John Matthew Simon

Will Your Dreams True... Luck Is Just Persistence.

United States

Customer aligned Creative Leader, Marketer, Researcher, and Communications expert who has more than 15 years of experience in all aspects of product development, management, research, audience acquisition, and marketing within the music, entertainment, market research, and digital media start-up space(s). Highly adept at anticipating and translating the complex problems and needs of stakeholders and end-users alike, mindfully illuminating and elucidating steps that empower cross-functional teams to produce sticky and competitively differentiating products collaboratively. Entrepreneurially driven team player who embraces unconventional thinking, candidly seeks feedback, actively listens, and empathically synthesizes data for effective and proficient communication, expediting creative problem-solving in agile start-up environments. A unique blend of business and technical savvy, passionate curiosity, and a bias towards action that drives efficiency inspires creativity, ignites innovation, and enables ideation in highly experimental contexts.

Portfolio
BANDxCITY
BxC's Farewell

When we first set out to do this BANDxCITY thing, it was with the mission of highlighting emerging music from the most important cities and scenes that foster it, all in one place. Produced by the people invested in the music coming out of their city, BxC became a space known for its authentic, unwavering voice about local music culture, published for a deserving global audience. Scouring cities from Seattle to Paris and Austin to London, we did this not to act as mere ambassadors, but as a...

Medium
12/21/2015
Failure Hasn't Failed Me

I have failed spectacularly and still failure hasn't failed me. I have been swept up in loss, undermined by myself and others, burdened by a lack of communication, unfulfilled with decisions and outcomes, and foundered by the idea that I couldn't control people, places, and things, which in and of themselves are ungovernable.

Do312
Jack Daniel's Summer Fest Guide

"There are more than 100 festivals every summer in Chicago, and Jack Daniel's wanted to be associated with all of them without having to sponsor every single one."

Northwestern
02/19/2016
Creative Sector Buzz from the MSLCE Program at Northwestern University

By John Matthew Simon A couple weeks ago my peers and I were given the wonderful opportunity to visit VSA Partners, a design firm in downtown Chicago. We were lucky to be given an extensive tour by partner David Ritter who reinforced the notion that VSA Partners believes in "the beauty and art of good design."

Northwestern University - School of Communication
08/22/2016
"Music For Everyone"

My Graduate Thesis on Hybrid Business Models in Streaming Media / OTT.

Do312
DO312 PREMIERE: NETHERFRIENDS - "TOUR4EVER" EP

Here at Do312 we pride ourselves in our love for all things Chicago, but it would be a lie if we denied how excited we get when Chicagoans create music and art... Therefore, we were boofy blitzed, that's 90's for excited, when our pal Shawn Rosenblatt, a.k.a. Netherfriends asked us to partake in the premiere of his new EP "TOUR4EVER". And unsurprisingly, Shawn delivers another EP chalk full of catchy tracks that have made this prolific song-writer a staple and go to when it comes to great...

Northwestern University - School of Communication
10/29/2015
Creative Sector Buzz from the MSLCE Program at Northwestern University

By John Matthew Simon "We never want to become static," said Jeffrey Guerrero, the graphics coordinator at Threadless, as he gave us a tour of their Madison Street madhouse on Chicago's near west side. Founded in 2000 by Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart, the e-commerce platform and artist community is the longtime darling of Chicago's tech and creative sectors, having innovated the crowdsourcing model.