About Me 

I’m Kevin Hoffberg.

I’ve reinvented myself many times.

A few of those times, it was just a change of scenery. Those changes are tactical. I didn’t have any significant new insights or ideas. I wasn’t trying to roll differently or serve some other purpose. I just wanted to do what I was doing somewhere else.

It was the real deal more than a few times. New questions needed answering, and new insights kept picking at my imagination. I felt like my superpowers needed a stiffer workout. I wanted to see myself and have the world see me differently. 

I started in the “advice-giving” business in 1981, with a big chunk of that time devoted to helping other professional service providers build better businesses. Over the following 45 years, I did the whole circle: founded, run, and sold advice-giving businesses; consulted to advice-giving businesses; and hired advice-givers in my role as an entrepreneur, owner, and senior executive. I think I know about selling intangibles as well as anyone.

Some quick highlights. I have . . .

• Founded or co-founded nearly a dozen advice-giving businesses (and one coffee company). Most were founder-funded, one was venture-funded, and one was angel-funded.
• Turned my ideas into programs that have generated millions of dollars of revenue for me and my partners. I have cashed single checks from buyers for over a million dollars.
• Helped some of the world’s biggest accounting firms, ad agencies, and financial firms dominate categories, make hundreds of millions in new annual revenues, and book billions in new assets by developing breakthrough top-line strategies, programs, and tactics.

To give you an idea, here are some of the big-name firms I have advised. 

Arthur Andersen, Advisor Software, Bank of America, Barra, Bristol-Myer Squibb, CapitalOne, CIBC, Colgate Palmolive, Colonial First State (Aus), Commonwealth Bank (Aus), EDS, Ernst & Young, Fidelity Investments (FESCO), Fleet Bank, KPMG, Lloyds / TSB, Microsoft, Russell Investments, Teletech, Trimble, Union Bank, United Utilities, Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo Bank, Wells Fargo Mortgage, Young & Rubicam.

While working with those companies, I had the chance to observe and work with great leaders and those who are not so great. I learned firsthand what great team cultures feel like and what it feels like to work on teams and organizations where the culture sucked.

I started getting serious about marketing when advising Young & Rubicam in 1998. At the time, they were one of the world’s premier advertising, PR, and branding firms.  Years later, I ran one of the most highly regarded marketing teams in asset management.

There are more lessons learned from these clients than I can recount here.  Having said that, If I were to boil it all down to just a few points, they would be these:

• Focus and specialize.  Much, much more than you think you should.
• Treat people fairly . . . don’t offer someone something you wouldn’t accept if they offered it to you.
• Work with “true pros.”  Don’t work with clients that don’t fit.  Don’t hang around with people who drain your energy.  Do hang around with people who bring out the best in you.
• Think “lean.”  There is a ton of literature on lean startups.  The basic idea is to get things into the market as quickly as you can.  Minimum Viable Offers. Test, learn, measure, modify, repeat.
• Never lose sight of value . . . the value you create for your buyers; the value you place on your time, life energy, and expertise. 
• Build a business that makes you smile.