John Harrobin

Designed architecture and launched of Custom TV which allows customers to choose specific TV content packages that match their interests and provides them with the opportunity to either pay less for bundled services or pay about the same and increase (upgrade) Internet speeds to ensure consistently fast internet on the growing number of devices families have connected to home Wi-Fi. Resulted in share market gains and incremental +15% ebitda/mo. per customer.

Venture Advisor to Chaac Ventures (an early-stage fund focusing on the Princeton ecosystem) from 3Q2015 thru 1Q2021; investments include Overtime, Pixm, and others; served as BoD member of portfolio companies on behalf of Chaac.

Investor/Advisor/Board Member to mobile/tech companies through a company I founded, Hedwig Associates, including: Comlinkdata (acquired by Alpine), Alphonso (acquired by LG), Song Clip/Audiobyte, Acast, Shared Tower (Canada), Holler, Mobilize Solutions, Persado… Show more

Venture Advisor to Chaac Ventures (an early-stage fund focusing on the Princeton ecosystem) from 3Q2015 thru 1Q2021; investments include Overtime, Pixm, and others; served as BoD member of portfolio companies on behalf of Chaac.

Investor/Advisor/Board Member to mobile/tech companies through a company I founded, Hedwig Associates, including: Comlinkdata (acquired by Alpine), Alphonso (acquired by LG), Song Clip/Audiobyte, Acast, Shared Tower (Canada), Holler, Mobilize Solutions, Persado, Evolution Wear, Buderflys, Whoop, Bit Cauldron (now Bacch Labs), grandPad, Octi, Superphone, Navi, and Muzik.

(No active engagements subsequent to 1Q21) Show less

Launched disruptive pricing in wireless industry, subsequently copied by competition that increased ARPU, market share, and margin per subscriber which entailed eliminating unlimited mobile data plans and transitioning to a new pricing and selling model.

Drove customer adoption of mobile data by launching several new mobile content offerings, including Music (Ringtones, Ringback Tones, Songs), Video, Gaming, and B2B applications; first mobile distribution deal with YouTube (2006) before Google acquired them. At Audible, launched content hits for exclusive titles, including Artemis by Andy Weir, I Can’t Make This Up and The Decision by Kevin Hart, KickA$$ with Mel Robbins, Heads Will Roll with Kate McKinnon, 64th Man with John Cena, DC Comics… Show more

Drove customer adoption of mobile data by launching several new mobile content offerings, including Music (Ringtones, Ringback Tones, Songs), Video, Gaming, and B2B applications; first mobile distribution deal with YouTube (2006) before Google acquired them. At Audible, launched content hits for exclusive titles, including Artemis by Andy Weir, I Can’t Make This Up and The Decision by Kevin Hart, KickA$$ with Mel Robbins, Heads Will Roll with Kate McKinnon, 64th Man with John Cena, DC Comics icon--The Sandman, Break Shot from James Taylor, and Sleep & Meditation tracks featuring Nick Jonas, Diddy, and others. Show less

Early champion and catalyst for digital media; among first (or first in category): to pay for performance with ad.com, to hold a digital upfront, to build a DMP (an early investor in BlueKai before Oracle acquisition), and to advertise on Facebook and Twitter; entered into a time-based exclusive partnership with Siri in 2009 before company Apple purchased them; delivered Keynotes at Billboard Digital (2008) and AdAge Digital (2012); at Audible implemented Adobe stack, deployed innovated MAI and… Show more

Early champion and catalyst for digital media; among first (or first in category): to pay for performance with ad.com, to hold a digital upfront, to build a DMP (an early investor in BlueKai before Oracle acquisition), and to advertise on Facebook and Twitter; entered into a time-based exclusive partnership with Siri in 2009 before company Apple purchased them; delivered Keynotes at Billboard Digital (2008) and AdAge Digital (2012); at Audible implemented Adobe stack, deployed innovated MAI and conversion techniques, and automated customer journeys with adaptive e-mail functionality with Moveable Ink. Show less

Produced campaigns, sponsorships, and exclusive content offerings involving: NHL, NFL, and IndyCar Racing, and dozens of musical artists, sports figures, authors, and actors.

Produced events for several Consumer Electronic Shows (CES), Super Bowls, SXSW, Comic-con, and Mobile World Congress (MWC).

Reversed VZW brand health trends and achieved leading scores on 73 of 78 measured brand attributes; achieved all-time record high scores on dozens of attributes at end of 4Q11 that corresponded with market share increases in six quarters; at Audible, accelerated brand awareness to record levels for all key segments through new brand platform strategy and full-funnel media.

Launched iPad, iPhone 4, iPad 2, and iPhone 4S in all Verizon Wireless channels in partnership with Apple. Led development of Verizon advertising, store merchandising, and all go-to-market functions; developed campaign, including commercial that aired in SuperBowl featuring Verizon's "Can you hear me now" icon.

Negotiated and established multi-platform NFL Partnership agreement with exclusive mobile content and unique sponsorship elements (hospitality, branding, consumer activation). NFL Mobile was ranked #1 Sports app within the Android Market with over 6 million downloads in the first season.

Launched mobile ad and FiOS TV (local avail) businesses at Verizon; developed advanced advertising capability through a partnership with Invidi; negotiated and launched a pre-load partnership with Amazon garnering revenue share for products purchased through VZW phones.

Led commercial agreements with leading technology partners to enable complete Verizon-led solutions for Global 2000 customers. Partners include: Pivotal (Cloud Foundry/PaaS), Oracle (SaaS), SAP (Hana), Cloudera (Hadoop), and MobileIron and Airwatch (mobile device security and management).

Drove YOY sales increases of +25% (over-indexing all other segments) of most profitable segment of customers.

First to introduce $9.99 Family Share plans in industry. At time was responsible for Marketing in one region of the country (VZW had 21 regions); $9.99 share plans drove highly profitability growth that over-indexed other regions; pricing framework subsequently adopted by all of Verizon Wireless and eventually other wireless operators; Today the majority of Verizon Wireless consumers at on Family Share Plans; subsequent to this period held a number of region field marketing and sales… Show more

First to introduce $9.99 Family Share plans in industry. At time was responsible for Marketing in one region of the country (VZW had 21 regions); $9.99 share plans drove highly profitability growth that over-indexed other regions; pricing framework subsequently adopted by all of Verizon Wireless and eventually other wireless operators; Today the majority of Verizon Wireless consumers at on Family Share Plans; subsequent to this period held a number of region field marketing and sales operations roles within Verizon Wireless. Show less

Developed identity, messaging, advertising, and all go-to-market activities (training, internal/external positioning, online asset development) for Verizon's next generation wireless service. Established "leading" position within industry among for 4G service among wireless carriers with 6 weeks of launch.

Served as Verizon lead and sponsor of Softcard Project that ultimately led to formation of JV with AT&T and T-Mobile; co-developed strategy and presented business case and approach to Verizon Communications and Verizon Wireless Boards of Directors for approval and funding; interview CEO candidates and once CEO was hired transitioned project to Softcard team and Verizon project support; placed members of Verizon Business Development team in Softcard entity.

Began effort to "name" phones and introduce new functionality (music); developed 360-degree framework for launching phones: advertising-store merchandising-featured content-PR roadshow-device seeding to reporters-employee seeding and training; subsequently struck exclusive content deals with Prince, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, the Black Eyed Peas, Shakira, Pearl Jam and many other artists. Produced several campaigns and events, including closing Hollywood & Vine intersections in Hollywood for a… Show more

Began effort to "name" phones and introduce new functionality (music); developed 360-degree framework for launching phones: advertising-store merchandising-featured content-PR roadshow-device seeding to reporters-employee seeding and training; subsequently struck exclusive content deals with Prince, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, the Black Eyed Peas, Shakira, Pearl Jam and many other artists. Produced several campaigns and events, including closing Hollywood & Vine intersections in Hollywood for a private concert for 12,000 customers featuring a special reunion performance of The Fugees. Show less

Entered into an agreement with Google for distribution of Android devices (terms proprietary); subsequently negotiated license agreement with Lucas Films for rights to DROID name for Smartphones and Tablets and developed dozens of commercials and advertising assets, including Brand Identity guidelines, for the DROID franchise. As a result, we participated in revenue from app purchases on Android, and we helped propel Android Market Share from low single-digits to a market leader (alongside iOS)… Show more

Entered into an agreement with Google for distribution of Android devices (terms proprietary); subsequently negotiated license agreement with Lucas Films for rights to DROID name for Smartphones and Tablets and developed dozens of commercials and advertising assets, including Brand Identity guidelines, for the DROID franchise. As a result, we participated in revenue from app purchases on Android, and we helped propel Android Market Share from low single-digits to a market leader (alongside iOS) in a manner of weeks post-launch. Show less

Led commercial agreement with Verizon Wireless and Skype that was launched at Mobile World Congress in 2010; Educated consumers and internal team members about new service through training video (see link); Skype partnership resulted from "Innovation Day" process established in 2006 -- where we bring C-level executives to Silicon Valley to meet w/ innovative companies, mainly start-ups -- this process has led to a high "hit rate" for filtered company candidates for Innovation Day as well as… Show more

Led commercial agreement with Verizon Wireless and Skype that was launched at Mobile World Congress in 2010; Educated consumers and internal team members about new service through training video (see link); Skype partnership resulted from "Innovation Day" process established in 2006 -- where we bring C-level executives to Silicon Valley to meet w/ innovative companies, mainly start-ups -- this process has led to a high "hit rate" for filtered company candidates for Innovation Day as well as several Verizon agreements and investments in start-up companies -- including: Siri (subsequently acquired by Apple), Invidi (ad insertion), Video Surf (subsequently acquired by Microsoft), Cellfire, and others. Show less

Introduced 1st Reality TV show "Companion Application" on both Smartphones and Tablets to showcase Verizon technology. Mobile voting through the application outpaced all other mechanisms for voting in terms of viewer engagement.