Darren 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

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Leisure, Travel & Tourism

Websites

Darren Johnson’s Summary

Marketing professional with focus on early-stage companies. 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.

Email me to connect: darrenjohnson@gmail.com
Read & subscribe to my blog at: http://darrenjohnson.blogspot.com

Darren Johnson’s Specialties:

Marketing Strategy, Branding & Identity, Community Building (Blogs, Forums, Social Networking, etc.), Product Management, POP/Merchandising, Tradeshows, Marketing Collateral (literature, online, DVD's, etc.), Channel Development (Co-op tools, programs, etc.), Startups, Venture Capital, Term Sheets, Execution Oriented....also enjoy Gaming, Sushi & Flyfishing

Darren Johnson’s Experience

Director of Product Marketing

Zonder

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

April 2007 — Present (1 year 4 months)

My responsibilities at Zonder include:

• Create/manage corporate, consumer and product brand identities
• Create/manage marketing collateral from conception to production
• Oversee integrated look and feel from website to media spots
• Oversee internal and external company messaging
• 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 offline marketing strategy: print, TV/radio, circulars, and sponsorships
• Lead traffic acquisition process for consumer websites
• Manage ROI for all performance‐based marketing initiatives
• Develop and manage travel agency marketing program
• Sales lead generation
• Manage external creative and production agency
• Build and maintain pipeline of offers/programs for consumers and suppliers
Marketing Manager

Control4, Inc.

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

September 2004 — April 2007 (2 years 8 months)

I managed a variety of initiatives at Control4, including:

1. Website strategy and management
2. Community websites (dealer and end-user)
3. Email marketing strategies & management (newsletters, announcements, etc.)
4. Community building (blogs, forums, videos, podcasts, etc.)
5. Brand platform/messaging development
6. Marketing collateral (literature, press releases, DVD's, sales scripts, etc.)
7. POP & in-store merchandising displays
8. Online and print advertising campaigns
9. All marketing metrics (ROI measurement for online, print, tradeshow, forums, email, podcasts, etc.)
10. Channel Development: Dealer Business Training
- Designed hand-on training program to help custom electronics dealers grow their businesses from $1-10 MM businesses. Developed all training content on (1) Strategy, (2) Marketing, (3) Sales, and (4) Finance (5) Operations and (6) Technology that relates to growing a small business.
Program Manager

vSpring Capital

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

December 2002 — December 2004 (2 years 1 month)

1. Performed due diligence on various startups to determine investment value, potential & risk. Met with entrepreneurs pitching business plans for funding. Evaluated potential investments and put together comprehensive due-diligence reports for over 25 startup companies over 2 years.
2. Created, launched, and managed the vSpring Capital Internship Program for two consecutive years.
3. 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

(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

January 2001 — January 2003 (2 years 1 month)

The University Venture Fund is a due diligence accelerator that partners with local and national venture capital firms to assist them with their deal analysis. I helped them write their Private Placement Memorandum, acted as a judge in the Utah Entrepreneurial Challenge, prepared pitch documents to raise money from local banks, and performed due diligence on hundreds of startup companies. I also planned and executed the inaugural National Student Private Equity Conference and completed various due diligence/special projects for local and national Venture Capital Firms.

Additional Information

Darren Johnson’s Websites:

Darren 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, Thoreau, John Pizzarelli, Benjamin Franklin, Warren Buffett, Blogging, Skiing, Squash, Basketball, Softball, Tennis, Volleyball, Racquetball, Ping Pong, Golf, Flyfishing, Wakeboarding, Halo 3