Steven Diebold

Diebold Ventures

Diebold Ventures

We help startups and entrepreneurs get to revenue faster using LEAN startup and LEAN UX principles.

• Startup type: Company
• Status: Active
• Stage: Profitable

A creative/analytical/strategic hands-on business, brand & user experience consultant creating experiences that drive profits and delight customers with extensive experience that has helped such well-known companies as Apple, NBC, TV Guide, 20th Century Fox, MGM, Sony Pictures includes:

➢ Five years as a Brand/Business Strategist, Art Director, User Experience Consultant for entrepreneurial and mid sized companies across various industries

➢ Five years as a founding principal/team leader of IT consultancy spearheading major initiatives in high-tech

➢ Five years additional experience includes writing, directing, producing, editing commercials/videos, story analysis & development in entertainment-based businesses

> Five years as Certified Coach with strong interpersonal skills & experience working with diverse groups of people & cultures.

UNIQUE SKILLS

• Crystallizing Brand: Articulate an organization’s purpose and how it creates value in uniquely compelling messages that differentiate competitively. Execute initiatives relentlessly. Organize and execute projects.

• Understanding Markets: Develop a deep and intuitive understanding of markets and customers and how buying decisions are made. Leverage the insight into targeted messages and initiatives for results.

• Developing Strategies: Exploit strategies to leverage market positioning and develop initiatives to capture market share. Execute across different opportunities to increase footprint. Collaborate to leverage outcomes.

• Exploiting Technology: Utilize the Internet & emerging technologies to deliver messaging. Form alliances to shape product, company, and identity so that a broad brand presence is created. Integrating new technology into business initiatives

• Creative Ideation: Bootstrap resources, ideas & creative research to create a big-company presence on a shoestring budget. Synthesize disparate ideas together to create new breakthroughs.

Employer:	FeliceKeller.com, Los Angeles CA
Position:	Brand Strategist, User Experience Designer
Time period:	January 2009 - Present
Description:	FeliceKeller.com provides customized song production in a crowded music industry • The existing site, a customized song production service for special events was having trouble finding its market niche. As a consultant clarified and honed the company’s business strategy, conducting a comprehensive brand audit and then providing business coaching to refine the model. The increased focus and repositioned brand resulted in reaching highly targeted prospects previously out of reach. In just six months conversion rate doubled and revenues jumped 60% with ongoing increase. New Website design also helped increase visitors and clicks.

Employer:	Vision 2 Com, Budapest, Hungary
Position:	Brand Strategist, UX Designer
Time period:	January 2009 - Present
Description:	Client was a fast-growing start-up that wanted to expand its footprint from Europe to the US. • After building a successful $85M business in Europe, client wanted to try a different marketing approach after relocating to the US. Assessed business opportunities that suited the client’s revenue goals and experience. Created the brand with redesigned marketing materials and then developed product lines, secured facilities and built the framework for US operations. In just six months after launch, client was underway to meeting aggressive $7.5M/Yr (in three-years) profit goal.

Employer:	SB Enterprises, Los Angeles, CA
Position:	Branding Consultant
Time period:	January 2003 - Present
Description:	Developed branded communications, sell-through and demand-generation marketing programs for clients • The strategy of opening a new market in the West LA for a successful financial planner targeting Physicians was not supported by proper naming, business structure, branding and marketing tools. Upon boarding immediately created a new brand name for this division and designed creative corporate identity, marketing materials with a new image, including a Website. Within one year sales increased 35%, client obtained five high-net-worth clients, increased time management skills, developed clarity that lead to $30M real estate investment deal for him and his clients. • An audit of overall personal marketing-message strategy for an Executive Coach showed a lack of vision, focus and correct-audience targeting for a client engaged in executive coaching for women in entertainment. Refocused all marketing communications/PR to aggressively reach new audiences coherently. Within one year, revenues increased 25%.

Employer:	Storybids.com, Los Angeles CA
Position:	Brand Strategist, User Experience Designer
Time period:	January 2008 - December 2008
Description:	Storybids.com provides product placement on TV/movies to create/enhance brand awareness/presence • Despite its value proposition being based on a new concept of product placement in television and movies Storybids.com business expansion was throttled by its confusing website design and how clients moved to sign-up its services. Its auction house wasn’t moving as fast as the deals they were making with major players. Immediate review of the website concluded in its confusing design and its inability to tell the story, prompting curious visitors to take action and sign-up for services. Within two weeks, created a new logo, new web interface, a memorable brand, and a solid, singular message and re-geared the easy-to-use online presence. Within the first six weeks, new contracts had been signed and a second round of financing was underway. Client is now running a thriving business.

Employer:	Displaced Films, Los Angeles, CA
Position:	Brand Strategist, E-commerce Consultant
Time period:	January 2008 - December 2008
Description:	Displaced Films produced documentaries based on Vietnamese experiences • Declining sales, unexpected operating/distribution costs, along with not having a clear e-commerce strategy, forced Displaced Films to confront for hard times. Brought in to shore up sales, re-design the site, re-build the e-commerce store, and develop a marketing strategy to improve brand, developed a comprehensive strategy on a shoestring budget, a plan for solid sales, understandable metrics, and a clear ecommerce strategy. In just months brand and revenue recovery helped client be prepared for their next film–FTA–with Jane Fonda. Its release in late 2008 grossed over $13M.

Employer:	Norma Hollis Companies, Los Angeles CA
Position:	Brand Strategist, UX Designer
Time period:	January 2008 - December 2008
Description:	NHC provides professional speaking training and coaching to diversity speakers. • Facing a mountain of debt and a disenfranchised workforce, client was facing a dismal future. Reviewed client operations and then first shored up the financial side. Realigned product lines, redeveloped marketing materials and developed a new Web-based lead generation system. In less than a year the company is performing above expectations, the debt load is rapidly decreasing and new speakers are signing up in record numbers. The new direction is allowing the company to not only rebrand itself but to also expand after several years of stagnation.

Employer:	Associated Television, Los Angeles CA
Position:	iMC/Project Manager
Time period:	January 2007 - December 2007
Description:	AT ($1M/Yr) produced DVDs and TV shows for distribution to specialized channels and markets. Develop online marketing programs for DVD product line & TV shows. Founded this high-tech consultancy to develop marketing strategies and execute plans for B2B clients. • Upon starting discovered the product strategy in place was faulty and would not work to sell this DVD online. Re-evaluated the product brand strategy with nine different test scenarios to determine viability . Despite $100k+ investment in producing this DVD the market did not perceive this title as desirable. Immediately created a new online marketing campaign with web analytics, and designed high-end marketing materials with a new image, including a website and a shopping cart system. Within three months traffic increased, attracting other distributors. Sales also increased 35%.

Employer:	Boardwalk Realty, Brentwood, CA
Position:	Marketing Director
Time period:	January 2004 - December 2006
Description:	Develop marketing programs for multi-office Real Estate business that catered to high-end clientele. • Quickly discovered that market expansion strategy in a prestigious and pricey locus was not supported through proper branding and marketing tools. Despite $50K budget in branding the market did not perceive Boardwalk as a viable entry. Immediately created a new brand name for this division and designed high-end marketing materials with a new image and name, including a Website. Within one year listings of high-end properties soared fivefold, attracting top-notch agents. Sales up 35%. • Changing market prompted new methods and move to online marketplace by using job boards, email campaigns and hiring full time recruiter to track and manage campaigns. Within three months five experienced agents were hired and $3M in property listings were added to inventory.

Employer:	MGM Entertainment Inc, Santa Monica, CA
Position:	IT Consultant/Business Analyst
Time period:	January 2002 - December 2003
Description:	Responsible for overall support of Creative Services and deliverables getting to FTP sites for production. • IT practices for Creative Services were resulting in increased user downtime and missed deadlines. Response time for support was 3-4 days. Upon boarding immediately collaborated with the field user, which resulted in new policies, solving pending issues and updating equipment/software. Within five months trouble tickets were reduced to zero, response time was within three hours, an 80% complaint reduction, 100% deadline compliance, user downtime was reduced by 80%, and productivity soared.

Employer:	Apple Computer Inc, Santa Monica, CA
Position:	IT Consultant/Classroom Coordinator
Time period:	January 2002 - December 2002
Description:	Setting up and optimizing training classroom and ensuring instructors were up and running 100% • Existing protocol had no systematized way of setting up classrooms and no organized method for handling inventory. Spearheaded cleaning out inventory, optimizing all machines during class downtime, quick turnaround, and measures for inventory tracking. Result: 100% classroom uptime.

Employer:	TV Guide, Hollywood, CA
Position:	IT Consultant/Onsite Manager of Tech Services
Time period:	January 2001 - December 2001
Description:	IT Consultant/Onsite Manager of Technical Services for Hollywood Division reporting to Tulsa, OK HQ. • Division was experiencing poor user response times, increased escalations, specialized knowledge to handle TV studio live support, and specialized software attention. Lack of resources required one person to carry entire load. Upon boarding implemented optimized solutions to deal with reoccurring problems, proactively serviced systems and leveraged relationships with users to troubleshoot problems. Downtime reduced by 45% and response time became less than two hours, increasing productivity in all units preparing the unit for purchase by GEMSTAR.

Employer:	Digital Domain, Venice CA
Position:	Senior Systems Administrator, Asst. Manager of Technical Services
Time period:	January 2000 - December 2001
Description:	Responsible for overall BU support, commercial dept, and Help Desk, supervising two employees • The business unit was at odds with IT for client access to work-in-progress so they could service them. Attended meetings and networked with both sides and created a no cost compromise. Designed high-end, user friendly interface, managed staff to not impact current work load, created videos to use system and then train their clients. Within three months perceptions changed, resulting in new clients.

Employer:	Playboy, Beverly Hills, CA; Steven Diebold & Associates, Glendale, CA
Position:	Work experience
Time period:	December 2000
Description:	Playboy, Beverly Hills, CA Prior2000 Business Systems Analyst Steven Diebold & Associates, Glendale, CA (Principal)

University:	University of California System - Los Angeles
Time period:	1998 - 2003
Degree:	Communications/Film, BSc

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www.stevendiebold.com