Zach Gonser

Partner Operations Manager at Botrista & Homelab Architect

I'm a hands-on technologist with a passion for automation and AI. Ex-DoorDash and ex-Apple, I now scale beverage robots at Botrista while building and maintaining a self-hosted infrastructure that would make any systems architect proud.

Explore the Digital Empire View Experience

Professional Experience

Jan 2025 - Present

Manager, Regional Sales Operations

Botrista, Inc.

Currently leading regional sales operations and partner growth initiatives across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Orchestrating beverage robotics expansion with a focus on operational excellence and strategic partnerships.

Jan 2024 - Jan 2025

Partner Operations Manager

Botrista, Inc.

Managed partner operational efficiency and conducted advanced diagnostics for beverage robotics across multiple regions. Scaled operations nationwide through process automation and strategic partner relationships.

May 2023 - Feb 2024

Partner Growth Manager

Botrista, Inc.

Drove partner growth initiatives and market expansion strategies. Established operational frameworks for rapid scaling while maintaining quality standards in beverage robotics deployment.

Mar 2018 - Oct 2022

Product Support Manager

DoorDash (Chowbotics)

Developed proactive support strategies that reduced downtime by 80% for cold bowl-based robots responsible for $17M in business. Managed international support teams and engineered comprehensive customer service playbooks.

Jan 2010 - Mar 2018

Genius & Channel Support

Apple Inc.

8+ years across multiple Apple roles including Genius positions and Channel Service Support. Delivered world-class technical support, trained field technicians, and coordinated employee training sessions.

Mar 2012 - Present

HomeLab + Personal Projects

Self-Hosted Infrastructure

Maintaining Unraid-based homelab with 50+ Docker containers, custom bridge networks, and Unifi-managed VLANs. Working with AI model inference, n8n automation workflows, and local LLM training using Stable Diffusion and LocalAI.

The Digital Empire

A production-grade self-hosted infrastructure managing 50+ containerized services across segmented VLANs. From AI model inference to automated media processing and intelligent orchestration, all unified behind enterprise-level reverse proxy architecture.

Media Empire

  • Engineered Unraid NAS powerhouse with 100TB+ storage
  • Seamless 4K transcoding across multiple devices
  • Automated content acquisition and organization
  • Multi-room audio distribution system

AI Playground

  • Harnessed Stable Diffusion for generative AI experiments
  • Local LLMs via Ollama with multiple interface options
  • Custom AI workflows integrated with automation
  • High-throughput inference cluster optimization

Automation Hub

  • n8n workflows for everything
  • Home Assistant integrations
  • Zero-downtime update scripts
  • Cross-container orchestration

Monitoring Stack

  • Grafana dashboards
  • Uptime alerts
  • Performance metrics
  • Log analysis

Network Magic

  • Unifi-managed VLANs (3+ segments)
  • Nginx Proxy Manager
  • Dynamic DNS routing
  • VPN gateways & DNS filtering

Dev & Ops

  • Git hosting & CI/CD pipelines
  • Custom deployment environments
  • Backup & disaster recovery
  • Self-hosted everything
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Docker Containers
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Network VLANs
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Uptime Target
∞
Tinkering Projects
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Project Spotlight

Where bleeding‑edge tech meets caffeinated obsession. These are the crown jewels of my digital empire.

AI Inference Cluster

A distributed compute cluster combining enterprise‑grade and consumer NVIDIA GPUs for running Stable Diffusion, custom LLMs and fine‑tuned models with enterprise‑grade reliability.

This powerhouse orchestrates multiple AI workloads simultaneously, from image generation to language processing. Built on a foundation of high-performance GPUs and optimized inference pipelines.

Key Achievements

  • 40+ models deployed simultaneously
  • Sub‑2 second image generation pipeline
  • Automated model deployment and scaling

Technology Stack

OllamaOpen WebUISillyTavernStable Diffusion WebUIComfyUINVIDIA Container ToolkitPyTorchCUDA 12.2

Automation Nexus

The central nervous system of my homelab, orchestrating containers, monitoring services, and managing intelligent workflows that automate everything from updates to self-optimization.

A sophisticated automation framework that keeps the entire infrastructure running smoothly. From container health checks to predictive scaling, it handles thousands of decisions daily.

Key Achievements

  • 200+ automated workflows active
  • 99.9% infrastructure uptime
  • Self‑healing container recovery
  • Predictive scaling

Technology Stack

n8nHome AssistantAutheliaWatchtowerPortainer-CEGrafanaPrometheusDozzle

Network Fortress

A zero‑trust network architecture with segmented VLANs, comprehensive DNS filtering, and multi-layer security that maintains seamless user experience while blocking threats.

Enterprise-grade network security at home. Multiple layers of protection from DNS to application level, with intelligent threat detection and automatic response mechanisms.

Key Achievements

  • 4 isolated VLANs
  • Sub‑10 ms internal routing latency
  • 99.8% threat detection accuracy
  • Zero security incidents in 2+ years

Technology Stack

Unifi ControllerNginx Proxy ManagerSWAGPi-holeAdGuard HomeCloudflaredOpenVPN-ASVaultwardenFlareSolverr

The Neural Network Behind The Magic

I'm Zach, a seasoned operations professional who bridges the gap between enterprise technology and innovative automation. By day, I orchestrate beverage robotics operations across the continental U.S. at Botrista. By night, I design and maintain a sophisticated homelab environment where I experiment with AI models, optimize containerized workloads, and develop intelligent automation solutions.

With over a decade of experience spanning Apple, DoorDash (Chowbotics), and Botrista, I've developed expertise in scaling complex technical operations while maintaining enterprise-grade reliability. My approach combines deep technical knowledge with a focus on user experience, believing that the most effective solutions are those that seamlessly integrate infrastructure complexity with human-centered design.

Plex Interface
Media Server

Plex iconPlex

Personal media streaming powerhouse serving 4K content across multiple devices with transcoding magic.

Plex transforms my homelab into a Netflix-like experience, streaming my entire media collection with intelligent transcoding, remote access, and beautiful metadata management. Handles everything from 4K movies to music libraries with enterprise-grade reliability.

Arsenal of Digital Sorcery

Initialize Connection Protocol

Interested in discussing automation strategies, infrastructure architecture, or collaborative opportunities? I'm always open to connecting with fellow technologists and exploring innovative solutions.

Neural Link
[email protected]
Voice Channel
817-832-1601
Base Station
Roanoke, TX
Let's Connect & Collaborate

Ready to establish secure connections and geek out over homelabs, AI, automation, or robotics

© 2025 Zach Gonser. Built with Astro, React, and way too much caffeine.

🔬 Secret Lab Access: Try the Konami code ↑↑↓↓←→←→BA

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