My first job in consumer marketing was at Scholastic Publishing in New York. I started out writing blurbs for the children's books that kids would order in school -- this was a great job, except we got paid in subway tokens and livestock, not a lot of cash involved. I moved into the direct marketing group where I learned a lot from Eileen Meehan.
From there I went to Bertelsmann Direct Group doing membership marketing for Crossings Christian book club, among other properties. I learned early on the power of brand and the position you occupy in the mind of your customer. At the time I didn't have kids and I've never been particularly religious but I've realized that brand takes on true meaning when dealing with family or faith. Robert Edgell was my boss and remains a great friend.
When the din of the dot com boom became too loud my wife and I moved West where I took a job at carclub.com. It didn't sound like a great idea (think online AAA but without towing or any of the other benefits) but Ford Motor Co. had invested $50 million in one go, so I thought it was just me. Turns out it was them. I left after 8 months. A month after I left we our first child.
My friend Mark introduced me to the guys at Zone Labs. They were about 20 or so folks when I joined. They had a free product and a few months later we released a paid version. The bubble burst and things in SF looked a little grim, but Zone Labs kept growing. We did about $7 million our first year and ended up at $30 million in consumer sales the year we were acquired by Check Point. Gregor Freund and Irfan Salim lead a great team. Sadly my friend Mark passed away in 2003. He was the first person who even baby-sat for our daughter and I still miss him a bunch. Fortunately, the rest of Zone Labs crew remains a big part of my life. Golf, start-ups, parties wherever I am there is likely to be some one from Zone Labs there too.
to be continued...
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