Cory Brin

About Cory Brin

I have a passion for working with start-ups that lead with empathy toward delivering on an impactful mission. I enjoy the challenge of tackling new problems a company faces as it grows, and working cross-functionally to solve those problems efficiently while also building company culture. Something of a \"Start Up\" Acrobat,\" if you will. I was employee #26 at GoFundMe and for 11 years, I challenged myself to help the company continue to deliver on its promise. I adapted to many roles, based upon what the company needed. Such as: Product Experience Guardian: Because I was able to help our users isolate and identify obscure bugs, I was asked to be GoFundMe\'s first official Quality Assurance agent in a full-time capacity.(We still got cool titles when we were purely a start-up.) I am also one of the founding members of the company\'s Culture Council.Release Coordinator: As GoFundMe grew, one engineering team grew to seven, and we needed a way to safely release code without collision. I devised a process that allowed for release branches to be safely tested, released, monitored, and rolled back for a team of 50+ engineers. Our release efficiency increased by 50% and our bug/release ratio decreased by 20%. Product Manager - Next Generation Architecture Team: Years later, following a reorg, I was tasked to coordinate a team of thought leaders to decide the future direction of development at GoFundMe, which led to monumental decisions regarding legacy code deprecation and building a new unified API.Technical Program Manager: I coordinated the org-wide adoption of our new API, and the deprecation efforts of our legacy tech stack, to ensure all requests were served by that API - which directly lead to external partners being able to network with GoFundMe\'s global giving community of 190 million people. By this time, I was obsessed with improving developer quality of life, so that they could help keep GoFundMe a force for good. Not too bad for someone with a Creative Writing and history degree, though the plotting and pattern recognition skills I gathered from those studies empowered my adaptability. Outside of work, I perform improv comedy, which also helps me adapt quickly.Check out my Substack to see if any of my ideas can help empower your start-up to be more scalable for the future. Or if you\'d like to utilize me to think through/implement ideas, please reach out. https://corybrin.substack.com/

Experience

1. Finest City Improv

   Jan 2018 — Present · San Diego, CA, US

   Performing in improvised shows weekly as a member of the theatre\'s ensemble cast, as well as various self-created independent teams. Serving as a member of the teaching faculty of Finest City Improv, helping to teach improv technique, pattern recognition, and self-confidence skills to over 100 individual students.Coaching independent and student groups to help them synergize as a team, as well as refining and enhancing their desired show format. Being named a Creative Director at Finest City Improv to conceptualize, cast, and produce innovative and interactive improvised shows for diverse audiences. Produced Shows: Space Force - Improvised Duo of Space Force Agents that investigates threats oft unseen.with hilarious results: Will Die - A completely improvised murder mystery show where the audience votes for the killer and the improvisers have to figure out who it is all without the help of a script. You\'ll laugh so much, you\'ll die! Most Unscripted Journey - Medieval Fantasy Comedic Improv. One part Dungeons and Dragons, one part Lord of the Rings high fantasy, all parts hilarious -

Education

• Wilkes University

  MFA, Creative Writing

  2007 — 2009

• King's College

  BA, History, Geography

  2003 — 2007