This is going to be dangerous.

Lead, grow, and prosper with a market-driven business strategy.

We are bona fide problem solvers, opportunity creators, and business makers who help you see challenges through a different lens. We’re all about imagining ideas, and turning them into reality.

Come join us, before lunch.

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Who we are, and what we know

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David

David Allen Ibsen has spent the last 25 years dissecting the relevance of consumer behavior to business strategy.  He started his career on Madison Avenue, then headed to Hollywood, and now spends a lot of time in San Francisco, New York, and Denver--or wherever a brand challenge takes him. 

David began his career working on the launch teams for Lexus, and Hyundai automobiles. He then led agency teams for consumer and technology brands, such as Microsoft, Xerox, Adobe, Yonex Tennis, Beech Aircraft, and Cristal Champagne. After his Mad Ave life in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco with the ad agencies Saatchi & Saatchi, Ogilvy & Mather, Bates Worldwide and Young & Rubicam, he moved to the client-side in marketing organizations for both emerging companies and established brands. He founded 5 Meetings Before Lunch 14 years ago as a marketing consultancy and has since broadened its focus to be around market-driven business strategy.

In addition to his consulting practice, David writes a nationally recognized blog titled THE FIVE (formerly "5 Blogs Before Lunch") which was acknowledged as the Best Business Blog by the prestigious Webby Awards in 2006 and 2009. David has also been recognized by the International Academy of the Visual Arts as a W3 Gold Award winner. David is often asked to speak boldly (and on a stage) on the topics of branding, marketing, advertising, social media and blogging.

Rocky

Robert “Rocky” McGredy is a young soul with a passion for design aesthetics and modern technology. Ever since his early teenage years, he’s been developing a healthy obsession for social media and viral marketing. With a strong foundation in technology, and an unparalleled sense of what's "current"; Rocky dives into the social niches of the Internet and plans to become truly viral. We’d call Rocky a savant, but it seems to always have that “idiot” word attached to it. His focus is on developing social media programs, and business development for the consultancy. He is also a frequent contributor to THE FIVE and acts as its social marketing manager.

Over 100 brands served

  • Lexus
  • Microsoft
  • Autodesk
  • Hyundai
  • SGI
  • Macromedia
  • Blurb
  • Photobucket
  • CNET
  • FitBit
  • True Ventures
  • Federated Media
  • Personify
  • HOT Studio
  • Lookbooks

We have a track record of success with over 100 clients

We work with Fortune 100's seeking to pivot or grow in the market, and emerging companies at inception, launch, and scale. Whether it's a start-up or a global brand, we’ve worked to build, re-focus, re-align and re-position scores of consumer and consumer technology brands. We work with individuals, small teams and large organizations.

Let's have a conversation



We'd love to hear from you. Let us know if you're up for something dangerous.

This is going to be dangerous

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Change can be scary, but lack-of-change can be disasterous.

5 Meetings Before Lunch takes a consultative approach to developing market-driven business strategies that affect significant marketplace change. We are creative, pragmatic optimists who work with emerging companies, and established brands.

When opportunity knocks, a chance for success occurs.

We help companies lead, grow and prosper by seeing opportunities through a different lens. Having spent the last 25 years helping over 100 organizations navigate the inherent opportunities and risks associated with innovative market shifts and business growth, we know a pothole from a pot of gold.

Walking through fire shouldn’t have to hurt.

Once we identify opportunities for change, we help businesses walk through the fire of evolutionary or revolutionary shifts. We don’t believe in giving advice and running out of the room before you notice that somebody has left a steaming turd on the table. Whether working with an established brand, or an emerging company—we know a thing or two about how and when to innovate, and when and how to disrupt.

Make change in order to lead, grow and prosper.

5 Meetings Before Lunch works with leaders who want to advance great ideas and catalyze change within their organizations. We tackle your challenges directly, without a lot of sugarcoating, to identify the best path to success. We examine opportunity through different lenses; we filter concepts and strategies down to the most important and relevant; and we build effective plans and programs that deliver superior results.

What we do won’t hurt you


Knowing a thing or two about a thing or two allows us to confidently walk you through change.

5 Meetings Before Lunch approaches business strategy and plans from a market-centric viewpoint that includes collaborative idea generation, cross-functional interaction and process-driven creative thinking. We start by asking the tough questions. These can range from validation of a perceived market opportunity, to questioning the alignment between business objectives and available resources. From there, we add our own expertise, research and perspective, while working with your team to develop and roll out detailed operational plans. Let us walk you through change.

  • Audience
    Segmentation

    We do a deep-dive into understanding your audiences, and segmenting key targets and uncovering their needs, behaviors, and desires.
  • Company
    Culture

    We uncover and articulate what you're all about. We call this your Cultural Soul. It needs to ooze out of your products, be in your sales and growth strategy, and be clearly seen by your customers and their influencers.
  • Market
    Disruption

    We develop go-to-market business plans and market disruption strategies including product, pricing, revenue, culture, acquisition, sales, and marketing strategies.
  • Marketing

    We create strategies and programs around the three “A’s” of customer development and management (Awareness, Acquisition, and Advocacy), including messaging for launch, fundraising, and marketplace change. We create plans and strategies, then help identify and manage needed resources.
  • Strategic
    Positioning

    We are expert in developing unique and relevant value propositions, positioning statements and core values. (Yes, there is a difference)
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