Ryan Furness

About Ryan Furness

We are launching our new e-commerce sales insights and analytics platform called Lumino. We provide sales insights for all customer orders on Amazon and Shopify (Woo Commerce, Squarespace, QVC, etc) as well as distributor report aggregation and insights based on region, SKU, and retailer. We also work with creative agencies to increase consumer engagement and provide valuable insights for their client campaigns.My software company, NearestYou, is a digital mapping company that also builds the absolute best managed store locators for natural products CPG, adult beverage, and non alcoholic beverage companies. I have spent my life as an entrepreneur, business owner, strategist, and salesperson. I have more than 12 years of formal B2B and B2C sales experience. It all started by selling pencils out of my locker in 4th grade, shoelaces from my desk in 8th grade, and soda and candy bars out of a huge rolling cooler in High School. The competition was fierce. Principals with a vending machine monopoly and hegemonic control are hard to beat. Fast forward 20 years and now I am the founder / CEO of a software startup (SaaS), Nearestyou.com. We build mobile-optimized store locators / map embeds for companies brands and are searching for the holy grail: a “craft beer and spirits finder”. In my \"spare time\"​ I also own and manage No Ordinary Journey (NOJgear.com), an apparel accessories manufacturing company that designs and makes Made in the USA gear for the Powersports (motorcycling, snowmobiling) industry. My work outside the business world was as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota - Rochester for almost 10 years. I developed and taught the Spanish for Health Sciences, Social Media, and service learning courses.

Experience

1. Chief Executive Officer

   Nearestyou

   Jan 2015 — Present · Minneapolis, MN, US

   NearestYou is an innovative marketing and data insights platform. Our core product is a location-aware and managed store locator mapping service. We offer full data management to keep the locators updated and we also capture valuable data insights into how consumers are interacting with their locators.We also launched an innovative mapping feature for finding in-store demos/tastings to drive foot traffic and increase shelf velocity for food, beverage, and health and wellness brands. We also work with global brands on custom software products that enhance their understanding of how their consumers are engaging with their brand via their store locators, demo finder maps, other location aware products.My role as Founder and CEO is to oversee all operations, especially our partnerships with brands, trade associations and distributors-Manage our small team of international and local software developers, data miners, analysts, designers, and research associates-Develop sales plans and quarterly and yearly goals-Lead branding and communications initiatives -Develop strategic B2B partnerships and business development plans for product growth-Product manage the software design and QA testing of both front end and backend development-Oversee budgets and revenue expenditures as well as budget and revenue forecasting -Research and analyze market competitiveness

Education

• University of Minnesota

  Master's, Hispanic Linguistics

  2001 — 2005

• University of Minnesota

  Ph.D. Work, Hispanic Linguistics

  2005 — 2008

• University of Minnesota

  Bachelor's of Arts, Spanish and International Relations

  1993 — 1998

Skills

• Foreign Languages
• Research
• Spanish
• Manufacturing
• Marketing Strategy
• Strategy
• Leadership
• Product Development
• Public Speaking
• Sales
• Occitan
• Instructional Design
• Strategic Partnerships
• Social Media
• Strategic Planning
• Catalan
• Project Management
• Curriculum Development
• Management
• Teaching
• Entrepreneurship
• Curriculum Design
• Higher Education