Nino Melikidze

Toronto, Canada — Founder · Operator · Policy Researcher

Building structure where systems break down.

I build and operate products, teams, and systems in environments where the path forward is not obvious.

I run Immitracker, a bootstrapped immigration technology and data company with a community and user-base of 20,000+ active members and partnerships with some of the largest brands in Canadian immigration.

I also lead project operations for the Digital Operations team at World Education Services, where I build the processes and operating infrastructure that keep technical work moving across the organization.

Outside of operating, I research how complex public systems can work better. My work on Canadian immigration policy has been published by leading Canadian media and think tanks, presented at TEDxUW, and brought before the House of Commons.

Nino Melikidze
Nino MelikidzeFounder, Immitracker
10+ YearsBuilding & operating
20,000+Active Immitracker members
4 PublicationsCanadian national media
TEDx UWSpeaker, 2025
Approach

How I work

I tend to work on problems that sit at the intersection of strategy and execution. The goal is clear but the path, process, or operating model isn't yet.

  • Build from zero to one
  • Design processes & operations
  • Run cross-functional initiatives
  • Analyze complex systems
  • Turn ideas into narratives
Work

Operating from zero to one

2022 — Present

Co-Founder & CEO

Immitracker

I built and operate Immitracker, a fully bootstrapped immigration technology and data company serving 20,000+ active members.

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As the primary founder, I work across strategy, product, operations, partnerships, growth, and commercial execution. We’ve built partnerships with major organizations in the Canadian immigration ecosystem, including CanadaVisa and Moving2Canada, while continuing to grow the business without outside funding.

More recently, I’ve been expanding Immitracker from community and immigration tracking into data products, including an automated monthly analytics tool designed to analyze Canadian immigration programs and surface changes and trends across the system.

The underlying challenge has remained the same: how do you make an extraordinarily complex system easier for people to understand and navigate?

2022 — Present

Technical Project Manager

World Education Services

I run project operations for WES’s Digital Operations / DevOps team, acting as the central point for project work coming into the team from across the organization.

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I joined as the team’s first dedicated project manager in more than a year and redesigned its delivery model, contributing to a 70% improvement in project-item delivery success. Today, I manage intake, prioritization, workload distribution, and cross-functional delivery across a technical team of up to ten people.

I also helped build a separate auditing and support team from the ground up: designing its Kanban-based operating model, workflows, meetings, and delivery cadence, and training the Team Lead on project-management practices.

The work is ultimately about building the operating infrastructure that lets technical teams execute effectively amid competing priorities.

2016 — 2024

Earlier career

Operations, Product & Client Delivery

Toptal · Productera · Netcracker Technology

My earlier career gave me experience across three very different sides of building and delivering technology: running early-stage operations, owning product delivery, and managing complex client implementations.

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At Toptal, I worked inside early-stage HealthTech, creator economy, Web3, and PharmaTech companies. Depending on the company, that meant working alongside founders on company setup and go-to-market strategy, running internal operations, taking products from scoping through MVP launch, or redesigning delivery processes for technical teams.

At Productera, I worked across product ownership and delivery for FinTech, healthcare, and web products — establishing operational workflows, building delivery infrastructure, and managing products from requirements through launch. One FinTech product whose initial operations and delivery I helped establish was acquired within three years.

At Netcracker Technology, I worked on 6+ international enterprise technology implementations, coordinating directly with clients and offshore technical teams across the United States, Colombia, and Canada. My work centered on translating complex business needs into technical requirements, managing stakeholder relationships, and moving projects through review and approval.

Together, these experiences taught me how to operate from very different vantage points: alongside a founder building something new, inside a product team responsible for delivery, and across the table from a client responsible for the outcome.

Writing

Policy research & analysis

I research complex public systems — particularly where policy design, economic incentives, data, and real-world outcomes don’t line up.

My work currently focuses on Canadian immigration and its relationship to economic growth, skilled talent, and entrepreneurship. I approach these questions as systems problems: understanding why programs produce the outcomes they do, identifying where incentives or design have broken down, and developing practical alternatives.

My analysis has been published by leading Canadian media and policy institutions, including the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and The Hub.

Selected publications

Speaking

On the record

House of Commons

Witness Testimony · February 2026

Invited to testify before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration as part of its study of Canada's immigration system.

I presented recommendations for reforming Canada's skilled immigration system and answered questions from Members of Parliament on its declining economic performance, the factors driving those outcomes, and what should change.

View the testimony →

TEDxUW

University of Waterloo · November 2025

The Data-Driven State: Rethinking Immigration Policy with AI

A talk about how governments could use AI, better data, and continuous analysis to make immigration policymaking more responsive to real-world outcomes.

Watch the talk →

My Immigrant Story

Creator & Host · 2021–2023

A podcast I created to have candid conversations with first-generation immigrant entrepreneurs and technology professionals in Canada about immigration, careers, entrepreneurship, and building a life in a new country.

Listen on Spotify →

Do you have a system that needs fixing?