About

Overview

Archer has helped build over 45 early stage media companies as a board member, advisor or investor, bringing 30 years of both online and traditional advertising experience to help companies grow. Archer has deep traditional ad agency experience, as well as significant online advertising industry, sales and investment experience, making the advisory services company uniquely qualified to help early stage online advertising companies strategic and operational assistance with industry, sales, marketing, fund raising and corporate governance development.

Archer helps build digital media and marketing businesses by bridging the gap between new and traditional media, both of which are necessary to help early stage companies succeed. Archer helps bridge the gap by serving early stage online media companies in the following capacities:

Board of Directors Positions

Archer has served on both private and public company boards, providing broad online advertising operational, industry, sales and fund raising experience.

Advisory Projects

Archer has helped clients with advertising sales, brand strategy, fund raising and marketing projects, as well as serving in interim CEO positions.

Early Stage Investments

Archer has invested in numerous early stage online advertising companies, both as a venture capitalist and as an individual.

Rich LeFurgy

RichRich LeFurgy has been a board member, advisor or investor in over 30 online advertising companies. Drawing from a 17 year ad agency career in New York (NW Ayer 1978-1995), he was head of sales at Starwave and the Walt Disney Internet Group (ESPN.com, NFL.com, NBA.com and ABCnews.com 1995-1998), founding Chairman of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (1996-2001) and a venture capitalist in San Francisco (WaldenVC 1999-2004), prior to starting advisory firm Archer in 2004. Archer is a multifaceted advisory services company, assisting early stage online media companies by serving on their board of directors, completing advisory projects and proving early stage investments.

LeFurgy has served on company boards as a director (Blue Lithium [sold to Yahoo!], Web Clients [sold to ValueClick] x+1, and Associated Content), provided advisory services to large and small online advertising companies (Google, AOL, Blue Lithium, Glam and Placecast) and personally invested in promising online advertising startups (Ad Relevance [sold to Nielsen NetRatings], Grouper/Crackle [sold to Sony] and Blue Lithium). He has long been a supporter and evangelist to help grow the industry, and was the founding Chairman of the IAB, the Future of Advertising Stakeholders (FAST) and the SF Bay Area Interactive Group (SFBIG), and has served on the board of the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), the Advertising Education Foundation (AEF) and the advisory board of ad:tech. He received the IAB’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2004), was inducted into Advertising Age’s Interactive Hall of Fame (2000) and was recognized by USAToday as “the Johnny Appleseed of Online Advertising” (1998).

A summary follows below.

Board of Director Positions

  • x+1 (Current Position)
  • Associated Content (Current Position)
  • 1020 Placecast (Current Position)
  • Fathom Online (Sold to Geary Interactive)
  • Blue Lithium (Sold to Yahoo)
  • Web Clients (Sold to Valueclick)
  • Lot 21 (Sold to Carat)
  • Snowball (Taken private)
  • All Advantage (Shuttered 2001)
  • Fizzylab (Shuttered 2001)

Advisory Projects

  • adap.tv (Corporate Communications, Marketing Strategy and Plan)
  • Klout (Corporate Strategy, Advertising Sales Strategy)
  • gWallet (Advertising Sales Strategy)
  • Pheedo (Corporate Strategy, Advertising Sales Strategy)
  • SocialMedia.com (Strategy, Marketing and Advertising Sales)
  • ThisNext (Strategy, Business Development and Advertising Sales)
  • 750 Industries (Advertising Sales Strategy)
  • Intent.com (Advertising Sales Strategy)
  • 1020 Placecast (Advertising Sales Strategy)
  • Imaginova (Advertising Sales Strategy)
  • Glam (Advertising Sales Strategy and Presentation)
  • Google (Large Brand Advertiser Strategy)
  • America Online (Traditional Advertising Creative and Media Strategy)
  • Real Networks (Advertising Sales Strategy)
  • Associated Content (Business Plan and Series B Fundraising Presentation)
  • Real Girls Media (Network Partner Program Strategy)
  • Grouper (Brand Strategy)
  • Iconoculture (Vision, Mission and Positioning)
  • Mee Vee (Advertising Sales Strategy and Presentation)
  • Real Simple (Web 2.0 Strategy)
  • Blue Lithium (Ad Sales and Marketing Strategy)
  • Anchor Intelligence (Advisory Board)
  • ViewPoints (Advisory Board)
  • Delivery Agent (Advisory Board)

Investments

  • Blekko (Current)
  • Hourtown (Current)
  • Intent.com (Current)
  • Upstream (Current)
  • Iconoculture (Current)
  • Daylife (Current)
  • DailyOm (Current)
  • Serina & Lily (Current)
  • Secara (Current)
  • Ad Relevance (Sold to Nielsen NetRatings)
  • Blue Lithium (Sold to Yahoo)
  • Grouper (Sold to Sony)
  • Lot 21 (Sold to Carat)
  • Snowball (Taken private)
  • Phase2 Media (Shuttered 2001)

Association Involvement

  • Interactive Advertising Bureau (Founding Chairman, 1996-2001; Board 1996-2007; Ex-Officio)
  • Executive Committee (2002-Present)
  • Bay Area Interactive Group (Founding Chairman)
  • Future of Advertising Stakeholders (Founding Chairman)
  • Advertising Research (Foundation Director)
  • Advertising Education (Foundation Director)
  • ad:tech (Advisory Board)
  • YMCA of Greater New York (Director)

Recognition

  • Adtech Industry Achievement Award (2008)
  • Interactive Advertising Bureau (Lifetime Achievement Award, 2004)
  • Advertising Age (Interactive Hall of Fame, 2000)
  • Internet World Magazine (One of “12 Individuals that made a difference”, 1998)
  • USA Today (“Johnny Appleseed of online advertising”, 1996)
  • Advertising Age (Digital Media Master, 1996)