• ARE YOU READY TO SHOOT TO THE NEXT LEVEL?

    I’m a brand strategist obsessed with bringing people dreams and aspirations to life.

    I've helped several companies at varying stages (funding, resource, revenue sizes) do exactly that (shoot to the next level)! On a small budget, we were able to grow revenues from $1m to $40m over two years. I personally designed the growth plan for the CEO, opened 4 out of 7 of our largest enterprise accounts, hired our direct sales force, and created a “channels model” (for re-sellers) that eventually accounted for 40% of the company’s total revenues. We became the no. 1 player in the space from being an almost unknown and were then able to leverage this success into a $20m B-round. This is what I could potentially do for you.

    Catalyst-in-Chief | Emergent Leadership:

    "The Orange County Register wrote: "The retail experiment, led by Darren M. Meade, worked, during a 24-month stretch, MET-Rx sales through direct mail, as well as retail, jumped from less than $1 million to more than $40 million."

    Intellectual Humility:

    In 2010-11, I took an Interim-Chief Executive Officer position for the company whose was embroiled in vicious on-going litigation, attacking both the brand and executives. The company was 8 weeks away from being extinguished. The marketing budget was $5,500 per month. I created a “channels model” (for re-sellers), hired exceptional writers / bloggers, and turned the company into the leaders within their niche market within 6 months.

    Collaboration:

    The largest shareholder, Dr. Scott Connelly MD wrote: "During his tenure at Progenex while working virtually single-handedly, he successfully more than doubled sales in less than six months."

    Did I share, I have always been an over-achiever.

     

    I was researching how to improve the quality of life through superior nutrition for both the healthiest and sickest people. I began this quest after emerging from a coma and receiving the prognosis of being permanently disabled, incontinent and soon-to-be-dead. Just imagine waking up one day, and in the blink of an eye, you've gone from being one of the healthiest to one of the sickest individuals possible. I'd been an athlete my entire life and all of a sudden everything I knew was gone. I'd lost considerable muscle mass in my coma, was placed on dialysis and was told I would never walk again. I had an open wound of 4x10 inches on my lower right leg. I needed to end the muscle wasting, improve my immune functions and increase my strength and mobility, so I set out to prove the doctors prognosis wrong and will share I have emerged healthier than ever.
    http://darrenmmeade.brandyourself.com

     

  • Darren M. Meade

    Thoughts, musings, and ruminations.

  • EXPERIENCE

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    Kairos-Meade

    Managing Director – Sep 2014
    I’m an ex-venture catalyst turned investigative reporter obsessed with helping people who wouldn't otherwise have a voice. I traded the mercenary work of revenue creation for the missionary work of helping people 2 years ago—and never looked back.

    Brand Strategy and consulting services: strategic business planning and finance; corporate strategy and organizational design; marketing; market research and strategy. Identify and acquiring new business. Manage all aspects of the project lifecycle from a scope of work through the provision of deliverables; follow-up and relationship management for scalable, long-term projects. Engaged by corporate and private clients representing a broad range of industry sectors – pharmaceutical, biotechnology, nutraceutical, sports nutrition, real estate, professional athletes, bottled water, purification, and emerging green technologies.

    Management Successes
    • Corporate Strategy & Development Specialist Key Client Acquisition
    • Create Revenue & Commercialize New Ideas -
    • Diverse Industry & Situational Experiences –
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    PROGENEX

    Interim Chief Executive Officer – Feb 2011
    Personal Brand Strategist -

    In PROGENEX, I found a company embroiled in vicious litigation. I was persuaded to re-enter the sports nutrition sector by way of PROGENEX when the board asserted that almost forty mid-western families had invested their life savings into PROGENEX, all of which was at risk due to the war of attrition that usually accompanies intense litigation.

    PROGENEX was eight weeks away from being insolvent, the brand had never before been profitable. Given the dire circumstances a traditional marketing plan was not feasible.

    This challenge was my primary motivation to take the helm at PROGENEX. I garnered new strategic alliances, created a word-of-mouth marketing campaign and made the company profitable by tripling sales within 8 months. This included record sales in October, November and December, traditionally are the slowest months of the year in sports nutrition.

    Management Successes

    * Took an embattled brand to profitability despite severe
    financial hardships and on-going litigation.
    * Tripled revenue within 8 months including the 3 slowest
    months traditionally within sports nutrition.
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    Sun Ten Pharmaceutical Company

    Director of Sales & Marketing – Apr 2002
    P and L accountability on all projects – reported to the Chief Executive Officer and the investor group. Revised corporate strategy to leverage core competencies in the pharmaceutical; nutraceutical and contract manufacturing components of the Sun Ten Group. Served as the company representative, liaison, and central point-of-contact for providing vital information, and resolving issues at multiple levels.

    Management Successes

    • Strategic Brand Management – Initiated, developed, and nurtured new leads to provide the introduction into new markets and create additional sales revenues. Achieved 30% growth with the company. Accomplished marketing goals through comprehensive marketing, advertising, and branding plans. Directed PR marketing functions.
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    MET-Rx

    Partner / Vice President Business Development – Oct 1994
    Developed and executed business strategies, managed finance and operations, directed sales and marketing efforts and oversaw all general daily activities in addition to managing relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

    Management Successes
    • Strategy & Leadership Successes - Conceptualized development and execution of transformation of the company’s infrastructure, business model, product offering and marketing strategy – with a positive impact on sales, operational performance and customer service during execution.
    • Business Development Results- Credited with the personal development of the business model which created explosive growth – an increase of 3900% in 24 months.
    • Contract Negotiations
    Initiated contact with the largest distributor in the industry for domestic and international sales of nutritional products. This account became the single largest client of Met-Rx.
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    Sun Mac Medical

    General Manager - Operations – Jan 1991
    Accountable for all phases of personnel management of four separate divisions within the company – Monitored customer service levels, employees performance, and labor costs. Tracked and evaluated daily sales and liaise with key physicians and practices. Taught and facilitated communication skills; supervised up to 100 employees, including technicians, sales representatives, customer service and billing staff. Routinely represented the company at worker compensation hearings with regard to medical liens.

    Management Successes
    • Detailed Auditing
    Discovered thousands of overpaid payroll dollars by auditing payroll calculations for inaccuracies. This led to a complete overhaul of the payroll department
    • Sales Growth
    Increased sales in durable medical equipment.
    • Successful Negotiations
    Successfully negotiated medical liens on behalf of company with an average reimbursement of 76% of billable amount. Prior to my tenure the average reimbursement was 43%.

  • MY MOTTO

    Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.

  • EDUCATION

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    Venture High School

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    Wharton Business School

    2015-2016

    Completed Two Certificate Courses

  • SKILLS

    Start-ups

    Entrepreneurship

    Market Research

    Strategy

    Business Development

    Leadership

  • REFERENCES

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    Edward Maliski
    President at CURE Pharmaceutical Corporation

    Darren gets it ! He understands how businesses work. He understands why people work. He knows how to bring the two together for success. He knows how to get the funding for that success.

    Darren is also a person of high integrity. You will always know that he is working for your best interests

    Especially in these troubled times, Darren remains a good investment for your business; whether you are just starting or just growing. He is one investment that continues to pay dividends.
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    Shannon Archuleta
    Content Copywriter & Communications Specialist: Fluent in both Human & Data Dialects

    Darren Meade hired me as a freelancer in the area of sports nutrition, media-relations and copywriting. Respecting my industry experience, Meade approached my talent with clear and results-driven marketing direction, while providing me with the freedom to utilize my industry knowledge and creativity in copywriting and public relations. Only the most forward thinking CEO’s have a network of other CEO’s and professionals that they can call on for favors, and that is Meade’s forte’. Meade utilizes his resources to get results in the form of ROI.

  • LET'S CHAT!

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    Orange County, Laguna Beach

  • CONTACT ME

    Even after outsourcing my e-mail to a virtual assistant, there are still a few messages that come over the transom.

    Since the success of multiple brands I launched, I’ve been able to see some of the worst e-mail pitches out there. Here is an example of how to do it properly, with 5 tips and good template phrases bolded

     

    Hi Darren,

    I hope all is well (and I gather from your celebrity that it is—I can’t seem to go a week without hearing your name somewhere).

    I know you place tremendous value on your time so I’ll be brief. The website I launched last fall (www.**************.com) has evolved into a much more far-reaching venture: a digital currency company that provides fundraising optimization and online advocacy solutions for nonprofits. I’m raising $500-750k for the business, called ************, and have a meaningful percentage of that already committed from various Angel investors.

    Naturally, I’m courting a number of prospective Angels from my personal network to hopefully fill out the rest of the round. However, I was curious if your experience has taught you any lessons about identifying seed-stage investors and, more specifically, if you’ve come to know any Alums or other individuals who have an appetite for deals like these. I’ve attached my fundraising deck for some context.

    I understand if you’re too busy to answer in depth or would prefer not to discuss the topic given our limited interactions in the past. However, if the professor in you has any pearls of wisdom or specific thoughts, they would be greatly appreciated.Thanks in advance and I hope we can connect.

    Best,

    ********

    ###

    Here are a few notes on this e-mail and what makes it more likely to get a response:

    1. It’s short and what he’s requesting is clear. No “let’s jump on the phone for 10 minutes; it’ll be worth your time.”

    2. He made an impression in our initial meeting, and he hasn’t irritated me with zero-content “keeping in touch” e-mails. He hasn’t worn out his inbox welcome.

    3. He makes it clear that he’s doing his part and has explored other avenues before asking for my help. It’s amazing how many would-be mentees or beneficiaries ask busier people for answers Google could provide in 20 seconds. That puts you on the banned list. Explicitly state what you’ve done to get answers or help yourself.

    4. He used the executive recruiter referral trick. Seldom will a headhunter call a gainfully employed CXO-level executive and ask them to take another position. They’ll instead ask the exec if they know anyone who might be interested in position X. The intention is clear (might you consider this job over your current employer?), but it gives the executive a comfortable decline option.

    5. He makes it clear that it’s OK if I can’t help or if I’m too committed elsewhere. This — paradoxically — makes it much more likely he’ll get a response, which he did.

    The above 5 tenets should be considered for any e-mail to someone who probably deletes more e-mail in a day than you read in a week. If they appear in media regularly, assume that you are competing against at least 100 similar requests.

    E-mail is like food. Good recipes produce good results, but you need to follow the proper steps.

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    Did you like this? If so, please share it! Better email = less headache = a better world.

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