Jonathan Roberts's Location
London, England, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
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About Jonathan Roberts
Recruiter working in the Broadcast, pro-sports & sports technology marketplace with a passion for building high performant Sales and Biz Dev commercial teams.
Jonathan Roberts's Current Company Details
Jonathan Roberts Work Experience Details
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FounderMidfield.BizLondon, Gb
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Director Of RecruitmentMidfield Group Ltd Jun 2022 - PresentLondon, Barnet, GbAfter spending a few months walking the dog, and listening to podcasts & audible my wife was getting somewhat annoyed with me. I was really good at doing nothing and I think she worried that I could make it a career. So I started helping out in her recruitment business. I had been recruiting teams for many years so thought "I can do this". It turns out that I loved it and I was a pretty good judge of character. They say "stay in your lane" so I have. I focus on what I know best, using my domain knowledge and experience to build teams for companies in the following segments:AR, VR, XR, LED Volume, Broadcast Graphics, Content workflows in the OB, studio, Galley & MCR, distribution through Satellite & IP, the evolution of Cloud production, Level 1,2,3,4 & 5 Sports data collection, Data monetisation, Virtual advertising; Insertion, erase and replace and LED replacement, Sports Analysis, Telestration, Stitched Cameras, Robotic Cameras, AI, ML, CV, Software development, Agile development. Whilst in recruitment I have learned:(1) Confidentially: The most important thing is people's secrets. Clients will share things with you & so will candidates. This information is for you to carry around & not be shared under any circumstances, no matter how cool it is. It's a small world & you never know who knows who. -
Svp, Global Sport & Virtual AdvertisingVizrt Apr 2020 - Mar 2022Bergen, Hordaland, NoSo 2 months into my tenure Stephan took me to one side and said "oh by the way, did I tell you I am going on a 6-month Sabbatical" to which I replied.. "funnily enough no you didn't mention it" Stephan ended up enjoying the sabbatical so much he did not come back & I entered the C suite. So in April 2020 at the start of a global pandemic, I became responsible for the Sports P&L within Vizrt. Here I learned:(1) How to Pivot: When covid hit no revenue would be coming from Live sports. We took some of our sports technology and created the Virtual fan solution for La Liga. We wanted the TV audience to be watching the football & not focussing on the fact that there were no fans in the stadium. It just so happened that the federations wanted the same thing. The revenue generated from this pivot helped a great deal.(2) The importance of expectation Management: Moving into the C suite means under-promising & over-delivering. This is very hard to do when you need the investment to continue in a strategy & the revenue plan falters. Suffice it to say I learned a lot about what not to do. Which sometimes are the best lessons. -
Global Head Of Virtual AdvertisingVizrt Sep 2019 - Apr 2020Bergen, Hordaland, NoFor many years I competed with Viz, first at Piero & then at ChyronHego and then I found myself wearing orange. The pitch that Stephan gave me was that Eclipse (their Virtual advertising product) was ready to ship and it just needed to be sold. The virtual advertising journey was a fascinating one in my most complex multi-stakeholder environment ever. To cross the chasm I needed to understand all the stakeholders:(1) Federations: How real & virtual advertising is sold. The official League approval processes. How commercial rights are put together for major leagues & competitions and how they are sold in different territories around the world.(2) Sports Agencies: The deals that they do with Clubs & Federations and how inventory is packaged & sold. How sponsors are found & sold to.(3) Clubs: The ownership structure of inventory within the stadium and their relationships with Agencies. The power balance of the top clubs in the leagues & how they use this power.(4) Broadcasters: What rights do they actually get when they buy a rights package and what the "norm" is in different countries around the world? (5) Outside Broadcast suppliers: How the productions are run, the importance of being ingrained within production schedules & the standard operating procedures, and how this changes depending on the importance of the game.(6) Internal: How to take an R&D product from a working prototype to understanding how the product can be delivered to the market with 1 operator. This meant looking at the Simplicity, Reliability, Flexibility & Scaleability of the product and then prioritizing features using a finite development resource to deliver & manage expectations.
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AdvisorFulcrum Technologies Pl Feb 2018 - Dec 2021Mona Vale, New South Wales, AuI met the founder back in 2017 and we stayed in touch. In 2018 I started helping him out in the UK using my market knowledge to help spread the Gospel according to Angles. Angles is a software tool that enables video analysts to clip up video, add metadata & annotate to help explain the nuances of the game to players. Angles is a disrupter in a market that has been using the same tool for 20+ years. To do that you need to think differently and add value with measurable benefits to users. Here I learned:(1) About performance analysis: Training ground cameras, Match-day tactical cameras, and stitched cameras. The importance of Data in getting players match-ready. Comparing wearable data metrics to match day data to set training regimes. -
Business DevelopmentMark Roberts Motion Control Dec 2017 - Oct 2019Blindley Heath, Surrey, GbBack in 2015, whilst working for ChyronHego I initiated a partnership with MRMC to commercialize an idea to have robotic cameras driven by player tracking data mimicking broadcast cameras. Subsequently, Nikon has purchased MRMC, invested in Velodyne (LIDAR) & Wrnch (Limb tracking), and partnered with Dimension studios and build a mobile Volumetric Capture Truck. Here I learned(1) Motion control: How it is used in TV & Film & business(2) Capture: How Capture-studios, Motion capture & volumetric capture is used within TV and advertising(3) Automation: Replication of human-controlled cameras using robotics & data(4) That MRMC was called on by the team formed by John Dykstra to do the Motion control work for Star wars. This company then went on to become Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for the Empire strikes back & gave birth to our industry. Watch the History of ILM on Disney+ Very cool. -
Business DevelopmentLinius Jan 2018 - Jun 2018Melbourne, Victoria, AuI got involved with Linius as I was fascinated by the potential of what they could do with Metadata and blockchain. Their proposition was to create media Objects for frames of video & within the object, data could accumulate and then store this on the blockchain. With my background in Sports data I thought I could add value. I introduced them to many sports clients but I soon realised that they were a little too early for the market and the technology was still being built out. Here I learned:(1) When there is an existing paradigm (databases sitting along side Video), then, to take on a new solution the Value prop has to have a very clear ROI. Without it there is no motivation to change. (2) Sometimes a database is good enough and you don't have to make things more complex. -
Interim Sales DirectorWhite Light Ltd Dec 2017 - May 2018London, GbHaving worked with Andy Hook on an Egyptian studio build whilst at ChyronHego I was invited to have a chat with Bryan which ended up in a 6-month consultancy agreement around sales structure. Here I got the added benefit of seeing the Cube take shape with a close R&D relationship with Disguise and the evolution of their LED solution. Here I learned:(1) XR, Extended reality: The Whitelight process to deliver their solution to the Pyeongchang Olympics and how the talent & athletes embraced the Cube on Eurosport. This was a sea change.(2) An understanding of the Venue business & the rental business. -
Managing Director (Uk, France, Meia)Chyronhego Apr 2015 - Jul 2017Melville, New York, UsIn January 2015 Rickard joined the business as President of Europe & he wanted me to own the P&L of the UK, so in April of that year, I was promoted to Managing Director. My day-to-day activities did not change that much but I was able to focus more on Investing & growing new Markets. The lowest hanging fruit was the Pro football space. Prozone had left the door open for us. We went to market with Coach paint, which was a variation of the product used on MNF and the clubs loved it. At the same time, we went about proving that our data was better than Pro-zone. It took time but slowly but surely most of the premier league & a fair portion of the championship had shifted across. During my tenure as MD, I tripled the turnover of ChyronHego UK. Here I learned:(1) How to cross the Chasm: We took a broadcast product to Man City and asked them to use it & tell us what they would need to make it work for them. We walked out of that meeting with a 2-page list of features. We went away and developed them & went back 4 months later and they bought it. 18 months later we had created a new market and had 18 out of 20 EPL Clubs.(2) How to deliver on a Player tracking contract for 380 games per year, what levels of resilience are needed in each stadium & how important training is to get a repeatable service. I did not have a weekend without a call for 2 years.(2) Once you have people in the stadium for every match you can sell other services -
Vp Emea SalesChyronhego Mar 2014 - Apr 2015Melville, New York, UsThe problem with working for any back-office technology company is that it’s very easy to generate that Chandler (friends reference) type effect on people. That look of complete confusion where you can see their inner voice saying, "why did I ask!" and "how do I change the subject and quickly". The good bit about sports technology is that you never get that. People are genuinely interested in what you do. It makes what you do special. I missed that.Hego had just merged with Chyron & I was very familiar with the CEO, Johan, as I had worked with Hego on MNF when I was at Piero. I came on board as a VP of sales but it quickly became apparent that the job was a little bigger than this. The jewels in the crown were the Sky & EPL contract therefore I went about understanding how we could improve the quality of our delivery to both whilst at the same time looking at ways in which we could grow the Broadcast business. Here I learned:(1) The physical set design process: I got a phone call in December asking if they could have MNF. Without hesitation, I said Yes & 3 months later with the help of Whitelight we delivered a complete set with hardware & software to run it.
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Sales Director EmeaComcast Technology Solutions Dec 2012 - Dec 2013Centennial, Colorado, UsDuring the World Cup Broadcasters meeting in Cape Town (Great Party) I was demonstrating a Deltatre / Piero product to potential clients. I realised at this point that data was going to become the way that consumers could interact with a live broadcast. Sport was a story & data would become the entry points: it was Live metadata. Join a game at 4:2, jump back to see the goals & then continue to watch. Data was my mantra for the next few years and its integration with analysis was the backbone of Piero's message.So when I finally lost my BA silver card I realised it was time for a change. I started looking around for a company that could take advantage of my Sales skill set & sports knowledge. The platform looked as though it was well-positioned to satisfy both. The UK office of the platform looked after Liberty Global & BT as their main clients. My job was to find new clients selling the underlying platform rather than Pro services. The challenge was that the underlying platform needed a fair bit of configuration and Ooyala was doing a pretty good job and making it look easy. Therefore, I was forced to focus on the high end which had long lead times. On the plus side, I got a few deals through the door & got to work with a great team but my heart was not really in it, I missed Sport, and therefore started looking around for a new challenge. Here I learned:(1) OTT Delivery: Encoding, Transcoding, Metadata, Bitrates, DRM, Players, Discovery, App development.(2) Linear Vs OTT: An understanding of Linear broadcasting & how OTT gave the broadcasters so much more opportunity for monetisation & DTC. -
Busines DevelopmentRed Bee Media Jul 2008 - Dec 2012London, London, GbWell after a start-up & a product that was a little too conceptual for the consumer market I returned to B2B sales to sell a product that was nurtured by a very smart bunch of developers who really cared for their product. Piero provides a tool to help broadcasters to tell a story in sports. Every time you see an arrow saying where the player should have been 8 times out of 10 its Piero.I set to work in sales doing what I normally do and over time helped build partnerships with service providers & broadcasters alike. Some of the highlights were working with FIFA via Deltatre on the World cup 2010 where we got Piero onto the rate card and working with Hego where we deployed the analysis for Gary to use on Monday Night Football on Sky UK. When I had finished my time at Piero there were 45 of the worlds largest broadcasters that used Piero on a Football. Piero has gone on to be sold to Ross Broadcast. Here I learned:(1) All about broadcasting & what it is like to work with passionate purposeful people.(2) an appreciation for software development & what goes into building something & how important it is to get the specification 1st before you start building. -
Chief Sales OfficerNivio Feb 2007 - Jun 2008Palo Alto, Ca, UsDo you remember the start-up I mentioned before joining Net Evidence well this was one of them? I had been involved with Sachin (the CEO since 2004), having many a beer discussing how Nivio could work & who if anyone would buy it. So in 2007 after a new round of funding, I came on board full time focussing on defining the sales channels and getting to grips with a go-to-market strategy. I worked at Nivio until June 2008 by which time a sales team was in place & my work was done. However I felt that I wanted to go back into sales rather than managing, so started looking for my next challenge & found it in sports. Here I learned:(1) Raising money: From putting investor decks together to presenting to investors.(2) Doing business in India: Working with Indian development teams and selling to Indian companies.(3) Start Up's: Working within a start-up is a little bit of a culture shock if you have not done it before. Its were I 1st read Crossing the Chasm. A book that has helped me in my whole career. -
Partner SalesHighlight Sep 2004 - Jan 2007Elstead, England, GbTowards the end of my time at Telstra I had become involved in 2 startups but looking for my next challenge, with a baby on the way, I decided that the right choice was the startup environment with existing revenues. Net Evidence was one of my customers at Telstra and after a few pints at the pub watching the world cup England Sweeden match I was hired... (the score was a 2:2 draw btw) The proposition was compelling & I led the sales effort in acquiring partners that would resell Highlight to their end customers. Service providers & Telco's were struggling to display their customer's network in a way that they could understand. Net-Evidence provided a 3rd party platform that simplified this data & made it easy for them to understand it seemed like an easy proposition to covey. I signed up a few partners, influenced the product, helped out in marketing & had a really good time. Here I learned:(1) About the channel. Up until this point I had been direct. So it was not just about getting them to sign up it was upskilling & motivating their salespeople to sell the product.(2) SaaS: Netevidence was SaaS even before investors realised you could get a premium from recurring revenue. -
Sales ManagementPsinet Oct 2001 - Jun 2004Huechuraba, Región Metropolitana De Santiago, ClPSINet Europe as they were now has emerged from Chapter 11 & was looking for new owners. I had kept in contact with a few of the guys at PSINet & on hearing of my redundancy were keen to take me back into their London office as a Team leader. After 5 months there was a re-organisation & I ended up managing a team of 9 sales guys. PSI was then sold to an Israel corp & Navisite JV, & when the new owners arrived they brought with them their own managers, I became an Account Director & managed some good accounts (which was lucrative, to say the least). The JV reorganised the business & when they exited to Telstra they made some good money. At this point, I decided I did not want to be part of a telco anymore & sought a smaller company. Here I learned:(1) The art of Sales management & was lucky enough to work with some great managers who taught me a lot about how to get the best out of people. It was a steep learning curve but a good one never the less. (2) How important accurate forecasting to set expectations with Management -
Direct SalesAbovenet Oct 2000 - Sep 2001White Plains, Ny, UsI started at Metromedia Fibre Networks (MFN) when the bubble had burst, but not everyone knew it yet. MFN had just bought Abovenet & Sitesmith, the offices were classic start up with Aero chairs galore & an armadillo styled boadroom with copper scales.At MFN I was selling IP Transit, Fibre & DWDM & Managed hosting. I inked a few contracts but the company was in trouble I was made redundant & shortly afterwards the company went Chapter 11.. (I was starting to take this personally). Here I learned:(1) I should have stayed at PSINet -
Direct SalesPsinet Aug 1997 - Aug 2000Huechuraba, Región Metropolitana De Santiago, ClI started working at PSINet at the beginning of a really great time in the Internet. A 2MB was going for 70k & no one knew about the Web. I can remember explaining the value of email & why they should buy a website, which now seems bizarre..I worked my way up the ranks to Senior sales, got share options & never cashed them in (won't do that again). I really look back on these times with fond memories of a great bunch of people who worked for a great company that sadly got a little too much money & lost their way.When PSINet went into chapter 11 (we were the first) I wanted to move to London so I cashed in my CV & took the money that new entrants were throwing around. Here I learned:(1) How to sell. Phillip Slightholm & Nick Sellers mentored us, sat on calls with us, and beat us up for not qualifying out opportunities. They made sure external Training was in the budget and that we could be the best we could be. I realised that Selling was a Craft & an Art that I needed to perfect.(2) How the internet worked: When we started we were given a crash course in IP. We had to be able to explain Leased lines, Managed WANs, MPLS, Firewalls, and Co-location space & managed hosting, Why you need redundant power in a data center, Fire suppression systems that kill people but the servers will be fine.
Jonathan Roberts Skills
Start Ups
B2b
Digital Media
Strategic Partnerships
Crm
Sales
Sales Process
New Business Development
Business Development
Management
Product Management
Account Management
Selling
Leadership
Go To Market Strategy
Managed Services
Networking
Integration
Strategy
Broadcasting
Channel Sales
Sales Management
Marketing
Telecommunications
Broadcast
Mobile Devices
Team Management
Customer Relationship Management
Software Development Life Cycle
User Interface Design
Salesforce.com Implementation
Jonathan Roberts Education Details
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Solent UniversityBusiness Studies & Marketing -
Herts Regional CollegeBusiness & Finance
Frequently Asked Questions about Jonathan Roberts
What company does Jonathan Roberts work for?
Jonathan Roberts works for Midfield.biz
What is Jonathan Roberts's role at the current company?
Jonathan Roberts's current role is Founder.
What is Jonathan Roberts's email address?
Jonathan Roberts's email address is jo****@****dia.com
What is Jonathan Roberts's direct phone number?
Jonathan Roberts's direct phone number is +4475907*****
What schools did Jonathan Roberts attend?
Jonathan Roberts attended Solent University, Herts Regional College.
What are some of Jonathan Roberts's interests?
Jonathan Roberts has interest in Children.
What skills is Jonathan Roberts known for?
Jonathan Roberts has skills like Start Ups, B2b, Digital Media, Strategic Partnerships, Crm, Sales, Sales Process, New Business Development, Business Development, Management, Product Management, Account Management.
Who are Jonathan Roberts's colleagues?
Jonathan Roberts's colleagues are Boi Tyol, Trung Le, Stevenson Esron.
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