VP - Ecosystem Growth @ Draper University

Dynamic leader and proven Deal Maker with over 12 years of experience in the startup and venture capital space, specializing in building and scaling global innovation ecosystems. 

As VP - Ecosystem Growth at Draper University, I drive strategic partnerships with governments, enterprises, and leading technology organizations, accelerating distribution and fostering growth for platforms and ventures. My extensive experience in growth hacking, venture building, and navigating complex technical environments positions me to create significant impact by expanding market reach and deepening strategic collaborations. I am passionate about empowering entrepreneurs and creators, leveraging expertise in marketing and innovation to push boundaries and create value for society.

Chris Joannou 💎

Coaching Youth Hoops

Founded by Steve Collins (3x State Basketball Champion) and Bill Flitter (17-year coaching veteran), Coaching Youth Hoops has transformed into a leading digital media powerhouse in the youth sports space:

Highlights:

• Drove 200% YOY revenue growth through strategic content.
• Boosted new customer acquisition by 126% via targeted digital marketing and audience segmentation.
• Expanded newsletter subscriber base by 275% with optimized conversion funnels.
• Achieved a 1,500% increase in YOY sponsorship revenue by developing innovative partnership packages and demonstrating continued audience engagement.
• Maintained Top 10 ranking for weekly podcasts by delivering expert insights and compelling storytelling.
• Built multi-platform content ecosystem generating 2M+ impressions through exclusive, behind-the-scenes programming.
• Established a unique media position by capturing on-court moments that resonate with coaches and parents.

Founder, VP of Marketing & Podcast Host

LevelUpBasketball.Training

Our ultimate goal is to witness the continuous rise of women in sports, and at Level Up, we aim to provide a platform where girls are not only inspired to unlock their athletic potential but also encouraged to pursue their dreams and passions through basketball.

→ 3rd through high school girls-only basketball teams guided by innovative "RED DOT" approach developing mental toughness and resilience
→ Immersive girls-only summer camps fostering confidence through smaller class sizes for personalized coaching
→ Pioneered the 3v3 Basketball League for girls in 2017, creating competitive opportunities for middle school players
→ Founded the NorCal Summer Basketball League, a premier platform for high school girls

Founder and Coach

dlvr.it

I am charged with developing the marketing strategy and revenue-related activities for dlvr.it's growth, advising the team on best practices, supporting key team members, and bringing in outside talent as needed. dlvr.it is the industry leader in social media marketing, and I'm thrilled to be able to support its growth with marketing that doesn't rely on Google!

Senior Director of Marketing

Growth Tools

The core areas of responsibility included leading the marketing team, and creating the marketing strategy and operations. My number one goal was the number of sales calls booked per week.

Highlights:

• Beat new customer growth by 17%.
• Reinvigorated overall email marketing strategy. Responsible for email campaign production, campaign creation, targeting and segmentation, email template design, and deployment.
• Define and lead email marketing strategy and planning, including user journeys, campaign briefs, creative needs and requests, and content/campaign calendars.
• Successfully raised pricing by 20% and developed a strategy for new pricing and packaging.
• Overhauled growth marketing initiatives: SEO/email/paid social, developed a new attribution model, and built conversion rate optimization initiatives. Quickly increased conversion rate by 11%.
• Energized customer marketing programs including marketing automation (Hubspot), churn, cross-sell/upsell initiatives.
• Raised landing page conversion by 50% YoY through A/B and multivariable testing and by driving efforts to create unique user experiences for mobile, desktop, and tablet platforms.
• Drove incremental revenue through the creation of flash sales and segmentation of customer base.

Skills: 
 
Management
A/B Testing
Programmatic Buying
Email Marketing
Content Marketing
Content Development
Cross-functional Team Leadership
SEM
SEO
Paid Advertising
New Product and Service Launches
Audience Development 
Email Service Provider platforms 
Lifecycle Marketing
Retention
Sales
HTML/CSS/content design
Web Analytics
Microsoft Office Suite

Director of Marketing

Saint Mary's College of California

The ultimate goal is to increase the number of prospective students to the Graduate Business programs. Responsible for setting the School's overall marketing strategy

Highlights:

• Decreased cost-per-lead by 50% in 12 months.
• Increased total applications by 25% which resulted in boosting the total number of deposited students by 20% - while competing colleges were seeing declines.
• Grew organic search traffic by 90% in 12 months. 
• Boosted total indexed keywords by 118% and page one presence by 153% in 12 months.
• Increased traffic from social media by 110% in 12 months. 
• Implemented new lead generation program that allowed prospects 24/7/365 access to on-demand information sessions. 
• Developed and executed lead nurturing, and email marketing programs that increased engagement across key metrics by 600%
• Defined and tracked KPIs for all online marketing campaigns.
• Closed the largest deal for an executive education client which resulted in new revenue for the college.

Skills: 
 
Management/Leadership
A/B Testing
Business Development
Content Marketing
Copywriting
Marketing Communications
Cross-functional Team Leadership
SEO
Paid Advertising
New Product and Service Launches
Audience Development 
Channel Marketing
Lifecycle Marketing
Retention
Sales
Marketing
Branding
Strategy Development
Competitive Analysis
Funnel Development

Senior Director of Marketing and Outreach, Graduate Business

Carjojo Corp.

Grew organic traffic by over 1,000% in 12 months by developing keyword optimized content marketing, social media and influencer campaigns using data-driven A/B testing approach.

Highlights:

• Grew referring domains by over 300%.
• Increased organic traffic by over 1,000%.
• Boosted the number of organic keywords by 800%.
• Developed content strategy featured on CNN, TechCrunch, Today Show Lifehacker, Washington Post, MSN, Yahoo, Blomberg, & USA Today.
• Planned the company's first widespread use of schema markup across the 3 million vehicles.
• Managed PR and SEO agency relationships and a team of content freelancers.
• Created focused SEO plan that included keyword research, competitor analysis, and site audit.
• Webby Award Nominee for Best Car Websites. 

Skills: 

A/B Testing
Agency Management
SEM
SEO
Audience Development 
Channel Marketing
Web Analytics
Marketing Strategy
Customer Acquisition
Content Development
Landing Page Optimization
Content Marketing
Cross-functional Team Leadership
Editing

Senior Director of Content Marketing and SEO

Grew user base from scratch to over 500K in 24 months using a full stack marketing approach and creating a sound go-to-market strategy.

Highlights:

• Grew revenue 110% YoY with a focused vision around product/marketing fit.
• Grew organic search and website traffic over 200% in 5 months. 
• Grew user base from zero to 500k in 24 months.
• Motivated and lead a team of developers, marketers, finance and admin staff with zero turnover in 5 years. 
• Increased average order size by 2x through funnel management optimization. 
• Implemented customer service program that decreased response time by 24 hours
• Lead PR agency relationships and a team of freelancers.
• Invited to speak at leading industry trade shows and events including the Social Media Strategies Conference, Social Media Marketing World, and Content Marketing Conference.
• Developed and executed lead nurturing, and email marketing programs to increase customer lifetime value.
• Defined and tracked KPIs for all online marketing campaigns.

Skills: 
 
Management
A/B Testing
Programmatic Buying
Native Advertising
Content Marketing
Content Development
Cross-functional Team Leadership
SEM
SEO
Paid Advertising
New Product and Service Launches
Audience Development 
Channel Marketing
Lifecycle Marketing
Retention
Sales
Public Speaking
Product Marketing

Senior Director Product Marketing and Founder

Dlvr.it - Content Marketing Strategies Conference

Created the largest content marketing conference on the West Coast. Set the agenda, recruited speakers and sponsors, and was responsible for event promotions and sales.

Creator, Strategic Partnerships and Event Planning

Pheedo, Inc

Tasked with the day-to-day operations of growing a start-up with a focus on product development, digital marketing, social media, content marketing, public speaking, trade shows, business development, and ad sales.  Pheedo was recognized as "one of the most notable technology vendors in the Bay Area" by The Bay Area Interactive Group.

Highlights:

• Achieved over $5M in sales in the first year. 
• Raised $6M in venture capital.
• Opened the first international office in Tokyo, Japan. Opened and managed sales offices in Chicago, New York, and Portland, OR. 
• Developed relationships and secured clients including New York Times, CNET, Washington Post, Ford, Cisco, P&G, and MSNBC.
• Helped leading digital publishers to grow native ad revenue 300% in 3 months.
• Motivated and lead team of developers, marketers, admin, and 20 internal and outside ad sales executives state-side and abroad.
• Invited to speak at leading industry trade shows and events stateside, Germany, and Japan including the Search Engine Strategies Conference, DMA Days, Digital Hollywood, ClickZ Events, American Marketing Association, Advertising Forum, Ad:Tech, and OMMA. 

Skills: 

Management
Customer Acquisition
Business Development
Sales
Digital Marketing
Content Development
Developing KPIs
Marketing Campaign Management
Partner Marketing
Web Analytics
Product Development/Management
Public Speaking
Product Marketing

Vice President, Marketing and Sales, Founder

Email Shopping Network

Emphasized revenue growth and gross margin maximization. Spearheaded development and execution of customer acquisition marketing programs.

Highlights:

• Increased average order size by over 50% through landing page optimization and funnel management. 
• Raised landing page conversion by 50% YoY through A/B and multivariable testing. 
Increased customer lifetime value by 45% by developing customer lifecycle programs that included high-impact lead nurturing, upsell, cross-sell, and database marketing programs. 
• Grew revenue from zero to $1M in 5 months. 
• Created the single highest converting cost-per-acquisition campaign in the history of ValueClick ($50,000).
• Led the acquisition efforts by News Corp within 18 months of starting the company.

Skills: 

Marketing Strategy
A/B Testing
Customer Acquisition
Online Advertising
Ecommerce
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Landing Page Optimization
Content Development

Senior Marketing Manager and Founder

Business Strategist & Basketball Coach | Sharing My Playbook for Winning In Business & on the Court

Mission: Positively Influence 1M kids by 2032 through sports 

My journey bridges two worlds: Silicon Valley success and youth sports impact. After building and selling two tech companies, I found my true calling on the basketball court in 2014 when I started coaching my kids' team.

What began as weekend games transformed into a revelation about the untapped potential of youth sports. While growing Level UP Basketball Club, I witnessed how sideline hours created lasting connections between brands, families, and communities.

Key Milestones:

→ Served as Steph Curry's trainer for a TV commercial
→ Coached the U.S.A. Basketball youth team with Chris Mullin during the 2016 Olympics
→ Coached at powerhouse high school programs like De La Salle and Campolindo
→ Launched a 3v3 Basketball League for girls in 2017
→ Founded the Coaching Youth Hoops media company and podcast
→ Established the NorCal Summer Basketball League for high school players
→ Serve on the boards of two local rec organizations, impacting over 1,000 young athletes annually

This unique intersection of business and sports leadership revealed a critical gap: brands struggle to authentically connect with youth sports' 50M+ families despite their 40+ weekly sideline hours.  

Today, I help brands transform these sideline hours into meaningful engagement. Our mission: empower organizations to build sustainable programs that keep kids playing while delivering measurable ROI for brands.

Let’s change the game together!

📈 Bill Flitter

30 lessons I learned from the 30 guests on the Coaching Youth Hoops podcast. (Part 2)
Here’s what they taught me 👇

Find part 1 here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gph4r4_n

Lessons from the sidelines:

• 🏟Nick Lawson — High-touch, authentic engagement beats massive reach for sponsorship success.

• Justin Jarman — Momentum comes from learning fast, celebrating progress, and staying focused on real needs.

• Zoya Lehrer — Products succeed when designed around families’ real daily challenges.

• Paul Hutton — The best sponsorships strengthen communities, not just brand awareness.

• Shripal Shah — AI creates leverage by removing busywork and unlocking scalable insights.

• Andy Thwaite — Collaboration and shared data are key to scaling access across youth sports.

• Kevin Martinez — Lowering barriers to entry grows participation and builds lifelong fans.

• Jeff Black — Long-term success comes from prioritizing development over chasing wins.

• Jeff Snyder & Irvin Garduno  — Instant access to game footage improves learning and preserves memories.

• Malcolm Mizen — Local pricing and participation data matter for equity and access.

• Matt Wray — Programs win when they focus on real development needs, not elite labels.

• julien blin — Technology works best when paired with fun and human connection.

• Rhoderick (Derick) Wagner Wagner — Keeping sports fun and growth-focused builds confidence and lasting love for the game.

If this year taught me anything, it’s this:
youth sports won’t be shaped by shortcuts or quick wins.
It’ll be shaped by people like this who think first about kids, then build everything else around them.

And we’re just getting started.
2026 is already lining up with voices that will keep pushing this space forward.

Thanks to all the guests for sharing your wisdom and making youth sports fun! 🔥

#youthsports #sidelineeconomy

Bill Flitter 📈

Helping brands, families, and tournaments turn youth sports events into loyalty.

I learned 30+ lessons about youth sports this year
from the people shaping where it’s headed.
Here’s what stood out 👇

(This is Part 1 of 2.)

In 2025, we recorded 100 episodes of the Coaching Youth Hoops podcast
and crossed a milestone: episode 300. 🎉

Those lessons came from coaches, founders, doctors, and operators
who’ve lived the sideline and shared what actually works.

I pulled one lesson from each guest,
the idea that stuck, challenged me, or changed my thinking.

(Part 2 drops tomorrow.)

Lessons from the sidelines (Part 1):

• Erik Anderson — When progress is measured and visible, athletes stay motivated and improve faster.

• Bill Powers — Great coaching blends values, curiosity, and intentional practice, not just X’s and O’s.

• Sylvia Colucci — Female athletes thrive in environments that prioritize safety, support, and fun alongside skill development.

• Tim Livingston — Long-term development requires training the whole athlete, not just adding more games.

• Cameron Korab — Joy and connection in youth sports must be protected intentionally in a commercialized system.

• Margaret Gartner — The best coaches meet athletes where they are and develop the person, not just the player.

• Hanna Howard — Culture is built through consistent actions and genuine care, not slogans.

• Sean O'Connor  — Technology should simplify coaching and give time back to teaching and motivation.

• Sean Valentine — Mental skills deserve the same investment as physical training to build lifelong confidence and resilience.

• Kelly Buchanan Morgan MD, ATC-R — Proactive injury prevention and athlete-owned health data keep kids safer for the long run.

• Carrie Gamper — Sponsorship works best when brands deliver real value to families, not just logo exposure.

• Joshua Dickey — Facilities grow sustainably by serving community needs during unused hours.

• Mark Botterill — The strongest sponsorships are long-term, mission-aligned partnerships.

• Justin Bredeman — Scaling youth sports requires clear standards and consistent coach development.

• Mark Kossick — Listening to users and acting quickly builds trust and loyalty.

You can listen to the full conversations here: https://lnkd.in/gxDa7MCk

Part 2 drops tomorrow with the remaining lessons.

#youthsports #sidelineeconomy

Open article: Coaching Youth Hoops (Youth Basketball Coach) by pod.link

Coaching Youth Hoops (Youth Basketball Coach)

taplio

The Battle

Chris Joannou 💎

📈 Bill Flitter

Followers

Posts

Engagements

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Performance Score📈 Bill Flitter's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Chris Joannou 💎

📈 Bill Flitter

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}📈 Bill Flitter's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance Score📈 Bill Flitter's LinkedIn Performance