Darren D. Johnson

Current

Director of Product Marketing at Zonder

Past

Marketing Manager at Control4, Inc.
Program Manager at vSpring Capital
Associate at University Venture Fund

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Education

University of Utah

Recommended

20 people have recommended Darren D.

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Leisure, Travel & Tourism

Websites

My Company

Darren D. Johnson’s Summary

Marketing professional with focus on early-stage companies and product marketing. Direct experience taking early stage companies from product development and conception to execution and delivery. Interested in startup companies targeting large markets with disruptive technology or vision.

Darren D. Johnson’s Specialties:

Product Management, Marketing Strategy, Community Building (Blogs, Forums, Social Networking, etc.), Online Marketing (SEM, SEO), Tradeshows, Marketing Communications, Channel Development, Startups, Execution Oriented.

I also specialize in sushi & flyfishing...

Darren D. Johnson’s Experience

Director of Product Marketing

Zonder

(Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

April 2007 — Present (2 years 4 months)

My responsibilities at Zonder include:

• Partner with sales, marketing, and business development to define/drive product strategy, value propositions and user scenarios
• Manage development process from requirements gathering to development
• Write all Business Requirement Documents (BRD’s) and efficiently allocate resources to individual projects
• Develop and manage project deliverables and effectively communicate project status to all departments
• Prioritize product pipeline and define trade-offs between competing business objectives
• Create/manage marketing collateral from conception to production
• Oversee internal and external company messaging/positioning
• Primary responsibility for copywriting and editing
• Establish effective public relations programs, initiating & maintaining relationships with editors and analysts and managing external PR resources
• Create/manage online marketing strategy: SEM, SEO and sponsorships.
Marketing Manager

Control4, Inc.

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Consumer Electronics industry)

September 2004 — April 2007 (2 years 8 months)

My responsibilities at Control4 included:

- Online marketing strategy and channel management
- Marketing communications strategy and messaging
- Grew company from $5 to $25 MM in revenue in 24 months after product launch
- Community building (blogs, forums, videos, podcasts, etc.)
- POP & in-store merchandising displays
- Online and print advertising campaigns
- Develop and track all marketing ROI performance metrics
- Channel development and business training.
- Tradeshow presentations and event management
Program Manager

vSpring Capital

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

December 2002 — December 2004 (2 years 1 month)

- Performed due diligence on various startups to determine investment value, potential & risk
- Met with entrepreneurs pitching business plans for funding and evaluated market potential and investment quality
- Evaluated potential investments and put together comprehensive due-diligence reports for over 25 startup companies over 2 years
- Created, launched, and managed the vSpring Capital Internship Program for two consecutive years
- Created and launched the vSpring Capital Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs (v100), an entrepreneur community comprised of the top CEO's and CTO's most likely to launch a successful startup in the near future
Associate

University Venture Fund

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

January 2001 — January 2003 (2 years 1 month)

UVF is a due diligence accelerator that partners with local and national venture capital firms to assist them with their startup investment analysis.

My responsibilities included:

- Performed due diligence on multiple startup companies seeking VC funding.
- Managed partner relationships with top-tier venture capital firms.
- Prepared marketing and term documents to raise money from local banks
- Planned and executed the inaugural National Private Equity Conference
- Managed cross-functional research and investment analysis team.

Additional Information

Darren D. Johnson’s Websites:

My Company

Darren D. Johnson’s Interests:

Startups, Marketing, Product Management, Reading, Entrepreneurship, Private Equity, Venture Capital, College Basketball, Writing, Computers, Biographies, Philanthropy, Microfinance, Technology, Music, Business, Salvador Dali, Russian Literature, Sushi, Ben Folds, Dostoevsky, Benjamin Franklin, Warren Buffett, Blogging, Skiing, Squash, Basketball, Softball, Tennis, Volleyball, Racquetball, Ping Pong, Golf, Flyfishing, Wakeboarding, Gaming