Paul Straw

Questioner
DISC Type : c

Engineering Director, Zero at Metalab

Portland, Oregon, United States

Overview

Paul is an Engineering Director at Metalab with extensive experience as a principal engineer, solutions architect, and developer. He possesses a broad skillset covering hardware, software, backend, and frontend development, and holds certifications from VMWare and Microsoft, showcasing his deep technical expertise across the stack.

Outside of work, Paul is a passionate creator who makes video games and electronics for fun. He is a prominent figure in the Playdate handheld gaming community, where he develops applications, organizes community awards, and even designs and builds the physical trophies for the winners himself.

He is creating a hardware modification to add a lit display to the Playdate console, one of the few to exist outside the manufacturer.

Personality Overview

Price-Sensitive

Cautious & Analytical

Not Easily Convinced

They are more likely than others to negotiate on pricing and terms.  While they don't hesitate to ask questions, they are generally risk-averse and tend to be late adopters. They generally do not appreciate an overfriendly approach and prefer to stay to-the-point.

Topics They Care About

Agentic Coding
He has been using agentic AI in his programming workflow for several months, indicating a strong professional interest in leveraging AI for software development.
Indie Game Development
He actively creates and publishes games for the niche Playdate console and has developed multiple games for various game jams, showing a passion for building things for fun.
Playdate Community
He is deeply involved in the Playdate handheld community, helping to host and coordinate its annual awards ceremony and moderating its official Discord server.

Media Appearances

Paul has no verified media appearances

Work History

12-2025
Engineering Director, Zero at Metalab
10-2022 - 11-2025
Principal Engineer at SideDoor
3-2022 - 9-2022
Principal Software Engineer at Cometeer
7-2021 - 3-2022
Principal Engineer at MetaLab
6-2019 - 7-2021
Solutions Architect at MetaLab

Education

9-2006 - 2-2007
Education details unavailable from Columbia College

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 21 Location : Portland, Oregon, United States Job Level : Mid-senior Designation : Engineering Director, Zero at Metalab
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Insights For Selling To Paul

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Share as much information as possible regarding your product
  • Keep some extra margin in hand as they will likely negotiate the pricing
  • Tell them that you will come back if you don’t have a good answer for a question

DONT's

  • Don’t try to be too friendly or informal with them
  • Don’t overhype the product/pitch, keep it measured
  • Avoid phrases like ‘do not worry about’, ‘no one compares to’ etc.

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Paul is

  • Confidence that the product provides ROI, effective pricing and process adherence matter the most to them.

  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Paul

  • It doesn’t come naturally to them but they can say no if they are not convinced.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Paul move?

  • They can move at a reasonable pace while making their decisions if they have the necessary information.

  • Can Paul take some risk or not?

  • They can take some risk if they are confident that they have analyzed the circumstances well.


You And Paul

Personality Compatibility


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