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  "name": "Paolo Donà",
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  "description": "Software engineer turned executive. Chief Information Officer at Staycity Group, Europe's leading aparthotel operator. Keenly interested in AI, automation, and building small, fast-paced, world-class technical teams.",
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      "description": "Europe's leading aparthotel operator"
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    "description": "Software engineer and startup entrepreneur turned technologist and C-level executive. Chief Information Officer at Staycity Group, Europe's leading aparthotel operator.",
    "summary": "Software engineer turned executive. Chief Information Officer at Staycity Group, Europe's leading aparthotel operator. Keenly interested in AI, automation, and building small, fast-paced, world-class technical teams.",
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      "Automation",
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      "Technology Leadership",
      "Digital Transformation",
      "Cycling"
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    "about": [
      "I am the Chief Information Officer at Staycity Group, Europe's leading aparthotel operator, where I lead technology strategy and digital transformation across our European portfolio. In my career I've built, led, and learned from technology teams across software engineering, entrepreneurship, and executive leadership.",
      "I'm especially energised by AI and automation right now: how they reshape what a small team can ship, and how to apply them pragmatically to real business problems rather than as a fashion. My happy place is creating and leading small, fast-paced, world-class technical teams.",
      "My background blends deep technical expertise with commercial acumen. I'm as comfortable in the boardroom of a €500M-a-year company as I am in detailed technical discussions with engineers.",
      "Outside of work I'm a keen cyclist across road, gravel, and MTB, and I divide my time between Ireland and Northern Italy."
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      "description": "Whatevernote, Este Bike, and other projects built outside the day job."
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          "endDate": "present"
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    {
      "organization": "Homestay.com",
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          "startDate": "2012-01",
          "endDate": "2017-05"
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      "organization": "Mobile Interactive Group",
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          "endDate": "2011-06"
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          "endDate": "2009-06"
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      "summary": "Joined as a senior Ruby on Rails developer on large-scale mobile platforms, then moved into product to define and run SMS content distribution and multi-channel marketing platforms used by O2, Vodafone, Three, Sky, Virgin Media and ITV."
    },
    {
      "organization": "SeeSaw srl",
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      "roles": [
        {
          "title": "Founder & Lead Developer",
          "startDate": "2006-09",
          "endDate": "2008-09"
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      "summary": "Co-founded and ran a boutique software consultancy serving small and medium-sized customers across Italy, including work for impresa.gov.it and Q8 Petroleum. Also ran the first commercial Ruby on Rails courses in Italy."
    },
    {
      "organization": "Earlier roles",
      "roles": [
        {
          "title": "Software developer / analyst",
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          "endDate": "2006"
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      "institution": "University of Padua",
      "credential": "Master's degree in Computer Engineering",
      "year": "2000"
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      "credential": "Technical diploma in Electronics and Telecommunications",
      "year": "1996"
    }
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    {
      "name": "Este Bike Website",
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    },
    {
      "name": "Whatevernote",
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      "title": "Slow Productivity",
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      "image": "https://paolodona.com/img/books/slow-productivity.jpg"
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      "title": "Four Thousand Weeks",
      "author": "Oliver Burkeman",
      "url": "https://www.amazon.co.uk/Four-Thousand-Weeks-Embrace-thousand/dp/1784704008",
      "image": "https://paolodona.com/img/books/four-thousand-weeks.jpg"
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      "title": "Indistractable",
      "author": "Nir Eyal",
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      "image": "https://paolodona.com/img/books/indistractable.jpg"
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    {
      "title": "Building a Second Brain",
      "author": "Tiago Forte",
      "url": "https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Building+a+Second+Brain+Tiago+Forte",
      "image": "https://paolodona.com/img/books/building-a-second-brain.jpg"
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    {
      "title": "Essentialism",
      "author": "Greg McKeown",
      "url": "https://www.amazon.co.uk/Essentialism-Disciplined-Pursuit-Greg-McKeown/dp/0753555166",
      "image": "https://paolodona.com/img/books/essentialism.jpg"
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      "title": "Priceless",
      "author": "William Poundstone",
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      "title": "High Growth Handbook",
      "author": "Elad Gil",
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      "title": "Principles",
      "author": "Ray Dalio",
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      "title": "Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order",
      "author": "Ray Dalio",
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    {
      "title": "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster",
      "author": "Bill Gates",
      "url": "https://www.gatesnotes.com/How-to-Avoid-a-Climate-Disaster-announcement",
      "image": "https://paolodona.com/img/books/how-to-avoid-a-climate-disaster.jpg"
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    {
      "title": "Permanent Record",
      "author": "Edward Snowden",
      "url": "https://www.amazon.co.uk/Permanent-Record-Edward-Snowden/dp/1529035694",
      "image": "https://paolodona.com/img/books/permanent-record.jpg"
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    {
      "title": "Freakonomics",
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      "title": "The Coming Wave",
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      "title": "Digital Minimalism",
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      "title": "It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work",
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      "title": "Deep Work",
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      "title": "Evil Plans",
      "author": "Hugh MacLeod",
      "url": "https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evil-Plans-Having-Road-Domination/dp/1591843847",
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      "title": "Profit First",
      "author": "Mike Michalowicz",
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      "image": "https://paolodona.com/img/books/profit-first.jpg"
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    {
      "title": "Berkshire Hathaway: Letters to Shareholders 1965-2024",
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      "markdownUrl": "https://paolodona.com/blog/opera-mcp.html.md",
      "datePublished": "2026-05-01",
      "summary": "I built an MCP server that puts Oracle OPERA Cloud — one of the most quintessentially \"old-style enterprise\" systems in hospitality — behind a Claude prompt. Here is what changed when our team stopped clicking and started asking.",
      "wordCount": 1212
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    {
      "title": "Speaking at Stripe Sessions 2026 in San Francisco",
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      "datePublished": "2026-04-30",
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      "datePublished": "2026-02-27",
      "summary": "I am not a revenue manager and I am not a copywriter. Over a long weekend, with Claude Code as a collaborator, I produced a 30-property Booking.com merchandising audit grounded in pricing theory, behavioural psychology and a real side-by-side comparison against competitors. A note on what changes when domain knowledge stops being the bottleneck.",
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