LawnStarter Adds VP of Engineering and ‘Mow’ Senior Leaders

LawnStarter, a one-click marketplace connecting homeowners with outdoor service providers, is growing and expanding, much like the grass now in springtime.

Three recent key hires (and more are on the way):

  • Alberto Silveira, Vice President of Engineering
  • Mina Samaan, Head of Accounting and Financial Planning and Analysis
  • Zi Zhu, Director of Analytics

Here’s more about these new additions to the LawnStarter team:

VP of Engineering is an Expert at Leading Distributed Teams

Alberto Silveira, LawnStarter’s Vice President of Engineering, brings to the new role nearly 20 years of experience in software development, and he has already combined Engineering, Product, and Design here to work more efficiently as one team.

Alberto S. Silveira Jr
Alberto Silveira, VP of Engineering

Silveira previously was Head of Engineering at Schoology, Senior Director of Software Engineering at OnDeck, Technical Leader at Amplify, Technical Leader at Kaplan, Senior Software Engineer Architect and Team Lead at Montefiore Information Technology.

In nearly all of those roles, Silveira has led distributed teams — teams with members working together across time zones and around the world. That experience led Silveira to write a book about how to lead team members who aren’t together in one office or headquarters.

Silveira’s book, “Building and Managing High-Performance Distributed Teams,” subtitled “Navigating the Future of Work,” was published May 14, 2021. Silveira’s book is timely, as nearly all companies shifted from office work to distributed teams during the COVID pandemic.

Having a thought leader on how to lead distributed teams is a huge asset for LawnStarter, which shifted to an all-remote workforce in summer of 2020, LawnStarter Co-Founder Steve Corcoran says.  

“For the past four years we have operated predominantly remotely enabling us to attract top level talent focused on our mission from across the world,” Corcoran says. “Alberto has been able to take us to the next level when it comes to the effectiveness and culture of distributed teams, allowing us to more than double our engineering team at a rapid pace.”

Silveira, a native of Brazil, is based in New York, but he is looking forward to moving to Austin, where he has bought a house. LawnStarter is based in Austin. 

Head of Accounting Takes Finances to Next Level

Mina Samaan, Head of Accounting and Financial Planning and Analysis, brings more than 10 years of experience with internet companies including Groupon. 

Mina Samaan, LawnStarter's Head of Accounting
Mina Samaan, Head of Accounting

Samaan’s most recent experience was as Director of Accounting for Luminary Media in Chicago. At Luminary, Samaan led all accounting operations, and he worked closely with various leaders in launching one of the first exclusive subscription-based podcasting platforms. 

Prior to Luminary, Samaan was an Accounting Manager at Groupon, a Revenue Accountant at TravelClick, and an Accountant with Infor Global Solutions, all based in greater Chicago. 

LawnStarter hiring from A-Z (Alberto to Zi)

Zi Zhu, Director of Analytics, comes to LawnStarter from Mailchimp, where he was Senior Marketing Manager, Advanced Marketing Analytics. 

Zi Zhu, LawnStarter Director of Anayltics
Zi Zhu, Director of Analytics

Previously, Zhu was Manager, Marketing Optimization, for Autotrader. Before that, Zhu held a variety of roles, including market research consultant, at Verizon Telematics.

Specific skills Zhu brings to LawnStarter: At Mailchimp, he focused on reducing customer churn and increasing customer lifetime value. At Autotrader, Zhu led analysis to improve marketing campaign effectiveness. 

LawnStarter is Adding Even More Team Members

LawnStarter is adding call center, web and product team members, engineers, and others to keep up with the demand for lawn care and other outdoor services at the click of a button. 

How LawnStarter Works

Within seconds, homeowners can view pricing and book skilled lawn care and outdoor services pros. All have years of experience dealing with grass, weeds, pests, flower beds, and anything else that grows in the yard.

Since its launch in 2013, LawnStarter has expanded its lawn care services to more than 120 U.S. markets.

For more information, visit LawnStarter.com.

Questions: Email Media@LawnStarter.com.

Jeff Herman

Jeff Herman

Jeff Herman, editor-in-chief of LawnStarter, mowed lawns as a teen, and his uncle owned the biggest sod business in St. Louis. Previously, Herman worked at The New York Times, CreditCards.com, and most recently at AllAboutVision.com. Now Herman is All About Lawn Care.