Contact
Name: Darren Jay Herman
Location: New York, NY USA
AIM Name: darrenjayherman
Email: Please use the form on this site (here) to prevent spiders from spamming
About Me (for an abbreviated version, check out my LinkedIn profile)
I am a serial entrepreneur, adviser, and board member within the media, advertising, and technology industries. I am fascinated with the white-space that exists between the above industries and look for companies who try and bridge them together.
My belief is that 98% of new ideas aren’t really new; they are repackaged and spun differently to the marketplace. I’ve been through the first dot com wave and learned quite a few lessons and look forward to applying them to my latest endeavors.
Instead of just listing the companies I’ve been involved with over the past few years, I’ve written a description of them as well. If you have any questions about any of these companies (or worked there are want to say hi), feel free to drop me a line.
The Media Kitchen: I’m currently the Head of Digital Media (Group Director) at this New York based media agency. We’re part of Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners and are wholly owned by my friends at MDC Partners. I’m responsible for overseeing the entire digital media group, client [digital] strategy, keeping on top of new technologies and trends, and exploring M&A opportunities with digital media companies.
IGA Worldwide, inGamePartners LLC, IGA Partners: IGA was a brainchild of myself and a few advertising gurus as we came together to revolutionize the way brands reach millions of consumers… through video games. This was an inefficient and untapped market before we setup IGA Worldwide and now, we’ve added technology, research, analysis, processes, and value to this industry to grow it substantially. The company has over $32.5 million in venture capital funding from the likes of NBC Universal, Intel Capital, Morgenthaler Ventures, Easton Capital, KTB Ventures, and DN Capital.
MyPhotoAlbum (FortuneCity): I was brought into FortuneCity to transform it from a large web hosting company into a consumer oriented play. After analyzing the assets and putting together different opportunities, we decided to incubate an online photo album service that wasn’t primarily about printing photos as that particular market at the time was crowded. I left MyPhotoAlbum when we reached a certain user base and went on to pursue IGA.
Dynamify Productions & FanList: After spending 6 months touring with a national touring band, I realized there was a huge market niche for bands who were stuck in a rut between major labels and playing independently. We established a booking and marketing company and acquired Fanlist during the existence of the company. I was fortunate to speak at many different industry events such as SXSW, CMJ Music Conference, and many others on topics ranging from digital distribution to touring and management. In just over two years, we built a solid client roster including artists from most major labels and over 20 major independent labels.
iComputerServices LLC: iCS was the first company I had started and still exists today. Under ICS, we developed numerous websites, applications, services, and other computer projects for companies ranging from top beverage companies to large consumer products companies. Global Web Space, a web hosting company grew out of ICS to provide premium quality web hosting services for our clients. GWS grew to host thousands of clients and was sold in 2001. TerminalX also grew out of ICS to provide a revolutionary game serving platform for top tier games such as CounterStrike. TerminalX was sold in 2002.
I always like keeping my ear to the ground in the entrepreneurial scene so I do some consulting with companies that I find challenging and fascinating. Below are some companies that I’ve been involved with over the years.
Haystack Media, Inc. – http://www.haystack.com
What Oprah does for books, and Ebert does for movies, Haystack does for music. These guys get the music world… and I’m proud to be advising on overall strategy and business development primarily for leading advertisers.
OnCard Marketing – http://www.oncardmarketing.com
Internet marketing start-up with focus on consumer rewards and merchant promotional advertising. I have been focused on working with the founders and c-team on business plan analysis, funding strategy, and on-going support.
Ubuyo, Inc. – http://www.ubuyo.com (stealth mode)
Working with the founding team and c-level executives, adding input on the initial business plan and fundraising strategy. Have made introductions for the team to leading funding sources.
4AnAgent / Million Milestones, Inc. - http://www.4anagent.com
A web service that disintermediates the real estate industry. Working with the senior management to put together a monetization strategy in a formal advisory role.
eBay Keywords - http://www.ebaykeywords.com
Why not allow auction listers the ability to advertise their auctions throughout the eBay network of sites? That’s what we did and I worked with the senior team to develop and roll-out this service and manage the pivotal first few days of implementation.
Venture Capital Fund
I advise and analyze deal flow and add my 2 cents on current deals. This firm wishes to remain private but have been working with the Managing Directors since 2006.
Top Tier Investment Bank
Acting as a consultant to the Interactive and media deal-flow. I’ve been tapped for my involvement in the entrepreneurial scene and knowledge of what’s “next�? in digital. My analysis is used in sourcing new clients in evolving sectors.
Feel free to contact me to see how we can work together…
Awards
• BusinessWeek’s Top 25 Entrepreneurs
• AlwaysOn Top Media Company
• Avenue-A|Razorfish Breakthrough Company of the Year
• Sony’s #1 Wired Student in North America
• Marquis Who’s Who of Emerging Business Leaders
A little more personal…
Favorite TV Shows: Entourage, The Office, The Wire, and Sports Center
Favorite Sports: Hockey, Tennis, and Skiing
Favorite Food: Sushi (Blue Ribbon, 15 East)
Favorite Video Game: Oregon Trail, Top Spin 2, Castlevania, Madden 2007
Favorite Book: Startup by Jerry Kaplan
Favorite Movie: The Original Muppet Movie
Favorite Bands: Dave Matthews Band, Three Days Grace, The Beatles, The Doors, Paul Simon, Powderfinger (too many to list)
Sports Teams: NJ Devils, NY Yankees, NY Knicks, NY Giants
Most Embarassing Moment Ever: Tripping on stage over a microphone cord while launching inGamePartners at the Jacob Javits Center in NY at a press conference.
- My experience with Apple started with a Apple IIe, Macintosh LC, Quadra 630, PowerMac 6100, PowerMac 8600, G3 (blue and white), Powerbook G3 (Pismo), iBook G4, MacBook, iPhone, MacBook Pro (Intel)… I’m a huge fan.
- I love to travel and I’m fairly loyal to JetBlue as I met the love of my life on a flight out to Las Vegas…
- I’m one of the few guys in this world who love buying clothes and fashion
- I study trends and read voraciously about how different industries formed, as you can only predict the future when you understand the past
- I love art: Bruce Ricker, Evyind Earle, and Yobel Parra rank high on my list and isometric art like eboy
- If I could be anywhere in the world… would be in a mountainside village covered in snow (doesn’t matter where)
One day I will work for an advertising agency in their emerging technologies and trends department- I love board games and Jenga
If you’re in and around NYC, and want to get together to talk about business, advertising, technology or anything else that we have in common, feel free to reach out.
Best,
Darren Herman
