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GA

Guadalupe Albuquerque

Chief of Staff and Director of Business Operations for early-stage, venture-backed startups

San Francisco Bay Area, United StatesActively looking

I have been the first or near-first operations hire at venture-backed startups, joining before there were systems and building them as the company scales. At Finless Foods, I joined as employee #7, helped secure $58M+ across four rounds, and supported fundraising and back-end investor relations through every process. I ran end-to-end quarterly board meetings, produced 10+ decks per month, delivered a $4M office build-out on time and on budget, and achieved $500K+ in annual savings through vendor consolidation. At LiquiDonate, I came in as Chief of Staff and was promoted to Director of Business Operations within six months. I built financial infrastructure from zero, driving revenue recognition SOPs that produced a 97 to 98 percent accurate P&L, which directly triggered a strategic pivot that led to new enterprise clients. I also migrated payroll and bookkeeping to save about $10K per year, improved cross-team alignment with an OKR cadence, and initiated SOC 2 Type I and II certification by tightening security practices and AI tool use. I work directly with founders and CEOs, own what needs owning, and move fast without creating chaos. I care about clarity, cadence, and measurable operational outcomes that unlock growth.

Experience

L

Director of Business Operations

LiquiDonate

Dec 2025 – Present

Oakland, CA

Promoted after six months as Chief of Staff to lead all business operations. Built the company’s financial infrastructure from zero by auditing historical data and creating revenue-recognition SOPs by stream (returns donations, events, subscriptions), resulting in ~97–98% P&L accuracy and a strategic pivot to return-donations that closed new enterprise clients within months. Organized the Series A data room in 30 days (auditing ~60 documents and reconciling the cap table in Carta), migrated payroll from Gusto to TriNet PEO and bookkeeping to Burkland Associates, and implemented company-wide 1Password plus SOC 2 Type I/II initiation to unblock enterprise sales conversations.

business operations leadershipfinancial infrastructure build-from-zerorevenue recognition SOPsP&L accuracyauditing historical dataSeries A data roomdocument auditcap table reconciliationCartapayroll migrationGustoTriNet PEObookkeeping transitionBurkland AssociatesOKR cadenceFriday updatesMonday standups1PasswordSOC 2 Type I and IIenterprise sales enablementAdvisory Board recruitingknowledge base organizationGoogle Drive
L

Chief of Staff

LiquiDonate

Jun 2025 – Dec 2025

Full time

Kept the CEO focused during a critical pre-fundraising phase by managing the full business rhythm—investor communications, board preparation, decks, and quarterly reports—while bridging priorities across a 10+ person distributed team. Improved alignment across the distributed organization by introducing structured all-hands meetings and company off-sites to reduce communication overhead and misalignment across departments.

CEO executive supportinvestor communicationsboard preparationdeck productionquarterly reportingcross-team alignmentdistributed team coordinationall-hands meetingscompany off-sites
FF

Chief of Staff to the CEO

Finless Foods

Oct 2021 – May 2025

Emeryville, CAFull time

Helped secure $58M+ across four rounds by building all fundraising materials and providing back-end investor relations support through each process. Ran quarterly Board of Directors meetings end-to-end (venue, logistics, prep materials, and multi-day coordination for international attendees), keeping the CEO prepared and connected by producing 10+ decks per month for board, investor updates, and internal use. Also managed a $4M office build-out and relocation to an 11,000 sq ft facility and delivered $500K+ in annual savings by consolidating vendors and renegotiating supplier contracts.

fundraising materialsinvestor relationsSeed round supportConvertible Notes supportSeries A supportSeries B supportboard meeting operationsboard prepdeck productionexecutive communicationsCEO supportvendor contract managementsupplier renegotiationsoffice build-out project managementfacility relocationbudgetingcost savings
FF

Manager of Operations

Finless Foods

Feb 2019 – Oct 2021

First dedicated business operations hire, building the operational foundation the company ran on for six years. Cut manual task time by 70% by implementing automated workflows (including vendor invoice self-input), reduced monthly supply costs by 30% by re-engineering supply chain processes and renegotiating key supplier contracts, and streamlined weekly all-hands meetings from 5 hours to 1 hour through agenda restructuring and communication tools across five departments. Managed annual budgets up to $1M, owned financial operations and forecasting, and built HR processes from scratch (handbook, onboarding for ~25 hires, payroll, benefits, and compliance) to lower turnover.

operations foundationworkflow automationvendor invoice self-inputcost reductionsupply chain re-engineeringsupplier contract renegotiationall-hands facilitationagenda restructuringcommunication toolsbudget managementfinancial forecastingfinancial operationsHR process buildemployee handbookonboardingpayrollbenefits administrationcomplianceturnover reduction
S

Account Manager

SmartPR

Oct 2014 – Mar 2018

São Paulo, Brazil

Maintained a 90% year-over-year contract renewal rate by managing strategic client relationships as the primary point of contact for communications and deliverables across tech brands including Twitter, Netflix, Amazon, Expedia, and Waze. Expanded the agency’s revenue by building and running a new department focused on early-stage startup media visibility, creating the service offering and delivering it end-to-end. Improved team turnaround time by 20% by restructuring workflows and project prioritization across a global team of five.

client relationship managementcontract renewalscommunicationsdeliverables managementearly-stage startup media visibilityservice offering developmentend-to-end deliveryworkflow restructuringproject prioritizationcross-functional coordinationteam turnaround improvement

Education

EP
ESPM-SUL, Porto Alegre, Brazil

BA – Communications and Advertising, Communications and Advertising

US
UNISINOS, São Leopoldo, Brazil

BA – Digital Communications, Digital Communications

EP
ESPM-SUL, Porto Alegre, Brazil

MBA – Specialization in Business Communications, Business Communications

Skills

Business operationsChief of StaffOperations strategyFinancial infrastructure buildoutRevenue recognitionP&L managementSOP developmentData room organizationCap table reconciliationVendor managementPayroll transitionBookkeeping oversightOKR cadenceCross-team alignmentSOC 2 Type I and II readinessSecurity process implementationKnowledge base managementAdvisory board developmentInvestor relationsFundraising materialsBoard meeting operationsExecutive communicationsQuarterly reportingEvent and logistics coordinationWorkflow automationSupply chain process improvementContract negotiationBudgetingFinancial forecastingHR process buildingCompliance operationsClient relationship managementProject prioritization

Languages

English
Native or bilingual proficiency
Portuguese
Native or bilingual proficiency