About

Who is building this.

Engineer by training, operator by habit.

Cole Bonawitz speaking at an eventChattanooga, TN → Durham, NC

I'm Cole Bonawitz, a Computer Science student at Duke (minors in Statistical Science and Philosophy) who would rather ship a system than talk about one. I'm originally from Chattanooga, TN, and I live in Durham. I founded RiZE Maps, a DTC brand that reached $135K in revenue, co-founded Momnt, a hardware and iOS product, and built the first outbound engine for a four-person startup.

Insurance is where I'm putting that work now. Agency service desks are full of repetitive, rule-bound work that AI is good at, as long as a licensed person stays in charge. My job is to make sure the tools you use are chosen well, set up properly and watched.

Résumé (PDF)LinkedInGitHub
$135K
revenue at RiZE Maps, the DTC brand I founded
300+
customer-discovery interviews at Momnt, where I'm co-founder and head of product
15%
cold reply rate at Swoop Tutors, where I was the GTM engineering intern
1st of 100+
teams at HackDuke
Studied, built and worked at
  • Duke University
  • DukeEngage
  • Innovation Collab
  • Swoop Tutors
  • Dignity Properties
01Work

Systems I've built.

Swoop Tutors

GTM engineering intern · sole engineer · Aug – Dec 2025

Swoop Tutors
The problem

No outbound motion. Leads in spreadsheets, replies tracked by hand.

What I built
  1. Clay
  2. Clean
  3. Score
  4. Draft + send
  5. A/B test
  6. CRM
  7. Dashboard
  • Automated email outreach and drafting, sequenced through HubSpot and Zapier
  • A/B tests on subject lines and send timing, 100 sends per variant per week
  • CRM workflows and lifecycle stages, then a migration to a custom CRM
  • Data integration: Clay, SQL and pandas cleaning, ICP scoring across 10,000+ records
The result
prospects sequenced
5,000+
cold / warm reply
15% / 40%
accounts qualified
3,000
calls booked
50

The reply dashboard changed who the team targeted. The custom CRM is still in use.

  • Clay

Dignity Properties

Builder · Ongoing

Dignity Properties
The problem

Business work spread across email and several platforms.

What I built
  1. Source
  2. Qualify
  3. Draft
  4. Workflows
  5. Assistant
  • An agentic system that drafts email responses
  • Workflows set up inside their existing systems
  • A personal AI assistant for property management and other business functions
  • Platform connections, including GoHighLevel
  • Agents that source and qualify off-market properties, with a persistent memory of properties, owners and decisions
The result
email drafting
Agentic
tool layer
MCP
persistent memory
Supabase
connected
GoHighLevel

One assistant that works across the firm's tools and starts each task from what it already knows.

02Proof

What I have actually done.

Two things, stated plainly. No logos, no client names, no numbers I cannot point at.

Swoop Tutors, an outbound engine

5,000+
prospects sequenced
15%
cold reply rate
50
calls booked

I built the first outbound system for a four-person tutoring startup in Durham: enrichment, sequencing, A/B tests at 100 sends per variant per week, and the dashboard the team ran on. That is an outbound system at scale, run for a company. It was not run for an insurer, and I am not going to pretend it was.

My own system, running now

I run an agent system on my own outbound every day. It watches, sorts what came in, drafts a reply and waits for me to approve it before anything sends. That is the same shape as what I would build for your office, and I can show it to you on the call. It is a working demonstration, not a client.

One more thing, said plainly: I am a Duke student, and I am starting with independent agencies around the Triangle. If you want someone who has run a service team for twenty years, that is not me yet. If you want someone who will build this around your book, sit with your service team until it is right, and answer the phone when a carrier portal changes, that is me.

Experience
  1. 2026 — present
    Founder · AI operations for insurance agencies

    Running the AI department for independent insurance agencies: choosing, connecting, running and updating their AI tools, with licensed staff approving what goes out.

  2. Oct 2025 — present
    Co-founder & Head of Product · Momnt

    Digital-wellness NFC wearable and iOS app. 300+ customer-discovery interviews, 300+ units, 85% two-month retention.

  3. Aug – Dec 2025
    GTM Engineering Intern · Swoop Tutors

    Sole builder of the first outbound engine for a 4-person startup: 10,000+ records enriched, 15% cold reply rate, 50 calls booked.

  4. 2023 — present
    Founder · RiZE Maps

    DTC brand of 3D-printed Formula 1 art. $135K in revenue and 3M+ organic impressions from a content and paid growth engine I built.

  5. Aug 2024 — May 2028
    B.S. Computer Science · Duke University

    Minors in Statistical Science and Philosophy. 3.95 GPA.

Open résumé (PDF)

Twenty minutes, and I'll show you where your agency's AI hours are.

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