Wesley LaPorte

Founder & operator

I build customer operations from zero, then automate them.

Invented the UV‑C phone sanitizer category and ran PhoneSoap for nine years (4M+ units, ~$70M peak revenue, 18 patents). Built Happy Delivery, a 100+ vehicle Amazon last‑mile operation, profitable in year one. Co‑founded happyDSP.ai and ship its AI support stack myself.

Download resume (PDF) Email Wes

wesleylaporte@gmail.com · 408.230.2269 · Updated September 2026

4M+
PhoneSoap units sold; ~$70M peak revenue, 95 employees (2020)
100+ / 200+
vehicles and drivers I run today across two markets, $10–12M/yr
18
granted U.S. patents as named inventor (4 utility, 14 design)
#13
all‑time Shark Tank company by lifetime sales ($187M, 2023)

Selected work

Three things I built, and what happened.

Each one: the problem, why it was hard, what I personally did, the result, and how to verify it.

PhoneSoap · 2011–2021 · Co‑founder, CEO, head of product engineering

Inventing a product category and taking it to 4M+ units

No buyer had a shelf for a "phone sanitizer." I had a bench result — my phone was the dirtiest object in a cancer‑research lab — and a UV‑C lamp.

Result: 22,349 units in year one → ~$70M revenue in 2020, 4M+ units lifetime, eight national retailers, a hospital line distributed by Medline, 18 patents.

Read the case study

Why it was hard

New category, no channel, no manufacturing experience, and claims that had to survive scientists and, later, hospital infection‑control teams.

What I did

Filed the foundational patent (2011), built the prototypes, validated demand on Kickstarter (3.5× goal, 1,211 backers), and engineered every product for nine years — PhoneSoap 1–3, XL, Wireless, Go, Pro, HomeSoap, Med+, ExpressPro, AirSoap, SurfaceSoap. Ran contract manufacturing in China and Vietnam from NPI to mass production. Found the channels in order: Shark Tank (7.9M viewers; $300K for 10% with Lori Greiner) → QVC (2,500 units in eight minutes) → Staples, Target, Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon. Built the hospital business on evidence first: sponsored research with Brigham and Women's, a study with Detroit Medical Center, and an independent CHLA study published in AJIC (98.2% pathogen reduction in one 30‑second cycle) before Medline signed on as exclusive distributor. Led a 2017 private‑equity recapitalization at a $23M valuation and stayed on as CEO.

The hard year

March 2020 demand ran ~20× the prior year. I re‑sourced components, ran two countries of production, and moved to dated pre‑orders. 5× growth for the year; then the 2021 collapse, layoffs, and an inventory work‑down I owned.

Proof: patents (Justia) · CHLA study, AJIC 2020 · Medline announcement · #13 all‑time Shark Tank company (Shark Tank Blog)

Happy Delivery · 2021–present · Founder & owner

Building a last‑mile operation from zero, profitable in year one

Amazon hands a Delivery Service Partner a contract, a scorecard, and a start date. Vans, drivers, dispatch, safety, payroll, compliance, and the culture of 200 hourly employees are yours to build.

Result: profitable in year one; today 100+ vehicles and 200+ drivers across two markets, $10–12M/yr, and a top performer on Amazon's customer, safety, and delivery‑quality metrics.

Read the case study

Why it was hard

Seven‑day operation measured weekly on customer delivery feedback, delivery defects, photo‑on‑delivery, on‑time completion, and in‑vehicle telematics events (seatbelt, speeding, distraction, following distance). Thresholds are unforgiving and DSP pay is performance based.

What I did

Built the customer‑facing operation and its exception handling: rescues for routes running long, a package‑recovery process for missing and undeliverable items, customer‑not‑home escalations, vehicle incidents, same‑day call‑outs. Own HR and compliance end to end (FCRA, ACA, FLSA, TCPA, FMCSA, Utah labor law) with work‑hours monitoring for rest and rolling‑hour limits. Built the driver performance and feedback system that moves those scores: a points‑based scorecard with tiered standing and peer ranking, a Token Reward Program, monthly anonymous surveys, weekly 0–90‑day new‑hire check‑ins, and a public "Ask Me Anything" channel. I predict the weekly scorecard every day before Amazon publishes it.

Proof: Amazon DSP performance history available on request.

happyDSP.ai · 2023–present · Founder & product lead

Shipping the AI support stack that runs the operation

Running a DSP means drowning in spreadsheets, group texts, and Amazon portals. Managers spend their day answering the same questions and composing the same replies.

Result: a multi‑tenant SaaS in production with an embedded Claude agent and MCP connector over a governed, PII‑scrubbed data layer, plus AI‑assisted replies, sentiment analysis, no‑show risk scoring, and driver self‑service.

Read the case study

Why it was hard

Driver data is sensitive and multi‑tenant; support automation has to be trustworthy enough that a manager will approve a suggested reply, and every feature has to survive a Monday morning at the dispatch window.

What I did

Own product end to end: discovery with operators, specs, interactive HTML prototypes with the real logic in the script block, and Claude Code implementation prompts against the production repo. Designed the AI layer as two paths on one governed data‑access layer with five‑layer PII scrubbing: an embedded Claude agent (Agent SDK) for every user and a remote MCP connector for power users. Shipped pre‑generated manager replies, a two‑layer driver‑sentiment pipeline over chats and surveys with deterministic synthesis, no‑show risk scoring, hybrid semantic search, AI auto‑response in the hiring pipeline, a driver self‑service portal, a Priority triage queue for manager inboxes, and a Scorecard Predictor that replaced my spreadsheet in a week. Stack: TypeScript/React, MongoDB/Prisma, Redis, Twilio, Firebase, Stripe.

Now

Building a production voice‑AI interviewing agent for driver hiring with consent, recording‑law, and bias‑audit compliance designed in from the start.

Proof: product walkthrough on request; happydsp.ai.

Experience

Roles, dates, and what changed because I was there.

2021 – present

Founder & Owner

Happy Delivery LLC — Amazon Delivery Service Partner
  • Built a last‑mile operation from zero to 100+ vehicles, 200+ drivers, two stations, $10–12M/yr; profitable in year one.
  • Top performer on Amazon's customer, safety, and delivery‑quality metrics in both markets; own real‑time exception handling and escalation.
  • Own HR, payroll, safety, and compliance; built the points‑based driver scorecard, peer ranking, Token Reward Program, surveys, and check‑ins that move driver‑experience scores.
Customer operationsFleet & telematicsHR & complianceP&L
2023 – present

Founder & Product Lead

happyDSP.ai — multi‑tenant SaaS for DSP operators
  • Own product: discovery, specs, prototypes, and shipped code (Claude Code, TypeScript/React, MongoDB).
  • Designed and shipped the AI layer: embedded Claude agent + MCP connector over a governed, PII‑scrubbed data layer; LLM pipelines for replies, sentiment, and risk.
  • Set up billing (Stripe), messaging compliance (Twilio A2P 10DLC), and IP structure for the LLC.
ProductApplied AIClaude Agent SDK · MCPTypeScript
2011 – 2021
Board 2021 – present

Co‑Founder, CEO & Head of Product Engineering

PhoneSoap — UV‑C sanitizing devices for consumers and hospitals
  • Invented the UV‑C phone sanitizer; engineered every product; named inventor on 18 U.S. patents.
  • Scaled to 4M+ units, ~$70M revenue and 95 employees (2020) through Staples, Target, Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, QVC, and Medline; led a 2017 PE recapitalization at a $23M valuation.
  • Built the medical line and its clinical evidence (Brigham and Women's, Detroit Medical Center, CHLA/AJIC 2020). Stepped down as CEO in 2021 to start Happy Delivery; remain on the board.
HardwareManufacturingRetail & D2CMedical devicesLeadership
2010 – 2011

Undergraduate Researcher

Brigham Young University — O'Neill Cancer Research Lab
  • 1,000+ hours developing ELISA assays around TK1 as an early‑detection cancer biomarker; first author, Cancer Research 2011;71(8 Suppl):798 (AACR Annual Meeting).
ResearchPublished

Earlier: co‑founded Luma (smart lamp; $224K Kickstarter, 2014), AromaRest (president, 2014–17), Utah Bubble Sports, and Hot Potato (sold 2016). B.S., Exercise Science, Brigham Young University, 2012.

Evidence of exceptional ability

Three hard problems, what I did, and the measurable result.

Hard problem

Sell a product no buyer had a category for

What I did: proved demand before inventory (Kickstarter 3.5×), used demonstration channels (Shark Tank, QVC), then walked into national retail with proof. Result: $537K → $4.9M the year after the show; 4M+ units; #13 all‑time Shark Tank company by sales.

Hard problem

Run a company through a 20× demand shock

What I did: re‑sourced components, ran production in two countries, moved to dated pre‑orders, communicated honestly about what was and wasn't tested. Result: 5× full‑year growth to ~$70M and 95 people; then managed the 2021 collapse without losing the company.

Hard problem

Get hospitals to trust a consumer device

What I did: stopped selling and ran studies — Brigham and Women's, Detroit Medical Center, Children's Hospital LA — and redesigned the device around infection‑control workflow. Result: peer‑reviewed 98.2% pathogen reduction in one cycle (AJIC 2020); Medline exclusive national distribution.

Proof

Verifiable, not adjectives.

Patents — 18 granted U.S.

  • Utility: US 8,964,405 · 9,339,576 · 10,744,215 (device sanitization); US 10,384,032 (ambient‑conditions sleep device)
  • Design: 14, covering PhoneSoap Pro, HomeSoap, AirSoap, SurfaceSoap wand, and Shine
  • Plus 8 design registrations in Japan and Taiwan and PCT filings in EP/JP/CN/AU — 49 documents, 12 families

Justia record

Published research

  • LaPorte W, et al. "Measuring TK1 autoantibodies in the serum of cancer and non‑cancer patients." Cancer Research 2011;71(8 Suppl):798. DOI
  • Malhotra S, et al. "Shining a light on the pathogenicity of health care providers' mobile phones" (PhoneSoap Med+). AJIC 2020. PubMed

Recognition

  • Shark Tank, Season 6 (2015): deal with Lori Greiner; Season 7 update
  • Oprah's Favorite Things, 2021
  • Rice Business Plan Competition 2012: Best Sales & Marketing Award, best presenter of 42 teams
  • 28,000+ positive customer reviews across Amazon and phonesoap.com
As seen on: Shark Tank (ABC) CNN NPR Fox Business The Washington Post TIME Forbes Good Morning America NBC News / TODAY Oprah's Favorite Things QVC

About

I find problems by going where they happen.

I started in a cancer‑research lab, tested a claim about dirty phones with the swabs on my bench, and built a company around what I found. Since then the pattern hasn't changed: I start at the bench, the factory floor, or the dispatch window, and I build whatever the problem needs — a device, a supply chain, a company, or software — until it works at scale. I'm a U.S. citizen and fluent in Portuguese. For the last five years I've operated under Amazon's DSP contract — its scorecard, its requirements, and its weekly performance thresholds — so I know how to be managed and measured.

What I'm looking for

A program, product, or operations role where customer operations for a new kind of service are still being invented — autonomous mobility, logistics, or hardware‑plus‑software products. Comfortable as an individual contributor or a manager; the work is the point. Open to relocation (Bay Area, Austin, New York, LA).

Contact

Let's talk.

wesleylaporte@gmail.com · 408.230.2269

Download resume (PDF)Email Wes