Advising
A few years ago I formally began advising companies, in a non-executive-board role. I never take on more than 4 advisor roles at a time. I’ve found that when you go beyond 4 it becomes very challenging to provide consistent quality feedback and advice. In addition to limiting the number of formal advisory roles, I’m also very specific about the verticals I choose to advise in. If the company isn’t involved in social, content, analytics or data, it’s not for me. To be a good advisor you need to have both a subject matter expertise and a passion for the space. Having only one of those attributes limits your value to the company you’re advising.
Currently, I’m an advisor for:
The best advising roles I’ve taken on are the ones where my passions intersect with my professional experience. My advisory role with FC Pinzgau Saalfelden couldn’t be a better example or fit. I love soccer. I love digital strategy. When a long-time colleague told me about his involvement with Fan Owned Club, the U.S.-based ownership group hoping to lead FC Pinzgau Saalfelden from the 3rd division of the Austrian soccer league to the 1st division, I had to learn more. I officially joined as an advisor in March of 2021. In this role, digital strategy, marketing, measurement, and technology are some of the key areas where I’m hoping to play my part in one day seeing FC Pinzgau Saalfelden play in the Champions League. You can become a fan owner too! Throughout the year, the club makes shares available. Follow this page for updates.
Some times your friend calls you and says, “hey, I’m now the CEO of this company and we’re doing amazing things. You’ve got to see it to believe it.” – So, you take the meeting, because he’s your friend and you know his word his gold. That’s basically what happened when Todd Sawicki, called me. I’d known Todd for years. He was a pioneer at Cheezburger and has the same low tolerance for vapor masquerading as a product. In a world that’s moving 100% programmatic and native, you have a lot of “pipes” to manage for distributing all that great content you spent hours developing. Rather than work with each ad network individually, you can manage everything inside of Zemanta. Managing is one thing, but getting a partner who doesn’t have a bias, only cares about performance, and offers full transparency at the invoice level, is almost unheard of.
Earlier, I said, I never take on more than 4 advisory roles at a time. If you’ve read this far, you know, I’ve only listed 2 current advisor roles. You’re not missing anything. In 2015, my relationship with PunchTab ended, when they exited by selling to Walmart Labs. I couldn’t be more thrilled for that team.
Additionally, in 2017, my relationship with Social Native came to an end. That team is really on to something and I wish them much success in the future.
In 2020, Unmetric, one of my longest advisor relationships came to an end when they were acquired by Falcon.io, and subsequently Cision. I’ve always said you can tell how serious a company is about their product, by how they make money. If they make money by selling professional services on top of the product, it’s a clear sign the product is meh. If they make money using a per-seat license model, the product is meh and they won’t be invested in your company’s long-term success. What impressed me about Unmetric is that it was all about the product. I was thrilled to see that amazing team become part of an equally impressive organization.
With those portfolio changes, I now have time to take on two additional advisory roles. If you’re an early-stage company focusing on social, content, analytics, or data and you’re looking to add an advisor, don’t hesitate to reach out.