialist roles (compared to our Full Stack team) in areas of DevOps, Backend engineering, Frontend engineering, and hired our first Product Designer and Product Manager.
• Created and managed a remote screening, interviewing, and hiring process. See https://philfreo.com/blog/when-who-how-to-hire-an-engineering-team-including-hiring-remotely/
• Set up product development processes based on Shape Up.
• Championed remote work and helped transition the company from fully in-person in Palo Alto to fully remote with 40+ people around the world.

2019-Present: Sr. Director of Engineering
• Setting engineering team goals, setting high standards, improving processes, identifying bottlenecks, hiring & retention, fostering team culture and relationships.
• Promoted/hired and now managing 4 Engineering Managers.
• Working closely with our Product team on high level product strategy and improving our product development process.
• Working closely with founders and Directors of other departments on overall company strategy/goals.

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Answers 2
Reviews 14

Answers

Phil Freo answered

Do you have any suggestions for CRM software that is pretty to look at and easy to use?

Check out Close.io - http://close.io/

Close.io is a streamlined sales platform that helps you close more deals by automatically tracking all your sales communication (calls & emails) without manual data entry.

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Phil Freo answered

What is a good CRM for remote salesperson that tracks what they are doing every minute

I will agree that "every minute" is completely the wrong way to look at it. You should focus on results and activities (calls made, emails sent, etc.) rather than minimizing minutes in the bathroom.

That said, we did build Close.io < http://close.io/ > to track all activities *automatically* (phone calls, emails sent and received), which makes it much more likely for you to get an accurate report of all their activity, etc.

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Reviews

Very helpful.

Sach Chaudhari Source: Clarity

Phil was very knowledgable and very helpful.

Greg DeVore Source: Clarity

Phil's the man, very knowledgeable about product and getting to the core things creators/entrepreneurs need to focus on at their current stage of development. Thanks Phil!

Dan Schwartz Source: Clarity

Phil and I talked about our companies needs to consolidate our leads, customers, projects and opportunities. He was very helpful in bouncing ideas and recommending things that our company should consider. He made numerous recommendations to companies I should investigate that could serve our companies needs. I felt he gave me more clarity in some things to investigate and ways to solve our companies current issues. Thank you Phil!

Jacob Hyten Source: Clarity

knowledgeable guy, but wasnt 100% impartial as he is biased towards his own product.

James Woolley Source: Clarity

Phil is someone you can trust to do a thorough job and is very reliable and bright. He has met all deadlines and has exceeded expectation on every job hired. Highly recommended.

Jon Livingston Source: LinkedIn

Phil did some programming for a product my company created (www.ClassConnection.org) He set up all the payment processing through our sign up page. Throughout the process, he took a very proactive role making sure every necessary steps were taken to complete the project quickly and effectively.

I was very impressed with all of his documentation and recommendations at each step. He offered many ways I was able to improve the system process that I feel ended in a better and more efficient product.

From my experience with Phil Freo, I offer a very high recommendation for any project or job. He is not only an expert in his field, but he takes control in a project which proves he is a motivated leader."

Chris Bultman Source: LinkedIn

Phil is a great engineer and has good approaches to solving problems. He's always hungry to learn new things and meet new people and I admire that. Phil has already accomplished a lot and I predict great things in his future.

Dimitry Bentsionov Source: LinkedIn

I hired Phil as a freelance web developer for several of my clients projects. He is professional, very knowledgable, a quick worker and always does the job well. I would definitely recommend him and will be hiring him in the future for more work. :)

Karrie Mueller Source: LinkedIn

Phil was the only full-time developer and PM on Quizlet at a time when the site and team was growing rapidly. In addition to juggling his many other responsibilities, Phil was a great mentor to the interns on the team. Helping with git issues, suggesting Javascript code optimizations, brainstorming and spec'ing out new product features, Phil did it all and did it with a smile. He was a pleasure to work with and I'd happily work with him again.

Arkajit Dey Source: LinkedIn

I was hosting Phil who was interning at Google, and I was impressed by his work. Not only his technical contributions were exemplary, but he could also explain them easily to others – something many other great programmers fail at.

Phil showed a lot of initiative and quickly integrated himself with the team he was assigned to, and other teams. I felt he took criticism well, but also stood his ground on a couple of things where he disagreed with me (or other people). He also offered help to others when he thought he could be helpful.

Overall, I was very pleased with Phil's internship and his contributions to Google.

Marcin Wichary Source: LinkedIn

Member since January 2013