About

Jen van der Meer is a business model designer. She practices her craft at Reason Street, where she helps companies shift successfully to customer-centered “x-as-a-service” business models. Recurring revenue businesses enable companies to have more honest relationships with customers and give founders more optionality to pursue growth with less extractive sources of capital. She has helped over 200 founders to be in stronger negotiating positions to raise over $2BN in equity and over $50 MM in grants. Jen also teaches at Parsons Strategic Design and Management Program as an Assistant Professor where she researches sustainable business models and researches alternative sources of capital.

Experience

Adjuct and Assistant Professor - NYU, SVA, Parsons School of Design

I am a certified Lean LaunchPad instructor and have run a number of startup pitchfests, Venture Labs, and now an Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative. I specialize in alternative forms of capital and organizational structures.

Founder/SVP Services: Drillteam > Powered > Dachis Group > Sprinklr

After traveling around the world a few too many times to conduct customer research, I started to experiment with building tools for research, and then joined a startup, Drillteam, as an equity partner that had built their own tools for engaging with this emerging Millennial crowd that wanted to co-create with brands. Drillteam was acquired by Austin Ventures-backed Powered, then Dachis Group, and then Sprinklr. quickly realized the massively different negotiating leverage I had with real cash flows and the 10x difference in valuation from recurring revenues.

General Manager - Frog Design

I got a job running their NY office, where I prepared to hunker down and do good work for corporates like GE, Disney, and Nike designing real products that you could touch. Real product design that required mechanical and electrical engineering. Real products that were sold in stores with real cash flows.

Sr. Global Exec Director of Methodology, Organic

In this dot com IPO I rose to the senior ranks to be able to forwarn the executive team of the follies of pursuing 8 different business models. I failed to convince so then then left at the height of the bubble.