Blending Strategy and Creativity: Meet Todd Nelson

Todd Nelson has a deep-rooted passion for startups as well as marketing leadership experience at tech, financial services, and healthcare companies. His successful co-founding of LiveSpace highlights his knack for building strong, diverse teams, attracting users through organic growth, and navigating operational challenges. As a fractional CMO and CBO, Todd continues to leverage his expertise in marketing, brand strategy, and communications to drive success and growth.

Tell us about your marketing background.

I went to graduate school at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism to study communication management with a focus on marketing communication. It was in the early Internet days and, with classes at night, I had the opportunity to work full time at startup companies where we quickly learned what worked and what didn’t. After graduation, I was director of marketing at Spark Networks, the parent company of JDate and other online dating platforms. They brought me on to build and launch gay11.com, a new site targeting gay and lesbian singles, which I rebranded to Glimpse.com and grew to 746,000 registered users prior to the company’s IPO.

I went on to senior executive roles in traditional sectors like banking and insurance but always had a passion for startups so I jumped at the opportunity to work with Will Glaser (co-founder of Pandora Media) as head of content marketing at Grabango, a leading provider of checkout-free technology.

I’m now a fractional CMO and Chief Brand Officer for two startups: an AI-powered advising platform for university students and a content platform working with leaders in music and television production. I’m also the founder of a new venture using AI to connect artists and art lovers and am enjoying the journey with two co-founders.

You recently co-founded the company, LiveSpace. Describe the business.

LiveSpace was a social livestreaming platform that made it easier for gamers, musicians, and other creators to monetize their talent. We removed barriers like requiring a minimum number of followers or subscribers, and streaming a minimum number of hours every month just to qualify to get paid. We also made trust and safety a high priority, which was recognized widely by creators who felt other platforms ignored user well-being.

I met the founder, a fellow USC alum and a young, tech-savvy, professional musician, shortly after he began developing the platform. I was impressed with what he was doing and we agreed that my 20+ years in marketing and brand strategy would greatly benefit the company so I came on as co-founder and investor.

We raised over half a million dollars in a pre-seed round and built an outstanding team, including former Twitch and YouTube employees. We progressed quickly from early idea stage through to a minimum viable product (MVP) and on to beta testing where we attracted over 15,000 registered users through outreach on social media—before we even spent a dollar on marketing. I’m really proud of that! We ultimately faced challenges in scaling and fundraising, leading us to explore acquisition options. We’re finalizing an acquisition now, and I’m proud of what we achieved with LiveSpace.

What were your biggest lessons learned from this experience?

Being a co-founder, and having my own money on the table as an investor, brought new responsibilities. It required maintaining focus on our vision and making sure we were on the right track. It was a good burden to have. There’s satisfaction and a real sense of pride that comes from seeing a startup take shape and evolve.

As both CMO and COO, I faced significant challenges of raising capital, bringing on early team members, and other operational aspects such as figuring out payroll and benefit plans. The checklist was pretty long, but the experience was immensely fulfilling. Seeing quick progress and working with a dedicated team that took the risk and believed in our vision was rewarding. I still speak to every one of them regularly. They’re all proud of the work we did and have zero regrets. I feel very good about that.

Do you have tips on what to look for in first hires?

Key for a founder is to know where you are weak and to find the best people you can to do the work that needs to be done.

For many startups, engineering is crucial. We initially outsourced engineers in Ukraine, then India and Pakistan, which enabled us to conserve investor capital. The same goes for our team members who came in initially for equity. We were clear that the money we were raising was all going into developing and launching the platform. There was no marketing spend in the beginning, but we prepared for when that would eventually come into play.

As a founder, you tend to ask people in your network, which has both good and bad aspects, as it might limit diversity. We were fortunate to bring on consultants and team members who were female, LGBTQ+ and other diverse communities from the start. It was always top of mind for me and it brought in unique perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences.

Do you have any tips for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Know what you’re aiming at and have a laser focus instead of a shotgun approach. Do what you do really well. Be known for the one thing you do better than anyone else. If you can build that reputation and create a product that generates enthusiastic customers, repeat users, and people who want to share what you do, then you’re hitting all the right chords. You can begin to grow and scale, using that early success to your advantage.

What is next for you?

In addition to founding my next startup (stay tuned!), I’m excited to help companies—whether startup or established—put their plans into action and achieve measurable milestones. As a chief brand officer, I thrive in environments where I can blend creative and strategic elements. With expertise in marketing, brand strategy and communications, I’m able to bring together user experience, interface design, the voice of the brand, and the technical side of operations and customer acquisition. I can help others do it as well, whether as a consultant, co-founder, or advisor.