# Robert Avakian **Vice President, Customer Engagement** — Boston, MA, United States > Sales and GTM leader with 12+ years in B2B technology who builds go-to-market strategies and revenue operations from the ground up, excelling as a first commercial hire at startups. Career Archetype: **Launchpad Navigator** (HS-DG) — One of the first Launchpad Navigators on Saywise ## Links - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/ravakian ## Experience ### Vice President, Customer Engagement, Rama, Inc. (2026-06 – 2026-09) Boston, Massachusetts, United States · Recruited as the first sales hire for an AI agent platform. Defined GTM and target-account strategy with the CEO, built an outbound motion across four verticals that generated $2M in pipeline opportunities, and advanced a $100K ACV contract opportunity. Identified industry partnerships worth $3.5M in potential revenue and supported negotiations through legal review. ### Vice President, Operations, P53, Inc. (2025-05 – 2026-05) Remote · Hired as first sales and business leader and executed a six-month turnaround. Grew revenue from $0.1M to $1M, closed deals of $200K+ and built a $2M+ pipeline. Designed the entire sales process, CRM stack, and commercial infrastructure while collaborating with product and engineering to align customer discovery with roadmap decisions. ### Angel Squad Member, Hustle Fund (2025-01 – present) ### Vice President Operations, OncoDaily (2025-01 – 2026-01) Largest global oncology news platform. ### Venture Partner, NextGen Venture Partners (2022-01 – present) ### Senior Account Manager, Team Lead, CircuitHub, Inc. (2021-07 – 2025-01) Remote · Led a global two-layer account management and customer success team serving 1,200 accounts with users from startups to Fortune 50. Grew the function to 85-90% of company revenue, delivered consistent quota attainment (100-120%), improved retention from 55% to 72%, and helped the company reach profitability. Built customer health and CRM reporting systems that tracked churn risk, adoption, and expansion opportunities. ### Board of Directors Member, Stealth Biotechnology Co. (2021-01 – 2024-01) University spin-out targeting breast cancer. ### Startup Mentor @ BUild Lab Student Innovation Center, Boston University (2021-01 – 2023-01) ### Startup Mentor @ Startup Academy, SmartGateVC (2021-01 – 2021-01) ### Startup Mentor @ NSIN Defense Innovation Accelerator (powered by FedTech), FedTech (2020-01 – 2020-01) ### Startup Mentor, BANA - Business Angel Network of Armenia (2020-01 – 2020-01) ### Startup Mentor, PointForward LLC (2019-01 – 2020-01) ### Business Consultant, UCSF Medical Center (2018-01 – 2018-01) ### Marketing Consultant, GeniusMesh (2018-01 – 2018-01) ### Senior Account Manager, Team Lead, CircuitHub, Inc. (2017-10 – 2021-06) Remote · Owned full-cycle sales from prospecting through close as the company's first sales hire. Achieved 150% of revenue target, doubled customer count, enabled price increases, and drove 80% YoY company growth. Built the foundation for all subsequent sales and customer success processes. ### Business Development Consultant, Paradromics Inc (2017-01 – 2017-01) Backed by NIH, DARPA, Fusion Fund, Dolby Family Ventures, and others. ### Strategy Consultant, EuMotus (2017-01 – 2017-01) Founded at Harvard Innovation Lab. Backed by AngelPad. ### Business Consultant, Independent Consultant (2016-01 – 2021-01) GTM projects (business development, finance, strategy, marketing, operations, investor relations) in biotech, defense/security, life sciences, mobile apps, health tech, energy, A.I., and others. ### Account Executive, Crowdly (2016-01 – 2017-01) Boston, MA · Backed by Techstars, Laconia Ventures, and others. ### Founder, Head of Sales & Marketing, Tru, Inc. (2015-01 – 2019-01) New York, New York, United States · Sold in-stores at Costco and others, and online at Amazon and drinktru.com. ### Founder, Cohort 3 @ FOOD-X, SOSV (2015-01 – 2015-01) New York, New York, United States · TRU, Inc. was accepted to Cohort 3 at FOOD-X, an international food and beverage accelerator backed by SOSV. 1 of 10/500 accepted startups. ### Founder, Cohort 1 @ Startup52x, Startup52 (2015-01 – 2015-01) New York, New York, United States · TRU, Inc. was accepted into Startup52x, an accelerator backed by Startup52. 1 of 10/200 accepted startups. ## Education ### Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Business Administration - Finance Concentration, Questrom School of Business, Boston University (2010-09 – 2014-05) Division 1 Scholarship Athlete ### High School Diploma, Belmont Hill School Activities and societies: Varsity Rowing, Football, Basketball | V.P. Student Government | Elected Peer Leader | Head of Community Service | Contributor & Editor for School Newspaper | Contributor & Editor for Literary Magazine | Member of Students Actively Fostering Equality ## Projects ### Successful Kickstarter Campaign for TruEnergy Launched a Kickstarter campaign for our first product, TruEnergy. Received several press features, and in 30 days achieved 113% of our goal; $22,723 / 20,000. ### New Product Business Plan Challenge Finished 2nd out of about 800 students and 80 teams. Product: Created "The Magic Toothbrush," developed to help parents ensure children brushed their teeth for the dentist recommended time using heat transfer trigger technology in the brush handle. Challenge: The final three final teams were chosen by Questrom School of Business professors for a final pitch competition judged by MBA Corporate Strategy professors and a Senior VP from Digital Imagitas. Finalist teams were chosen at the conclusion of a semester during which they created an 80+ page executive business plan outlining the simulated design and launch of a consumer product in four major sections focusing on finance, marketing, operations management, and information systems. ## Skills Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Social Media, Public Speaking, Marketing, Management, Startup Development, Social Networking, Guerrilla Marketing, Strategic Planning, Sales, Business Strategy, Strategic Communications, Social Media Marketing, Strategy, Start-ups, Business Development, Microsoft Excel, Data Analysis, Research, Sales strategy, Go-to-market (GTM), Revenue operations, Customer success, CRM management, Enterprise sales, Pipeline management, Account management, Sales process design, Customer retention, Customer health analytics, Team leadership, Business operations, AI agents, Outbound sales, Full-cycle sales ## Credentials - **Nominee | Sports & Active Nutrition Awards** — Sports and Active Nutrition Summit (issued 2017-01) - **Invited Judge - Boston University New Venture Competition Prelim** (issued 2016-02) - **Accepted to Food-X (SOSV) Accelerator** (issued 2015-09) - **Accepted to Startup52 Accelerator** (issued 2015-06) - **Invited Judge - MakeMIT (Hardware Hackathon)** (issued 2015-02) - **Dean's Community Service Award Nominee** (issued 2014-01) - **Finalist - New Product Business Plan Challenge** (issued 2014-01) - **Finalist - Woodberry Speech Competition** (issued 2010-01) - **Warburg Community Service Award** (issued 2010-01) ## AI Fluency - **Claude** (https://claude.ai) - **Notion AI** (https://notion.so) --- Source: https://saywise.com/member1203 (last modified 2026-10-05T18:44:29.478Z)