About
Launch Angle

Launch Angle was founded in 2018 after having very similar conversations with ambitious business leaders, founders and marketers. They all were ready for that next breakthrough moment but they were unsure of how to make it happen. This was more than proving their theory right, they wanted actionable insights and clear next steps with a trusted partner guiding them along the way.

Why LAUNCH ANGLE?

The term launch angle is most commonly used in baseball as a way to represent the vertical angle at which the ball leaves a players bat after being struck. Back in the day, coaches used to teach players to swing level, sometimes down on the ball. Fast forward to now and players are taught to put a little uppercut in their swing. Each player's launch angle is different, leading to different versions of success. Rather than teaching one swing, the best coaches are helping players customize their swing to find their best approach.

We see the same philosophy working in the business world. A generation ago, best in class companies could read the best selling business books, apply best practices in the industry and expect a decent level of success. Now, the speed of business changes so often that the things that used to separate good from great companies are now simply table stakes. We know that every company has their own growth trajectory and we help them find their beautiful sweet spot that leads to their next breakthrough moment.

Meet the team

Keith Hernandez

Founder + Partner

Keith is the former SVP of Revenue Strategy at Bleacher Report, instrumental in building their award-winning branded content studio and social practice. Prior to that he was the VP of International Revenue at BuzzFeed where he opened up business operations in Great Britain, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico.  Keith is a marketer with deep roots in branded content, creative insights and next generation distribution.
Yes, he also loves baseball.

Chris Cuddy

Founder + PArtner

Chris spent the last 15 years working across a combination of global advertising networks (McCann Worldgroup - IPG and GroupM - WPP) and digital start-ups. As a hybrid marketer - equal parts creative, strategy, and account guy - he’s led integrated marketing platforms for some of the world’s leading brands and organizations. Cuddy is a builder of brands and businesses and has stood up specialized agencies both inside and outside the holding companies. Most recently, Chris founded leading mobile experience agency, Utility, building agile creative and technology teams for brands such as Airbnb, Warner Music, Samsung and Coca-Cola.

Gabby Martinez

Partner, Head of Business Development

Gabby Martinez has spent the last ten years working within high growth digital media companies, leading the charge on the sales side both domestically and overseas. Prior to joining Launch Angle, she built and led the growth sales team at Vox Media which focused on new business. Throughout her career, she has contributed to the ever-changing landscape of online media — from the early days of streaming video on demand during her time at Hulu to evangelizing global branded content partnerships in APAC at BuzzFeed.
Gabby earned her MBA from NYU Stern School of Business, concentrating on Marketing and Finance.

Michael Tonge

partner, Creative Strategy

Michael is a cultural curator, proud Brooklyn native and alumni of Bucknell University. With years of success in Creative Strategy roles at leading agencies like Dentsu and Giant Spoon, Tonge co-founded The Culture LP, an arts consultancy dedicated to empowering creatives of color and beautifying spaces. The CLP produces exhibitions for the rising art stars Ronald Draper, Patrick Eugene, Imani Shanklin Roberts and more. Michael also leads marketing campaigns at the Brooklyn Museum, resulting in hundreds of thousands of visitors for experiences including “Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving”, “David Bowie Is”, “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power”, and Target First Saturday.

Gary Schueller

Partner

Gary is an imaginative business strategist, relationship builder and creator with 15+ year record – across agency, brand, non-profit and property environments – of forging integrated marketing partnerships, experiences and content that optimize growth.   He began his career as the head of communication for the Jackie Robinson Foundation, where he helped create the Jackie Robinson Day partnership with MLB and was the chief speechwriter for the Robinson family. Gary would go on to architect strategy for premier global brands & organizations including Audi, Citi, Unilever, Major League Baseball, Volkswagen, and the James Beard Foundation among others.  Most recently, Gary founded Subterranean, a creative consultancy working at the intersection of culture, purpose and culinary.

A wine and travel enthusiast, Gary earned his Wine & Spirits Education Trust Advanced Certificate and has served on advisory committees for the James Beard Foundation.  He holds an MBA from Columbia and graduated from Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Christina Tapper

PArtner

A lover of sports, entertainment and storytelling, Christina M. Tapper is an award-winning digital editor, content creator and champion of women and education. In 2016 she helped launch Bleacher Report’s award-winning multi-platform digital sports and culture magazine B/R Mag, which has collected multiple honors from Associated Press Sports Editors and citations in The Best American Sports Writing anthology since its inception. At Bleacher Report, Christina led a team dedicated to premium editorial experiences, rooted in high-impact, personality-driven and inclusive storytelling to ignite and drive conversation among sports fans across digital-interactive, social and mobile platforms as its managing editor.

John Chan

Partner

John is a digital media and technology executive with deep expertise in converting consumer intent into customer acquisition. With a focus on strategy and operations, John has successfully developed and scaled marketing and technology solutions that provide a digital backbone for brands, media companies and startups.

He spent nearly a decade leading the Paid Search and SEO practices at Reprise Media, through an acquisition by Interpublic Group in 2007.  After Reprise, John joined the management team at BuzzFeed as an early employee to launch a business unit that leveraged performance media to acquire audience and optimize engagement for sponsored content programs across BuzzFeed's entire advertiser portfolio.

Joel Lapp

Partner

Joel  is a media executive with over two decades of experience in defining channel strategy and vision for integrated marketing campaigns. After spending several years at the beginning of his career in online community management, streaming video, and digital marketing, Joel joined Reprise Media. At Reprise, he managed the day-to-day business operations of the digital marketing agency - Account Services, Media Strategy, Product Development, and Engineering.

In 2013, Joel co-founded Native Lift, providing strategic services and paid distribution capabilities for digital media companies, brands and content marketers. In addition to campaign management, Native Lift partners with clients to build and operationalize internal content distribution and media buying practices.

Teresa Herd

Partner


Amy Krauss

Partner ADvisor

Amy is a 20 year sports and entertainment executive with a focus on consumer insights, marketing and sponsorship.  Since 2016, Amy has operated independently providing strategic consulting services for clients such as NBC Sports Group and NFL Club Business Development.

Prior to beginning her consulting practice, Krauss had 15 years of property and agency sponsorship and marketing experience including Vice President at Wasserman responsible for leading strategy, negotiation and portfolio management for top clients such as PepsiCo and American Express, as well as Account Leadership positions at GroupM ESP and Momentum. Krauss began her sports and entertainment career at MSG in the Advertising Sales department.

Kamua Akabueze

Partner Advisor

Throughout the course of his diverse career in brand marketing, Kamau has led strategy, creative and campaign development as an agent for or employee of American Express, Jeep, AND1, Nike/Brand Jordan, Verizon, Microsoft, General Mills, P&G, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Diageo, SPI Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Edelman PR Worldwide, Burrell Communications, Momentum Worldwide, Relevent, MKTG and more.

His dynamic breadth of agency and corporate experience have helped shape him into an innovative problem solver, concept catalyst, and staunch advocate for collaborative communication design. Kamau’s belief in the kinetic and connective value of experiential marketing has been the hallmark of his leadership roles and innovations in the industry over the past decade.

Laura Henderson

PArtner Advisor

Laura is a modern marketer and brand builder. With nearly a decade’s experience in top-tier packaged goods at Kraft/Mondelez, and a two year master-class in digital agility as head of marketing for BuzzFeed, she's learned to do both the important brand jobs of strategy and growth. Laura has seen the industry from all angles both global and local, B2C and B2B- and driven results as a brand manager, a creative planner/media buyer, a content owner, and a marketing leader within a digital media company.

She brings a unique perspective to how brands, both big and small, can use digital and content to get closer to their rapidly changing consumer. Named one of Business Insider's 50 most innovative CMO's in the world, and a Media Maven by Ad Age, Laura's work has been recognized as industry-leading and game-changing. Laura is currently EVP, Marketing and E-commerce at Spin Master.



Meet the team

Keith Hernandez

Founder + Partner

Keith is the former SVP of Revenue Strategy at Bleacher Report, instrumental in building their award-winning branded content studio and social practice. Prior to that he was the VP of International Revenue at BuzzFeed where he opened up business operations in Great Britain, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico.  Keith is a marketer with deep roots in branded content, creative insights and next generation distribution.
Yes, he also loves baseball.

Chris Cuddy

Founder + PArtner

Chris spent the last 15 years working across a combination of global advertising networks (McCann Worldgroup - IPG and GroupM - WPP) and digital start-ups. As a hybrid marketer - equal parts creative, strategy, and account guy - he’s led integrated marketing platforms for some of the world’s leading brands and organizations. Cuddy is a builder of brands and businesses and has stood up specialized agencies both inside and outside the holding companies. Most recently, Chris founded leading mobile experience agency, Utility, building agile creative and technology teams for brands such as Airbnb, Warner Music, Samsung and Coca-Cola.

Custom Workshops & Events