Ben Saren

Sure Shot Ventures | Cambridge, MA

Ben Saren — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:51:47 +0000

Managing Partner at Sure Shot Ventures and Sure Shot Labs, a marketing technology consultancy, startup advisory and incubator, and product innovation lab.

References

Ben Saren — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 01:07:43 +0000

The following references are from LinkedIn. Go to my LinkedIn page to see more.

Bala J.

Ben Saren — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 01:04:39 +0000

Ben overhauled our marketing strategy and the results are clear for everyone to see….He is part of a bold new breed of marketing talent that melds technology, strategy, story telling and analytics that delivers real results. Ben has a remarkable ability to bring loads of positive energy to any team or initiative that he is a part of. After every discussion with Ben, I always come out inspired and motivated to get stuff done. Our exchanges are lively, intense and I always walk away with new ways of thinking about problems, solutions and positioning.

Litle & Co., a Vantiv company | Lowell, MA

Ben Saren — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:37:35 +0000

Currently leading Marketing at one of America’s fastest growing companies. Founded in 2001, Litle & Co. landed No. 1 rankings on both the Inc. 500 and the Deloitte New England Technology Fast 50. As Vice President of Marketing, overseeing a department of twelve expert marketers, ultimately responsible for re-contextualized and repositioning Marketing within the organization, and accountable for measurable opportunity creation, as well as repositioning Litle’s solutions in the payments industry and within the marketplace.

Litle was acquired by Vantiv ($VNTV) in December 2012 for $361MM (NYSE: VNTV).

Bio

Ben Saren — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:27:34 +0000

Ben is an entrepreneurial and innovative executive with 15 years of marketing, technology, and business development experience for B2B, B2C, and Internet businesses. Ben is currently Vice President of Marketing at Litle & Co. (sold to Vantiv (VNTV) in December 2012) one of America’s fastest growing companies (#1 on Inc 500) and a pioneer in CNP & e-commerce payment solutions and payments intelligence.

Prior to joining Litle, Ben was Co-Founder and CEO of CitySquares, the pioneer in hyper-local search and advertising with clients ranging from thousands of SMBs across the US to agencies like Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), TMP Directional Marketing, Primedia, and Marquette to name a few. CitySquares was backed by several of the world’s most recognized investors including Mark Cuban and Jonathan Kraft and was acquired in 2010.

Known for disrupting and challenging the status quo, Ben has been featured in popular media from industry blogs and public radio to The Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe. He’s a frequent speaker on innovation, payments intelligence, marketing, and entrepreneurship and has presented at major industry events and conferences nationwide. Ben regularly speaks about entrepreneurship at Boston area colleges and universities.

Prior to Litle & Co. and CitySquares, Ben ran an Internet and technology consulting group, serving Internet start-ups and multinational corporations, alike. He’s also held positions in IT and business development at start-ups such as Delphi.com, Prospero Technologies, and at multinationals such as Bell Atlantic, Digital Equipment Corporation, GE Capital, RSA, and Parametric Technologies Corporation.

Check out Ben’s LinkedIn profile here.

CitySquares Online, Inc. | Boston, MA

Ben Saren — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:10:33 +0000

Co-founded CitySquares, the pioneer of hyper-local search, in 2005, bootstrapped it for 19 months until securing Series-A from angel investors including Mark Cuban and Jonathan Kraft, among others. Overall responsibility for business strategy, partnerships, operations, investor and board matters, and corporate development. Instrumental in key accounts and partnerships with SMG, TMP, Primedia, Citysearch and the US Postal Service. CitySquares grew its customer base to over 13,500 local and national advertisers, headcount to 23, monthly website traffic exceeding 2.2M unique visitors, and earned a reputation as the pioneer of hyper-local search. CitySquares was acquired by Pixelfish in 2010.

Atomic Enterprises | Boston, MA

Ben Saren — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:43:04 +0000

Provider of back-office technology solutions and front-office new media and digital marketing solutions for B2B and B2C clients in Boston, New York and Los Angeles. Profitably and organically grew the company to three US offices, 20 employees, 30+ contractors, working with multinational real estate clients like Tishman Speyer Properties, television production studios, not-for-profit organizations, to local brick-and-mortar boutiques. Atomic was sold to a local competitor in 2005.

Prospero Technologies | Cambridge, MA

Ben Saren — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:44:55 +0000

Originally contracted as Y2K consultant, hired as full time Director of IT when Delphi merged with Well Engaged to form Prospero Technologies. Managed a staff of twelve IT personnel located in Cambridge, MA and Sausalito, CA. The team was responsible for all IT strategy and the creation and implementation of new IT operations, ranging from end-user services, help desk operations, web and database server farms, LAN, WAN, VPN, and intranet design and implementation. Set strategies, policies, and best practices.

Chris R.

Ben Saren — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:48:13 +0000

I’ve been working with Ben for over 2 years and he has completely revamped and revolutionized our Marketing and we would not be in the successful position we are without his efforts. He is a tremendously gifted speaker and presenter and his ability to relate to multiple departments and markets is clearly one of his strengths. I enjoy working with Ben and would recommend his efforts to anyone.

Peter K.

Ben Saren — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:51:36 +0000

When Ben joined Litle two years ago I was immediately impressed with his ability to rapidly drive change and communicate vision at all levels. He is adept at utilizing technology in the most efficient way to reach his goals and he stomps over roadblocks with abandon. His energy is infectious and invigorating to the entire organization and he is unique in his ability to integrate his technological knowledge with crisp marketing and develop clear messaging that resonates with customer and employee alike.