Company: Livefyre, San Francisco, CA
Company Description: Livefyre is a real-time content marketing platform used by over 1,500 global media companies and brands to engage consumers through a combination of real-time content, conversation and social curation. Founded in 2009 with offices in San Francisco, New York, London and Sydney, Livefyre was named one of the best places to work in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times two years in a row.
Nomination Category: Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Executive of the Year - Computer Software - Up to 500 Employees

Nomination Title: Jordan Kretchmer, CEO and Founder

Tell the story about what this nominated executive has achieved since January 1 2014 (up to 650 words). Describe the impact he or she has had on your organization. Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms.

Livefyre kicked 2014 off strong with 600 enterprise customers and one of the largest site networks on the Web — having grown from the 75,000th largest in 2013. With Jordan at the helm, Livefyre has quickly evolved from a scrappy commenting startup into the leading content marketing platform for user generated content, with over 1,500 enterprise customers worldwide. Here’s how:

Building a Leading Content Marketing Platform

Livefyre’s mission has always been to help its customers drive online conversations and community around content. About a year ago, Jordan started seeing a major shift in the digital marketing strategies of global brands. As marketers became increasingly dissatisfied with the performance of their organic marketing campaigns on Facebook, many of them wanted to shift their focus towards building community on their own sites. However, none of the existing content marketing platforms combined the ability to capture, filter and re-use the billions of pieces of UGC posted about a brand on social networks every day with applications that drive engagement around existing content — so Livefyre built one.

Launched in November 2014, Livefyre Studio is the only content marketing platform built specifically for user-generated content. No other platform enables marketers to easily discover, manage and publish the large amounts of user-generated content created about their brand through a single platform, whether that content is generated on their website, mobile apps or on social networks.

Because Studio fills a vital emerging gap within marketing technology, Livefyre recently announced $47M in new funding to expand R&D, Sales and Marketing, adding two of the leading marketing cloud providers, Adobe and Salesforce, as strategic investors. This is a particularly notable accomplishment, as it’s the first time that Adobe and Salesforce have invested in the same company.

Both Livefyre Studio and Storify by Livefyre were welcomed into the elite Twitter Certified Program, which recognizes outstanding services that help businesses utilize Twitter’s platform. By Q1 of 2015, Livefyre had more than doubled its customer base to over 1,500 of the world’s largest brands and media companies, including AOL, Coca-Cola, CNN, Conde Nast, Kimberly Clark, Motorola, News Corp, Time Inc., Unilever and Universal Music Group. Seven of the top ten most profitable media companies in the US are Livefyre customers.

Keeping Culture Alive at Scale

Livefyre experienced staggering levels of growth in 2014, however Jordan didn’t want this rapid growth to erode the inspiring culture that he’s artfully built since day one. Partnering with the architecture firm Studio O+A, Jordan moved the company to a new office specifically designed to encourage collaboration, culture and focus. Livefyre’s San Francisco headquarters was named to Inc. Magazine’s 2014 World’s Coolest Offices list. Livefyre was also named one of the Bay Area’s Best Places to Work by the San Francisco Business Times two years in a row, which is determined by an anonymous employee survey that ranks things like trust in senior leadership and overall job satisfaction.

The Evolution of a Leader

"He's the type of person who has a tremendous amount of charisma and passion for the business he's building," Paul Bricault, a Livefyre investor, told Inc. Magazine when Jordan joined the likes of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Inc’s 35 Under 35 list in 2014. Jordan was also named one of the Bay Area’s 40 Under 40 by the San Francisco Business Times.

Jordan has also emerged as a strategic leader outside of the tech industry, advising brands and media companies who are looking to grow their brand through engaged audiences. In July 2014, he joined the board of directors at Mashable, highlighting his strategic impact on Mashable’s success as a Livefyre customer. An engaging, sought after public speaker, Jordan delivers keynotes at dozens of events a year and recently drew such a crowd at SXSW that they had to turn away people at the door. Jordan’s columns have also been published in numerous top-tier publications including Adweek and Fast Company.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief accomplishments of this nominated executive since the beginning of 2014.

- Delivered a standing room only presentation on “The Urban Legend of Social Media Marketing” at SXSW Interactive
- Livefyre Studio Joined Elite Twitter Certification Program
- Livefyre signed it’s 1,500th enterprise customer
- Announced Livefyre’s $47M Series D Funding with investors Adobe and Salesforce
- Livefyre launched Livefyre Studio, the first real-time content marketing and engagement platform
- Jordan’s thought leadership has been published in Adweek, Marketing Land, MarketingProfs, and many others.
- Jordan joined Mashable’s Board of Directors.
- Jordan was named to Inc’s: 35 Under 35.
- Livefyre made the San Francisco Business Times Best Places to Work list for the second year in a row.
- Jordan was named one of San Francisco Business Times: 40 Under 40