Chief of Staff · Execution Architecture · Strategy & Ops

Zach Burkes

I help founders turn strategy into execution. In 9 years as a CEO's strategic right hand, I've built the systems, cadence, and visibility that drive consistent outcomes across sales, partnerships, and operations.

AI is my leverage layer, not a novelty.

9 yrs
CEO's Strategic Right Hand
100+
Client Companies Managed
350+
Systems & Automations Built
34%
YoY Revenue Growth
"Zach is the rare person who can take a vague, messy problem and come back with a working system — not a slide deck. He built the operating infrastructure that let me stop managing the business day-to-day and start leading it."
Charles Gaudet
CEO, Predictable Profits · 9-Year Working Relationship
5% → <1% Client churn reduction
34% YoY Revenue growth sustained
10% Equity holder — not a contractor

How I work

Frame the Problem
Build the System
Create Visibility
Make It Run Without Me

I start with problem framing and clear specs — not vague goals. Then I build the system: the operating cadence, the dashboards, the workflows, the follow-up loops. I create simple, durable views so leadership can see what's working, what's stuck, and what needs attention. And I use AI and automation as leverage to make the whole thing self-sustaining — built once, reused often, designed so outcomes don't rely on individual heroics.

Here's what I shipped recently

Every system below was taken from concept to live output — most in days, not weeks. AI and automation are the execution layer, used to compress time-to-impact and increase quality across every build.

The full list

Every system has a story. These are the ones that didn't make the carousel but still shipped.

Post-Kickstart Follow-Up Sequence
Designed 2-email HubSpot sequence for 189 workshop attendees. Rewrote leadership's soft templates into direct, booking-focused outreach — cut fluff, added urgency, drove action.
HubSpot Sequences Email Copywriting
Shipped
Slack Partner Program Auto-Updates
Claude reads a week of partner channel activity, generates a formatted status update covering registrations, meetings, campaigns, and next steps, then posts directly to Slack. Replaced 20+ min manual recap.
Claude + Slack MCP Channel Analysis
Live
The Build Shop
Built and launched an automation services business from positioning to live site in under a week. $1,500/workflow for founder-led companies. Includes a working lead magnet (Pipeline Stage Generator) that deploys directly to HubSpot.
HTML/CSS/JS Netlify Business Design
Live
Weekly Client Health Report
Reads a messy Google Sheet (section headers, blank rows, mixed data), counts clients by tier, flags Red status and low attendance, posts to Slack every Monday at 8 AM.
Apps Script Sheets Slack
Shipped
PP Automations Slack App
Unified Slack bot identity powering Partner Metrics, Room Reflections, and Health Report via a single OAuth flow instead of separate apps per tool.
Slack OAuth Bot scopes
Live
Dormant Lead Re-engagement
Scores 200+ CEO/Founder contacts by engagement depth, recency, and behavior using a 4-factor weighted algorithm to surface highest-value cold leads.
HubSpot API Python
In Progress
Client Data Matching Engine
Fuzzy matching across 3 data sources — Profit Profiles, Health Dashboard, Account Management folders — to unify client records with confidence scoring.
Python Fuzzy matching
Complete
Kickstart Offer Sheet
Multi-format sales collateral generator producing PDF, DOCX, HTML, and Markdown from a single source to match existing brand standards.
Node.js PDFKit
Shipped
Workshop Funnel Drop-off Analysis
Compared Typeform applications vs. HubSpot deal records, identified 6 drop-offs including 2 actionable high-intent leads and a data hygiene issue.
Typeform HubSpot Monday.com
Complete
HubSpot Pipeline Analysis
Pulled 72 deals, mapped 50+ stages, identified 7 overdue tasks in 30 seconds — full pipeline visibility that normally requires 15 minutes of clicking.
HubSpot API MCP
Complete
SalesMessage Broadcast Automation
Used Claude in Chrome to automate personalized SMS sends. Discovered HubSpot lists don't sync to SalesMessage segments — documented the gap.
Browser agent HubSpot
In Progress
Attendee List Consolidation
Deduplicated 107 rows from 3 campaign exports down to 57 unique recipients for workshop outreach.
Python pandas
Shipped
Notion Content Pipeline
Browser automation to generate 3 content pieces from idea to review-ready in 15 minutes when the API connector kept disconnecting.
Claude Code Notion
Live
Daily Accountability System
Three Slack messages daily (7AM focus, 12:30PM check-in, 5PM reflection) listing 4 priority buckets mapped to CRM pipeline stages.
Slack Workflows
Concept

How I think, not just what I've built

The most important thing I do isn't building systems — it's deciding which system to build next. At any given time there are fifty things that could be improved. My job is figuring out which three will actually move the business, and ignoring the rest. That judgment comes from 9 years of being close enough to the CEO to understand what matters, and close enough to the work to know what's realistic.

An example: when I analyzed 80 client intake documents, the AI flagged a pattern that looked like a breakthrough insight. But the math was wrong — a base-rate fallacy that would have sent leadership chasing a ghost. I caught it, corrected the analysis, and delivered findings that actually held up. That's the difference between using AI and being useful with AI.

Before this, I co-founded a healthcare technology startup focused on prescription safety that was acquired in 2016. I'm currently finishing my B.A. in Communication Studies at Sacramento State. Outside work, I climb rocks and play basketball — physical challenge is how I stay sharp.

AI & Automation (Leverage Layer)

Claude API Claude Code Claude in Chrome OpenAI Whisper Agentic Pipelines Prompt Engineering

Development

React Node.js Python Google Apps Script HTML/CSS/JS Tailwind

Operations & Systems

HubSpot CRM Slack API Zapier (350+) Netlify OAuth 2.0 Google Sheets

Looking for my next executive partnership.

I'm seeking a Chief of Staff or Strategy & Ops role where I can be the person who turns a CEO's hardest problems into working systems. If that's what your team needs, let's talk.