Brian Mays, Bay Area
I'm an entrepreneur and brand builder who learned the craft by doing it, not studying it. The thread through everything I've made is simple: understand people, then tell the truth in a way they can feel. I care about community and about creating opportunity, especially for the people the usual doors don't open for.
I've built a brand from nothing into something the world recognized, and I've sat in rooms with the leadership of billion-dollar companies. Both taught me the same lesson. What looks like marketing is really just paying close attention, then having the patience to say something true. Everything I know came from the field, not a textbook.
Building Smile Natural Products
As founder of Smile Natural Products, a vegan, non-toxic, "for a cause" oral care brand, I took a product from idea to $500K+ in peak annual revenue and roughly $1M in total sales across four years. Much of that was e-commerce: I built the logistics to ship thousands of products between the U.S. and Canada, reaching 20+ states nationally. I drove growth through influencer campaigns and affiliate partners, and secured corporate partnerships with brands like Intuit/QuickBooks, WSS, and Dave. Along the way I grew the brand's social presence to 45K+ followers, built a personal following of 11K+, earned features in Cosmopolitan, Intuit, and Black Enterprise, and even put the brand on billboards, learning every part of building a company: product, marketing, operations, fundraising, and sales.
Enterprise marketing at scale
As Regional Sales Director for North America at Eagle Eye, I collaborated with Albertsons' executive and cross-functional teams to integrate personalized marketing software into their complex Oracle ERP, powering the Safeway/Albertsons "for U" omnichannel marketing platform and helping increase sales by over 5% nationally at a billion-dollar brand. Earlier, I helped build the enterprise sales team at AppCard, a next-generation loyalty platform.
Startups, advising & the venture path
I've worked inside venture-funded startups like Vori, advised others on go-to-market, and run my own consultancy. I'm also a graduate of the Zane Venture Fund VC Readiness Program, an intensive on fundraising, pitching, and team building. I know what it takes to get a company investor-ready and how to build the systems that let it scale.
Beyond the work
I'm a husband and father first. I've traveled to 20+ countries, which keeps my perspective wide and my curiosity sharp. I care deeply about building brands and businesses that mean something, for the people who run them and the communities they serve.