Kristen Sager

Experience

• 

  Indiegogo

  Chief Marketing Officer

  Oct 2021 - Dec 2023

  Indiegogo is a crowdfunding marketplace.

  • Led demand side: User acquisition, performance marketing, brand, growth marketing, social media, PR, email and content marketing and partnerships.
  • Led supply side: Built B2B marketing strategy, including demandgen, leadgen, and sales enablement tools (webinars, winback campaigns, new promo packages).
  • Achieved 15.2X return on ad campaigns, surpassing ROAS targets, after hiring a Director of Performance Marketing.
  • Netted 10-fold increase in new leads with scraping after restarting B2B Marketing focused on leadgen.
  • Increased total funds raised by 45% via significant uptick in traffic and funding through cross-campaign DS ads.
  • Improved lead-to-opportunity rate 50%+ and lead-to-qualified rate nearly 25% in China after hiring marketing head.
  • Enhanced overall lead-to-qualified rate 40% after hiring a SDR and a Sales Ops contractor.
  • Generated 3,000 new leads every 90 days despite losing sales head within six weeks of my hire.
  • Boosted internal agency revenues 10% via new strategies, including new pricing models, improved attribution modeling and implementation of Meta’s CAPI.
  • Acquired incremental revenue selling promo packages to entrepreneurs.
  • Secured press coverage in TechCrunch, Business Insider, and Forbes, as well as CEO speaking opps at CES and SxSW.
  • Revamped website, overall brand, positioning, and messaging to highlight brand personality and tech-forward ethos.
• 

  Wonderschool

  Head of Marketing

  Jan 2018 - Apr 2020

  Wonderschool is a marketplace for parents to find nearby, quality in-home child care and software that allows childcare providers manage their businesses more efficiently and profitably. Consistently met or exceeded OKRs.

  • Grew company from its 9th employee to 85+ within two years and customers from ~40 to 750+ across several markets.
  • Recognized as “Most Innovative Company by Fast Company;” listed in A16z’s list of “Top 100 Marketplace companies;” and noted by IAB as a “Top 100 Direct Brand Service to Watch.”
  • Hired an internal & virtual team of growth marketers & engineers, content builders, and acquisition specialists.
  • Led first, in-depth qualitative and quantitative persona research for childcare providers and parents.
  • Adapted quickly to changing the competitive landscape in 2019 by creating an entirely new sales growth engine.
  • Increased inbound monthly lead volume in 2018 from 30 to 300 within 90 days after leveraging paid social ads.
  • Doubled 2018 inbound marketing lead-to-contract conversion within three months.
  • Built a new lead gen engine that generated up to 4K in monthly leads and 40K leads across 500+ targeted zip codes in nine new markets, which was a 10-fold decrease in Cost per Lead (CPL).
  • Enhanced monthly parent account creation 180% in 90 days. Boosted traffic from SEO by 50% in 18 months.
  • Increased MQLs 30% within 60 days after launching a new CRM and improving message strategy.

• Self-Employed

  INTERIM EXECUTIVE & ADVISORY SERVICES TO STARTUPS

  Aug 2016 - Jan 2018

  • During this time, I worked with Silicon Valley-based companies to develop marketing strategies; clients included startups and businesses in agile software, edtech, real estate tech, and CPG. Focus: marketing strategy, market research and paid advertising.
• 

  Sides & Associates

  PARTNER

  Dec 2003 - Apr 2011

  Sides & Associates (S&A) was founded in 2001 to help high-potential businesses drive and manage growth. We help executives at promising start-ups, rapidly-growing companies, and mature firms launching new businesses, to identify the right opportunities, plan their next stage of growth, and manage the consequences of growth on their organizations. At S&A, our senior people lead and execute all of the work. We hold MBA and engineering degrees from leading institutions and bring extensive operational management and consulting experience with top-tier firms. We have worked with growing businesses such as Touch Revolution, eHow, and Responsys, and industry leaders such as Genentech, Disney Interactive, Vodafone, SGI, and Barclay’s Global Investors and have received 100% "exceeds expectations"​ ratings. We’re highly flexible in our delivery, and can accommodate small projects as well as major, multi-year initiatives, while working within our client’s budgets. S&A offers the following Services: Setting the direction for growth •Identify and assess new market opportunities •Prioritize product and project portfolios •Develop strategies and plans to pursue growth and new businesses •Conduct customer, competitive, and product value research and analysis •Define go-to-market strategy and positioning •Perform due-diligence on investment opportunities Managing growth •Increase effectiveness and efficiency of governance, decision-making, and planning/budgeting systems •Design scalable organization and team structures •Improve performance of critical or problematic functions and processes •Create infrastructure for attracting and developing a strong talent and leadership pipeline S&A works primarily in these high-growth Industries: •Biotechnology / life sciences •Technology / software •Green tech / clean energy •Internet, media & interactive entertainment •Financial services including venture capital

  • I was a partner in a management consultant firm that served startups and Fortune 500 firms in biotech, high-tech, and CPG. I am particularly proud of my work with Genentech. There, I:
  • Designed and implemented a new team system to increase speed and scalability.
  • Achieved new clinical trial target start of within six months, working with Genentech Sr. VP to collect patient DNA.
• 

  Murad, Inc.

  COO & VP OF MARKETING

  Jan 2001 - Dec 2002

  Since 1989, Murad has been developing clinically proven products that are supported by Dr. Murad’s industry-first research as a board-certified dermatologist and pharmacist. Our formulas don’t just consider one symptom or concern—they address total skin health, utilizing proprietary active ingredients and the latest clinical-grade technologies for unmatched efficacy and proven results. Want to be a part of shaping Murad’s future? You can learn more about our job openings at murad.com/murad-careers/ and more about Murad's commitments at murad.com/wellness-for-people-wellness-for-planet/. *Based on first half 2023 prestige skincare sales data, not including professional brands

  • Recruited by a board member for an interim executive role to grow a $35M business, leading 120+staff, $10M budget and Direct/DRTV, E-Commerce, Brand, Sales, Product, and Operations.
  • Built awareness and elevated brand equity through launch of two new best-selling products, an award-winning repackage, a CEO-penned book, PR, print and new distribution.
  • Achieved 15% growth in profit in 12 months; tripled the e-commerce, catalog, and direct businesses in 24 months; and reduced fulfillment costs and quality issues by 20% and 50%, respectively.
• 

  Ehow

  Vice President of Marketing

  May 1999 - Jan 2001

  eHow was an early internet website that provided expert advice content website with how-to articles and videos. . .

  • Chosen as a “Top 100 Marketer” by Advertising Age for launch of eHo
  • Grew audience from 0 to 10M monthly visitors via SEM, affiliate & email.
  • Developed strategy, and pitched and managed marketing collaborations with REI, GAP, Frito-Lay and Nestle.
  • Created a content business, including book deals and syndication with Simon & Schuster, MSN, and Tribune Media.
• 

  Nestle

  BRAND MARKETING ASSOCIATE

  Dec 1996 - Dec 1999

  As the world’s largest food and beverage company we are driven by a simple aim: unlocking the power of food to enhance quality of life for everyone, today and for generations to come. To deliver on this, we serve with passion, with a spirit of excellence, offering products and services for all stages of life, every moment of the day, helping people care for themselves and their families. Our culture is based on our values rooted in respect: respect for ourselves, respect for others, respect for diversity and respect for the future. We can trace our origin back to 1866, when the first European condensed milk factory was opened in Cham, Switzerland, by the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company. One year later, Henri Nestlé, a trained pharmacist, launched one of the world’s first prepared infant cereals ‘Farine lactée’ in Vevey, Switzerland. Today, we employ around 273,000 people and have factories or operations in almost every country in the world. With our headquarters still based in the Swiss town of Vevey, we had sales of CHF 84.3 billion in 2020. Our portfolio covers almost every food and beverage category –offering products and services for all stages of life, every moment of the day, helping people care for themselves and their families. House rules: https://nes.tl/HouseRules

  • Grew $100M Nesquik chocolate milk brand 10% and experienced 12 months of share growth after a 23-month decline.
  • Launched a new packaging innovation that grew RTD sales 70%. Named “Best Nesquik Marketing Worldwide” in 1998.