Former Verizon AVP. 4× President's Cabinet winner. Led 1,000+ people, generated $1B revenue. Now building Heritage Whisper, a voice-first family legacy platform that turns photos into a living timeline.
Background
From mall kiosk to AVP. Then I walked away to build what's next.
I spent 20 years at Verizon. Started at a mall kiosk in Spokane, WA. Twelve promotions later, I was Associate Vice President of Solutions Architecture for National Technical Sales, leading 450+ across technical sales and customer success, reporting to the CRO of Verizon Business.
Across my four Senior Sales Director roles I led 1,000+ people across ~20 states. My orgs generated over $1B in revenue. Four President's Cabinet wins (top 1%). Four markets turned around, including 19 consecutive months of YoY growth in the Pacific Northwest competing directly with T-Mobile HQ.
Then I walked away. Not because I was burned out. Because I saw where things were heading. AI will amplify the leaders who learn to build with it.
Now I'm building HeritageWhisper full-time. A voice-first family legacy platform that turns photos into a living timeline so families can hear the story instantly in the original voice.
Spokane, WA
20+ Years
Current Work
Heritage Whisper is my main focus. I also co-run a product studio with my brother and share what I learn.
Shipping production systems with AI. Real products, not demos. Learning by building, every day.
If you're looking to automate intelligently, scale systems, or just talk about what's next, let's connect.
What People Say
Common Questions
The questions people actually ask. Direct answers.
Founder and CEO of HeritageWhisper. Spent 20 years at Verizon, started at a mall kiosk in Spokane, WA, ended as Associate Vice President of Solutions Architecture for National Technical Sales reporting directly to the Chief Revenue Officer of Verizon Business.
12 promotions. Four-time President's Cabinet winner, top 1% of sales leaders nationally. Walked away through a Voluntary Separation Program to build with AI full-time.
As Associate Vice President, I led 450+ across Solutions Architects, pre-sales engineering, cybersecurity, UC product specialists, SaaS Enablement, and a Customer Success organization I built from scratch to 35 people that cut new-customer onboarding churn in half and protected $53M in revenue.
Before that, four Senior Sales Director roles spanning roughly 20 states and 1,000+ people total, generating over $1B in revenue. Turned around four major markets, including 19 consecutive months of YoY growth in the Pacific Northwest competing directly with T-Mobile HQ.
One initiative I ran generated $220M in incremental recurring revenue in a year.
A voice-first family legacy platform. Turns photos into a living timeline so families can hear the story instantly in the original voice.
Built it with my retired father, who tested every feature. If a 75-year-old can't use it without help, it's not ready.
A product studio. Five live AI products including TheFinalsLoadout, Ask Three AI, ZeroEffortAI, and MeritPlaybook, with 30k+ monthly users combined.
Currently paused while I focus on HeritageWhisper full-time.
One of 12 internal leaders hand-selected by Verizon to apply Bryce Hoffman's decision-support red teaming methodology to enterprise strategy. Four weeks of training at HQ, then flown out to review strategies a week at a time and present findings, warnings, and recommended solutions directly to c-level executives.
I was the only person from the field brought in.
Easiest way to reach me is LinkedIn or paul@paultakisaki.com.
I'm not actively coaching while building HeritageWhisper, but I read every message and respond when I can.
Spokane, Washington.
