Ishmael Samuel
Chief Technology Officer Co-founder at Paragon
Los Angeles, California, United States
Summary
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SeniorIshmael Samuel is a seasoned engineering leader and entrepreneur with over a decade of hands-on software experience and a track record of building products used by millions and generating venture-backed exits. As CTO and co-founder of Paragon (YC W20), he combines full-stack development, devops, security, and product-led sales to democratize SaaS integrations for both engineers and non-engineers. He previously bootstrapped and scaled CTRL LA to a $1M+ run rate, led consulting work for clients like Uber and Universal Studios, and has experience across startups, enterprises, and non-profits. Ishmael blends tactical execution—code reviews, sprint planning, DB administration—with strategic roles in business development and customer success. He also contributes to community and equity-focused organizations, serving on boards such as the Midlands African Chamber and mentoring the next generation through Hacker Fund. Known for turning complex integration problems into user-friendly products, he thrives at the intersection of engineering, product, and inclusive economic impact.
12 years of coding experience
4 years of employment as a software developer
Github Skills (60)
nodejs-server10
jest-mock9
backend8
vitest8
nodejs7
javascript7
eslint7
api7
nest7
database7
serverless7
boilerplate7
telemetry6
orm6
project-template6
Programming languages (4)
Github contributions (5)
CTRLLA/ctrllr
Oct 2014 - Oct 2018
Contributions:64 commits, 15 PRs, 26 pushes in 4 years 1 month
testingapiapi-testing
useparagon/nestjs-redis-cluster
Jul 2020 - Nov 2022
Nestjs module w/ redis + cluster support.
Contributions:6 reviews, 16 commits, 10 PRs in 2 years 5 months
nestnestjsredis
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