Taking hot startups to market.
San Francisco Bay Area
- Current
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- Advisor at KISSmetrics
- Founder/Principal at 12in6
- Marketing Advisor at Xobni
- Venture Consultant at Venture Consultant
- Past
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- Guest Lecturer at UC Berkeley, Haas Business School
- Angel Investor at Scout Metrics
- Interim VP Marketing at Xobni
- Vice President, Marketing at LogMeIn, Inc.
- Angel Investor at LogMeIn
- President at Uproar Europe
- Vice President, Marketing at Uproar
- Sales Executive at New World Publishing
- Sales Executive at Budapest Business Journal
- Angel Investor at Uproar
- Education
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- Harvard University
- New York University
- University of California, Davis
- Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem
- Recommended
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8 people have recommended Sean - Connections
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500+
connections
- Industry
- Internet
- Websites
Sean Ellis’s Summary
I am obsessed with changing the way VC backed startups go to market. The traditional approach has been seriously flawed - causing many innovative products to fail reaching the prospective customers that need them. “Metrics Driven Customer Development” is a more predictable way to go to market and word is quickly spreading throughout Silicon Valley and beyond.
The objective of this lean (low burn) approach is to figure out a repeatable process for acquiring and monetizing users that is scalable and sustainable. This is achieved by combining a deep understanding of customer needs with metrics driven iteration to fine tune the conversion and monetization process. Successful execution opens highly scalable, profitable marketing channels supporting sustainable, long-term growth. My company implements this approach at two new startups per quarter.
I’m also the author of the Startup-Marketing.com blog, angel investor in Scout Metrics and advisor to KISSmetrics, an independent venture consultant to Khosla Ventures (and a few other VCs), and guest lecturer at Haas (UC Berkeley) business school.
Sean Ellis’s Specialties:
Metrics driven customer development, creator of first widely syndicated web widget (1997), freemium business model
Sean Ellis’s Experience
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Advisor
KISSmetrics
(Internet industry)
December 2008 — Present (8 months)
Advising KISSmetrics as they create a platform for executing metrics driven customer development.
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Founder/Principal
12in6
(Internet industry)
August 2008 — Present (1 year)
12in6 guides startups through a six-month metrics driven customer development program to create a repeatable, scalable and positive ROI approach to customer acquisition and monetization. We limit ourselves to two new projects per quarter. For the duration of your six-month project, we form a team that consists of Sean Ellis (our founder/principal), your CEO, and your internal employee dedicated to managing implementation. This team is supported by research and conversion specialists at 12in6. Startups recently completing the program include both Dropbox and Eventbrite. Previously Ellis served as VP Marketing at two startups (LogMeIn and Uproar.com) from launch to NASDAQ IPO filings and as interim VP Marketing at Xobni through their public launch.
More details at http://startup-marketing.com/12in6-projects/#ixzz0FcpdXXW5&A -
Marketing Advisor
Xobni
(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)
July 2008 — Present (1 year 1 month)
Working with head of marketing at Xobni to build on growth momentum generated during previous role as Interim VP Marketing.
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Venture Consultant
Venture Consultant
(Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)
January 2008 — Present (1 year 7 months)
Independent consultant to Khosla Ventures evaluating the marketing viability of early stage investment opportunities.
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Guest Lecturer
UC Berkeley, Haas Business School
(Internet industry)
March 2009 — March 2009 (1 month)
Lecture on metrics driven customer development in Steve Blank's entrepreneurship course.
http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/faculty/blank.html -
Angel Investor
Scout Metrics
(Internet industry)
August 2008 — August 2008 (1 month)
This is a strategic investment to help guide the vision of this next generation online marketing platform that meets the needs of early stage startups and established companies. Scout Metrics has built and continues to improve a platform for effectively discovering and managing online marketing channels. This angel investment was part of the Series A Venture Capital round.
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Interim VP Marketing
Xobni
(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)
January 2008 — July 2008 (7 months)
Six month intensive role to prepare Xobni for successful public launch.
Honed value proposition and target markets, defined metrics and testing infrastructure, optimized conversions and launched marketing programs (mostly viral). Transitioned user base from early adopters to primarily mainstream users. Xobni has experienced explosive growth since the public beta launch in May 2008 and is now widely recognized as the leader in its emerging category.
Xobni is an indispensible tool for hundreds of thousands of professionals to manage their flood of incoming online communications. Bill Gates called Xobni the next generation of social networking in his 2008 Office Developers keynote address and press coverage for Xobni has included the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and other leading business and technology publications. -
Vice President, Marketing
LogMeIn, Inc.
(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)
April 2003 — December 2007 (4 years 9 months)
Led marketing from launch to NASDAQ IPO filing (Jan 2008). Made angel investment in 2003. VP Sales & Marketing during first six months of customer development.
Recruited by CEO for our second venture together (I ran marketing at his previous company from launch to NASDAQ IPO). Worked alongside CEO to raise $10 million in Series A funding with heavy focus on metrics driven go to market approach. Opened "business office" in USA (later HQ) and formed team to develop a scalable engine for acquiring and monetizing users with a freemium business model. LogMeIn raised series B $10 million round on these proven freemium user acquisition and monetization metrics.
Over next three years, built LogMeIn service to over 30 million active installations (today over 60 million). A pioneer in the freemium business model category, LogMeIn eventually launched several additional premium services (primarily upsold from free service). ROI driven iterative marketing approach via free and trial generation (SEM, online display, webcasts, radio, trade shows); conversions via ecommerce and leads assigned to large telesales group.
LogMeIn filed for NASDAQ IPO listing in January 2008 (pending). -
Angel Investor
LogMeIn
(Internet industry)
2003 — 2003 (less than a year)
Invested in LogMeIn simultaneously to joining the team and one year before we raised our first round of VC financing.
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President
Uproar Europe
(Internet industry)
2000 — 2001 (1 year)
Following NASDAQ listing, replaced Uproar's founder as President of Uproar Europe. Served in position until Vivendi Universal acquisition in 2001. Primary objectives of the role were to:
- Ignite growth of our European properties (in 11 languages) based on proven US marketing strategy and tactics.
- Restructure the European teams in London, Hamburg and Budapest offices to reduce costs in anticipation of macroeconomic impact on potential advertising revenue.
Successfully reorganized European team (reducing headcount by over 50%) while accelerating European user and revenue growth and retaining all key team members. -
Vice President, Marketing
Uproar
(Internet industry)
1996 — 2000 (4 years)
Joined startup pre-launch in Budapest, Hungary and led marketing from launch to NASDAQ IPO in 2000 (President Uproar Europe 2000 - 2001).
At Uproar, metrics were our competitive advantage. We tested, measured and optimized everything. We knew we couldn’t afford any waste if we were going to have a chance to beat the heavily funded Silicon Valley gaming startups and the established companies getting into online games (Microsoft, Yahoo, Sony). Ultimately, this obsession with leveraging metrics to track ROI and improve conversion through iteration was key to becoming the worldwide leader in online games and peaking at a billion dollar stock market valuation. Leveraged innovative viral widget (web's first widely syndicated widget) as key customer acquisition driver. Widget (launched in 1997) extended Uproar game experience to over 40,000 websites and efficiently converted millions of low cost loyal users to Uproar.com. Lowest registered user acquisition cost (for free ad supported service) of any publicly traded internet company 1998-2000 (public in Europe from 1997). -
Sales Executive
New World Publishing
(Publishing industry)
1994 — 1996 (2 years)
Dreading a mundane life with a normal job, I moved to Budapest, Hungary directly after college with no professional contacts and very limited cash. Hired in a commission-only sales job at New World Publishing (publisher of Warsaw, Prague and Budapest Business Journals) selling advertising to tech clients. Became top sales executive within a year by cold calling companies throughout Europe and facilitating innovative advertising arrangements between vendors and their resellers.
Earned and saved enough commissions to make a significant dotcom angel investment in 1995 in Uproar (Uproar eventually listed on NASDAQ with peak valuation over $1 billion). In 1996 NWP offered me a promotion to launch and run a new business journal in Zagreb, Croatia, but I opted to leave NWP to join Uproar fulltime as its first US-based team member. -
Sales Executive
Budapest Business Journal
(Publishing industry)
1994 — 1996 (2 years)
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Angel Investor
Uproar
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)
1995 — 1995 (less than a year)
Sean Ellis’s Education
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Harvard University
Advertising and Buyer Behavior (extension) 2007 — 2007
5-month course (4.0 GPA).
Highly relevant to my current startup marketing approach, this course taught a process for discovering a "promise" that motivates prospective customers to try and buy a product. This process has become a key element of the Discovery Phase of the 12in6 Methodology. The course is a favorite of Harvard MBA students and is taught by bestselling author Harry Washburn. He previously ran research at a leading Madison Avenue advertising agency where he honed his promise development approach. -
New York University
Strategic Marketing Management (extension) 1998
3-month course (4.0 GPA)
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University of California, Davis
BA , International Relations (World Trade) , 1994
Graduated with Honors (3.6 GPA)
- Activities and Societies:
- Facilities Manager at UC Davis Lodge, Sigma Chi (rush chairman)
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Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem
UC Education Abroad Program , Post Communist Economic and Political Reforms , 1993
One year program in Budapest, Hungary (3.9 GPA)
Additional Information
Sean Ellis’s Websites:
Sean Ellis’s Interests:
Professional: Startups, entrepreneurs, venture capital Academics: Micro economics, psychology, statistics, marketing Recreation: Golf, skiing, gym Personal: Family, world travel
Sean Ellis’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
