Melinda Wilken Email & Phone Number

I've enjoyed more than 20 years in enterprise software marketing, from early stage startups to multibillion dollar companies, specializing in helping companies achieve traction in emerging or evolving technology markets. Highlights include:In March 2005, I joined Akimbi, a virtualization management software company and launched the company and product later that year. In mid-2006, VMware acquired Akimbi for $60 million generating 250% and 500% IRR for series A and B investors, respectively.At VMware I rebranded and launched the Akimbi solution as a VMware offering, and also launched VMware Workstation 6. I then launched and ran product marketing for VMware's emerging line of management and cloud automation products, reporting to the SVP of Cloud Infrastructure and leading a team responsible for a portfolio of eight products. In 2009, I joined early stage startup Couchbase, an open source NoSQL database software company and a recognized leader in the most significant database market disruption in 30+ years. As founding VP of marketing, I launched the company and products, accelerating pipeline growth that helped increase company valuation by 10x from Series A to Series C.I also led marketing at CloudPhysics, a SaaS-based service that leverages Big Data for more efficient and effective IT ops management; and Platform9, whose SaaS-based offering makes cloud infrastructure easy with its OpenStack- and Kubernetes-powered managed service. I am currently a positioning strategist at Firebrick Consulting, a firm devoted to helping B2B technology companies accelerate revenue growth through compelling go-to-market positioning.Areas of expertise include:- enterprise software- open source- virtualization, cloud computing, SaaS- NoSQL databases, Big Data- branding, positioning, messaging- inbound/outbound marketing- marketing/sales operations- influencers (AR/PR/bloggers)- community building

Listed skills include Enterprise Software, Cloud Computing, Demand Generation, Go To Market Strategy, and 24 others.