Sarah Ross

users worldwide and growing, Flipagram is fast becoming the world’s favorite app for telling amazing short-video stories that can inspire, entertain or inform -- anyone, anywhere. Responsible for all communications, brand marketing, social media, influencer relations, network advertising and monetization.

Founder, Owner and Partner West | SF + NY February 2011 – Present (5 years 2 months) / San Francisco, CA Founder, owner (non-operating) and partner at West, a San Francisco-based creative agency, co-founded with Jack Dorsey and Ray Chambers. Original organizer of the project and the first person funded to create what has become West (raised initial seed capital). Originator of West's business model and creative inspiration for the venture.

Vice President of Marketing Backflip Studios October 2014 – April 2015 (7 months) / Boulder, CO Leading brand marketing & communications (managing small team of artists and social media managers) for Backflip Studios, a mobile games studio based in Boulder, Colorado.

Co-founder and CMO #waywire April 2012 - July 2014 (2 years 4 months) / New York, NY #waywire, a video curation network, funded led by First Round Capital and Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors along with a group of angel investors. #waywire is focused on providing a network that will serve to fundamentally alter the tone and content of public dialogue around some of society’s most pressing issues. The network provides original, syndicated and community created video content, allowing today’s digital generation to develop informed opinions on topics and then engage in positive debates and discussions. Co-founded by Senator Cory Booker.

Head of Marketing (CMO) Backplane Inc. January 2012 – April 2013 (1 year 4 months) / Palo Alto, CA and Los Angeles, CA Backplane unites people around interests, affinities and movements. www.thebackplane.com Founded in 2011 by Matt Michelsen, Troy Carter and Alex Moore, Backplane is a Palo Alto based start-up uniting people around interests, affinities and movements. A new type of social corridor, Backplane is home to many social communities including Lady Gaga’s #LittleMonsters. Backplane investors include: Sequoia Capital, Greylock Discovery Fund, Battery Ventures, Advance/Newhouse Investment Partnership, Google Ventures, TomorrowVentures, Formation 8, Founders Fund Angel, Menlo Ventures, SV Angel, Lerer Ventures, Vast Ventures, Metamorphic Ventures, WGI Group, and individual investors.

Head of Digital Katalyst Media October 2008 – January 2012 (2 years 4 months) / Hollywood, CA As Head of Digital at Katalyst, Sarah Ross is responsible for the general management of all digital lines of business for Katalyst Media, inclusive of social media strategy, programming, original content, campaign creative and marketing execution for brand clients such as Kellogg, Mountain Dew, Nikon, Purina, Intel, Yahoo!, HP, Gatorade, The United Nations, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Harpo Productions among others. Ross leads business development and revenue generation for Katalyst’s digital unit. Under Ross’ leadership, Katalyst’s social media campaigns have won industry-level awards including a SAMMY Award (Kellogg Feeding America); People’s Choice Award (Twitter Race); OMMA Award (#endmalaria); and, the Advertising Age Digital A-List (DEWmocracy).

Chief Marketing Officer TechCrunch April 2008 – October 2008 (7 months) / Silicon Valley Prior to Katalyst, Ross held the position of Chief Marketing Officer at TechCrunch, responsible for all marketing and communications at TechCrunch, inclusive of producing the TechCrunch50 conference. As part of her work with early stage technology companies, Ross developed and executed the launch strategies for a series of technology start-ups including OOMA (VoIP hardware technology); Mixx (social media news aggregation platform); Intent (wellness category blog); and, Causes (Facebook’s largest application).

Senior Director of Marketing Yahoo! 1998 – 2007 (9 years) / Silicon Valley For nearly a decade, Ross worked at Yahoo! in various marketing and communication positions. As a Sr. Director of Marketing for Yahoo!’s Branded Content and Partnerships team, Ross was responsible for overseeing external communications, creative production, premium service sales, product positioning and media buying for Yahoo! Movies, Yahoo! TV, Yahoo! Games, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! PayDirect, Yahoo! Health, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Education, Yahoo! Astrology, as well as the online and offline marketing for Yahoo!’s content relationships with Mark Burnett Productions and Paramount Studios.

Before Ross joined the Branded Content and Partnerships team, she worked as Yahoo!’s Senior Manager of Corporate Communications responsible for executive media relations, external communications and corporate positioning for Yahoo!’s distribution agreements, advertising services, public policy, crisis communications mergers and acquisitions, and litigation. Ross, additionally, managed the company’s Community Affairs organization.

Education Pepperdine University M.A., Advertising and Communication 1990 – 1992

B.A., Advertising 1988 – 1990