russell.ballestrini.net/content/pages/cover-letters/2025-11-04-band-full-stack-engineer-russell-ballestrini.rst

Band - Full-Stack Software Engineer
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:date: 2025-11-04

To Band:

Over 15 years building & scaling products, founding multiple early-stage startups from 0-to-1, positions me well for the Full-Stack Software Engineer role at Band. Founded & bootstrapped Remarkbox (2016, privacy-focused commenting service) & Make Post Sell (2019, commission-free e-commerce with crypto hot wallet payments), each requiring shipping products end-to-end while wearing every hat: frontend, backend, infrastructure, customer support, sales, & everything in between. At Remind (2017-2020), managed AWS infrastructure for 60+ microservices supporting 30 million users, ensuring services scaled during COVID-19 lockdowns. At Coursemojo (2022-2025), designed CI/CD pipelines, scaled AI-powered educational tools, & implemented real-time websocket teacher dashboards. Strong Python proficiency (Flask, Pyramid, SQLAlchemy) & infrastructure expertise (Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, CloudFormation, Terraform) enable building systems optimized for extensibility. High agency & customer-focused problem solving define my approach—actively seeking user feedback to iterate on features & understanding pain points to tailor solutions.

Band represents the missing piece for Make Post Sell. We have internal inventory management for each shop's physical locations, but lack deep integrations into existing SAP or Salesforce ERPs. Understanding how to build those critical B2B integrations would unlock significant value for our sellers. The opportunity to work closely with founders who built Blue Apron & products at Meta/Bread Payments while contributing to early-stage product development combines technical challenge with meaningful business impact. Building flexible contract structuring tools, data cleansing pipelines, & ERP integrations that directly impact customer profit margins is exactly the kind of work that excites me. I'd love to apply my full-stack engineering experience, startup DNA, & customer-first mindset to help Band grow & deliver value to distributors, manufacturers, & buying groups.

Russell Ballestrini