Dean Cruse
Mentor
I am a senior-level Internet and enterprise software executive with 25 years of experience leading marketing, sales, business development, product development and fundraising efforts for B2B companies ranging in size from startups to Global 2000 organizations. I’m best known for driving awareness and demand for early stage technology companies, establishing their business models and ramping them to scale.
I’ve served as the top marketing and sales executive for seven different companies in markets that include B2B Internet, enterprise cloud services, open source development, financial services, marketing agencies, retail and energy management. I have helped raise over US$30 million in venture capital funding for my various companies, and have led the marketing efforts behind one successful IPO and the sale of three companies.
I have extensive background and expertise in digital marketing strategy, software product marketing, product management, PR, social media marketing, demand generation, SEO, SEM, web analytics, customer acquisition and business development.
I have designed, implemented and run Web app subscription, commercial open source, channel and traditional enterprise software business models. I have deep operational experience in Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery, but have run traditional on-premise software models, too. And, I have been directly responsible for revenue, having built and run direct, inside and Internet sales models and teams.
I have marketed and sold a variety of software technologies including social media analytics, enterprise cloud services, big data infrastructure applications, IT systems and datacenter management, Internet community, software development tools, workflow and document management, CRM, customer support, business analytics, and energy management.
Specialties: product marketing, product management, customer acquisition, business development, creating awareness, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, social networks, Internet community, public relations, blog marketing, building and mobilizing teams, product launch, fund raising, venture capital