Background

Chris Penn – Managing Partner

In 2003 & 2006 respectively, I co-founded & led two B2B companies in the secure issuance industry: www.IDWholesaler.com & www.IDZone.com.

We quickly became the dominant players in our respective markets and were named to the Internet Retailer’s list of largest revenue websites for 10 consecutive years. We completed a very successful PE transaction with BV Partners in 2014, and another with Odyssey Investment Partners in 2019.

I consider myself a down to earth, well-rounded business developer and leader, relating to businesses from $0 to ~$125M, with a high level of strategic, eCommerce & digital marketing acumen. (Angel profile here).  I’m very familiar with the challenges – and opportunities – of both startups and businesses that are in-cycle.

 

Professional Background

As Chief Marketing Officer of our business group, Plasco Holdings, I was responsible for our multi-channel GTM strategy and execution: branding, web development & testing, product development, acquisition efforts including email, PPC, PLA, SEO, site personalization, re-targeting/re-marketing, and marketplace strategy & execution (eg GSA & Amazon).

I also helped build continuous improvement into our business intelligence abilities: strategy, tools, structure, analytics, price elasticity modeling, and machine learning.

Previously, as our VP of Sales, I developed and/or led our sales team hiring, training, development, structure, product pricing, sales strategy and performance analytics.

More holistically, I vetted & helped lead cloud-based email, CRM & Marketing automation software implementations, hired talent at all organizational levels – including two VP’s, and significantly contributed to several M&A transactions.

I’ve also made coffee, shoveled the entryway, taken out the trash, and rescued ducklings from drainpipes – as needed. Entrepreneurial rule #1 – Be prepared to do anything.

Prior to developing ID Wholesaler & ID Zone, I was the Access Control Channel Manager for Fargo Electronics, now called HID Global.

 

I’m experienced in the following areas:

Marketing Strategy. Business Development. Digital Marketing. Big Data. SEO. SEM. Web Analytics. PPC. PLA. MVT/AB Testing. Data Analysis. Online Marketplaces. Amazon. Social Media. Email. Personalization. Project Management. Marketing Automation. B2B. B2C. Sales Leadership. Talent Development. P&L. Operations. M&A. No BS.