Rick Griffiths

Investor/Advisor

2015 - Current

Early stage investor in 100+ startups in consumer software, hardware, AI, health tech, fintech, food & beverage, sports, gaming, crypto, and more. Most of the deals were sourced via AngelList syndicates, feel free to connect with me on that platform.

Vice President, Customer Acquisition

2016 - 2019

Areas of responsibility include user acquisition, online advertising, PPC, display, SEO, retail, channel, affiliates, traffic partnerships, web site optimization, promotions, mobile user acquisition, and more. Avast went public on London Stock Exchange in May, 2018.

Vice President Customer Acquisition

2014 - 2016

IPO on New York Stock Exchange in Feb, 2012. AVG was acquired by Avast Software for $1.3 Billion in September 2016. I then joined the executive team of the new Avast. AVG was founded in 1991 with the purpose of protecting people around the world using the latest security technologies. AVG gained success quickly and is now recognized as one of the biggest players in the security software market with over 200 million active users including over 100 million on mobile. I led a team of outstanding online sales/marketers responsible for customer acquisition for the consumer business. Past roles include VP Online Sales & Marketing for TuneUp Utilities business unit and Director, Advertising & User Acquisition for AVG global. Areas of responsibility include user acquisition, online advertising, PPC, display, SEO, retail and channel, affiliates, traffic partnerships, web site optimization, promotions, and more.

Vice President Sales & Marketing - TuneUp Utilities

2012 - 2014

Director, Digital Advertising & User Acquisition

2009 - 2012

Sr. Digital Advertising Manager, Agency Team

2007 - 2009

Covario was one of America's largest independent providers of search marketing software solutions and agency services prior to being acquired by Dentsu Aegis Network (iProspect). While there, my agency team managed the worldwide search advertising program for Lenovo including its 2008 Olympic sponsorship campaigns. I also worked on the Adobe, RIM, Intel, and McAfee global accounts. The company provides global organizations with robust analytics and award-winning marketing services for paid search advertising (SEM), organic search (SEO), social media marketing and display advertising. Covario has been named to the Inc. 500 list of America's fastest-growing, privately-held companies two years in a row, in addition to the Software 500 list of the nation's largest software firms. Most recently, Covario was named Search Agency of the Year in 2011 & 2012 by OMMA magazine.

Online Marketing Manager

2006 - 2006

Intuit is the maker of Quicken, QuickBooks and TurboTax software. The company is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market and has been recognized as America's most-admired software company and one of the country's best places to work. My team managed the online marketing programs for the Intuit Solutions Marketplace, the customer-facing site for the Intuit Developer Network. Responsibilities included customer acquisition programs including search marketing, web site optimization, lead generation.

Online Marketing Manager

2002 - 2006

Zone Labs was acquired in 2004 for $205 million by CheckPoint Software Technologies. Zone Labs was a leader in Internet security and the creator of the ZoneAlarm personal firewall. I gained great experience with the freemium model as our free firewall was used by over 25 million people and we had a very effective playbook to upsell from free to paid. My team launched and managed the online ecommerce for the international markets. We grew international consumer revenue by over 100% YOY for several years and I was responsible for customer segments that drove over $13 million in annual online revenue. I managed international customer acquisition programs including search marketing, affiliates, and email marketing. I launched the element5 (now Digital River) shopping cart/store, managed website promotions, and maintained the product catalog.

Marketing

1999 - 2002

GlobalSight brought together two megatrends: the Web and globalization. GlobalSight became the leader in the Globalization Management System (GMS) space and was acquired in 2005. We worked closely with Global 2000 companies like Cisco, GE, HP, the World Bank, Yahoo!, and many more to streamline and automate their content globalization processes through advanced technology. The GlobalSight product enabled companies to reduce their on-going localization costs by over 50% while enhancing their global brand. I joined the marketing team and managed a variety of programs including lead generation programs, online webinars, web site optimization, email marketing, web analytics, trade show and event coordination, product marketing, sales tools, and competitive intelligence. Prior to the acquisition, the company raised $48 million from the VC community, and built a world-class organization of over 100 people. GlobalSight was recognized as a ‘Top 10 Company to Watch’ (1999) by Red Herring and then received Red Herring’s ‘Top 50 Private Company’ award and Upside’s ‘Hot 100 Private Company’ award (2000). In 2001 GlobalSight’s product received Computing Magazine’s coveted ‘Best eBusiness Application of the Year’ (2001).

Assurance & Advisory Consultant

1998 - 1999

Marketing Associate - AIESEC Trainee

1997 - 1998