Chris Sparks Email & Phone Number

Brooklyn, New York, Us

At Forcing Function, I teach elite performance frameworks to a select group of twelve investors and executives in meaningful companies. My performance coaching clients perform at their peak, achieve superior returns on time and capital, and design lives of freedom and purpose.Offerings:- 1:1 Executive Performance Coaching- Team Coaching (Founding and Investment Teams)- Workshops (Decision Making, Systems Thinking, Poker Principles, Peak Performance)- Facilitation (Executive Team Off-Sites and Strategic Planning)

Forcing Function Hour is a podcast interviewing top performers to reveal principles, systems, and strategies for a competitive edge in business.

I invest my own capital with a broad mandate for making bets with positive convexity.Primary areas of focus include seed-stage venture capital and micro private equity.Open to trusted introductions, provided you have skin in the game.

Dublin, Ie

One of the most successful online poker players of all time, ranked in the top 20 for online cash game earnings as of 2011, when earnings were still public. Made calculated bets at a rate of every two seconds across up to 30 tables, simultaneously combining knowledge of probabilistic math, game theory, and human psychology to decipher incomplete information and exploit small edges repeatedly. Leveraged a custom-built analytics UI to model competitive tendencies and plan optimal counter-strategies.I created a poker consultancy for elite players, where my ability to simplify and conceptualize poker theory helped over 100 clients (with a 96% renewal rate) further their long-term earning potential.

I went on an around the world trip which took me to over 100 places in 50 different countries.Experienced a myriad of cultures, learned an abundance of new skills, participated in dozens of local festivals and explored the full range of human experience.

New York, Ny, Us

Full-stack marketer + growth hacker, leading all paid marketing, email marketing, analytics, and conversion optimization. Getting customers onto the site, into a shopping cart, and then into a database.

Philadelphia, Pa, Us

Owned and operated a customer acquisition consultancy, primarily working with e-commerce companies.Specialized in setting up and optimizing first-run marketing campaigns (AdWords, GDN, FB) and customizing analytics platforms to uncover actionable customer insights about customers and optimize conversion flow.

Sourced, selected, and invested directly in emerging poker talent. Completed over 50 investment deals, 85% of which were profitable exits.

Chicago, Il, Us

Chaired and appointed an eight member executive board, delegating tasks to officers and presiding over all weekly chapter meetings.Established new strategic plan with new initiatives to reinforce the value of organization membership. These initiatives included establishment of a corporate sponsorship program and creation of the annual AMA Marketing Career Fair.

Chicago, Il, Us

Developed and executed member acquisition and retention strategy which leveraged strategic partnerships (with media, faculty, and other student orgs) and a new weekly newsletter. Weekly attendance rates reached an all-time high and our paid membership doubled year over year.

Columbus, Ohio, Us

Created tailored digital and print campaigns for clients on behalf of local and national advertisers for The Lantern, the largest student newspaper in the country.Generated a quarter million in advertising revenue and led the team in new account sales.

Us

Reported directly to VP - Advertising, acting as project manager for brand advertising campaigns across all channels and revising new creative according to Nationwide's brand standards. Worked on two additional large projects. I overhauled the reporting system for competitive advertising placements including vendor selection and stakeholder training. I also built a detailed financial model of Nationwide's printing processes based upon weeks of financial due diligence and interviews with dozens of controllers across the enterprise. This model was used by the board of directors in an initiative to go paperless and save upwards of $100MM per annum.

Us

Led reporting efforts within the marketing team and acted as project manager for automated inventory management and customer support initiatives. Communicated analytics takeaways and customer feedback to product engineers to improve UX and increase conversion.

Nl

Supported sales team with market segmentation and due diligence as well as prospecting and proposal creation. Drove brand awareness by managing a targeted direct mail campaign and led the relaunch of a new SEO optimized website as well as an AdWords campaign which tripled both web traffic and inbound inquiries month/month. Also, I assisted in the development, planning, promotion, and execution of several experiential marketing events at professional sports games.

Bachelors, Consumer Behavior (Marketing + Psychology)

User Acquisition Marketing