are you ready for growth?

What We Do

Jon Vanhala founded Crossfade Partners to help teams compete and win in the creator and culture economy. Our client family includes tech startups, brands, media and entertainment firms, and creative entrepreneurs. With my team at Crossfade, we impact high-growth founders, creators, and companies, helping them transform their businesses to exceed marketing and revenue goals. We embed as a fractional C-Suite full-stack marketing and strategy team, creating value via data-driven insights, strategy, brand building, team building, go-to-market planning and execution, partnerships, and optimized activations.

Full Stack Marketing:

Strategy
Growth Marketing
Brand & Creative Copywriting
Content & Social
New Business Partnerships
Sales Strategy
Content Licensing

Demand Generation

Global Business & Partner Development

Teambuilding
Leadership Coaching & Mentorship
Strategy + Activation

Revenue Growth, Marketing, Strategic Partnerships

We have unique access to top decision makers in media, tech, brand, venture capitol, and beyond. That said, it's never enough to just have access. Our team's experience and expertise helps shortcut the process via smart discovery and by crafting the right go to market approach towards closing more high quality deals.

New Business Development

We have access. We have expertise.

We've negotiated software, content, talent deals, partnerships, sponsorships, and licenses with the world's biggest & best known companies in music, media, culture, streaming entertainment and beyond.

Strategy + Innovation + Activation

Everyone is looking to grow their business ....but often companies feel stuck and uncertain how to pivot. We help you find your muse and get your mojo workin'. We excel at creative brainstorms within a business growth framework.

We adjust our process to fit the team we are working with in order to help you assess your strengths, identify the white space for growth, setup a framework for positive innovation, and then help you take it successfully to market.

Why Crossfade?

We're good people, good at what we do, and we get stuff done for you.

Quality strategy & connectivity with expertise, experience, empathy, and execution. We live up to our promises and make a positive impact on your business.

Our happy clients tend to be in one of these three categories:

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Technology Startups

We function like the C-suite for hire that you can't yet afford (and our job is to help you fire us as soon as possible)

We quickly help you craft the best approach towards securing new business partnerships. Data-driven insights lead to actionable strategy and positive execution.

Creators

You want to optimize your output and make more money with your content and overall digital strategy.

We see tons of deal flow from innovative entrepreneurs. We are connected to big media, big brand, and big agency.

We've been on all sides of the negotiating table from major labels to indies, startups to global enterprise. Brands and agencies of all sizes.

Brands & Media Companies

Nothing engages your audience more than new technologies and pop culture experiences. The challenge is that navigating talent, tech, content, and rights issues is often a nasty gnarly headache.

We're obsessed with curating great talent, content, and the right tech to support the activation that lights up your audience

#Collab

GrooveGuild, Sonic Lens, & Crossfade Form Sonic Branding Collective

Crossfade, GrooveGuild, and Sonic Lens Agency have joined forces to provide value to brands and agency partners by using advanced music intelligence for our unique identity and branding system. More information is available at https://www.grooveguildsonicbranding.com/

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".... a founder's best friend. Jon Vanhala's ability to add value to any startup is matched only by his generosity of spirit. Aside from being a talented connector/advisor/domain expert, Jon is a remarkable human being. If he is willing to join your team, don't think about it. Just turn to whatever god you believe in and thank him for sending Jon your way. "

Nathan Heber founder and CEO of Boatyard.com (acquired by Marine Max)

Jon Vanhala was a critical advisor/investor to CrowdAlbum and to me as CEO including:
- crafting overall business strategy
- building empathy for our core clients (artists and their teams)
- building our user (artists, etc.)
- corporate development strategy and deals (fundraising, M&A, etc.)

I really enjoyed working with JV and think any company that can get him involved is extremely lucky."

Tracy Chan Chief Content Officer Soundcloud (then founder and CEO of CrowdAlbum (acquired by Spotify)

"JV makes everyone around him even better!"

Former head of Universal Music Group's largest record label

The Crossfade Crew

Crossfade Partners is an exceptional grouping of entrepreneurs, company builders, team builders, mentors, and connectors with real access and true expertise. We’re committed to driving value to our partners first.

We believe that data-driven insights lead to killer strategy, and smart strategy enables remarkable, executable, sustainable growth plans when you go to market.

We understand the value in both sizzle and steak, the show & the business. In balance and target focus.

Here are a few of the partners we've done deals with:

Many others

Jon Vanhala - CXO/Founder

JV is a tenacious, creative coalition builder & strategist who seeks and finds the best ways to get to market, light up your targets, and close more deals. A natural connector, coach/player, leader/wingman. He's equal parts data driven and creativity driven. Jon's been head of digital for the largest record label on the planet, and has helped the earliest of early stage startups. He grew up a performing musician, spending 20k+ hours practicing, rehearsing and drilling on improvisation within a framework. He sits on the Board of Affinio & Boatyard.com, the Board Of Trustees at Museum Of Pop Culture, advisor and angel to multiple startups including Boatyard.com, Strobelabs (Acquired by Ticketmaster) and Crowdalbum (acquired by Spotify), indie.ninja, and many others

Currently focused on quality music (always), consumer insights, segmentation, marketing automation, content management & metadata, more.

Why Crossfade ?

evolution | change | innovation

A Crossfader is a transition tool used in film, tv, and music production. Used as a verb (used with object), cross-faded, cross-fading.

1. to fade out (an image or sound) while simultaneously fading in a different image or sound.

2. a transition from today's status quo to a better new and better tomorrow.

At Crossfade Partners, we love disruptors and disrupting, yet understand that positive change at a large scale is often more about tenacious evolution than instant revolution.

Client & Partner Highlights:

impact + uplift = #clienthappiness

We connect our clients to the biggest industry names on the planet

Stealth

Multiple clients In Stealth Mode - we help them with go-to-market strategy, licensing, fundraising, team building, more. (and they remain the hero!)

Prescient

Customers achieve uplift via Marketing Media Mix Modeling & Optimization focused on direct to consumer companies

Fanbase

Feature Rich Social Media Creator Toolkit App & community that enables users to make money from day one.

Berklee Music & Health Institute

Interdisciplinary collaboration among experts in academia, healthcare, technology, music, and public policy in music and health.

Groove Guild

One of the world's premier music composition and supervision companies for advertising music

Silver Lake Digital

Extreme expertise in efficient media buying in the modern age. Additional services include brand development, creative, and more

RCRDSHP

Digital collectibles and NFTS on the FLOW Blockchain

Boatyard.com

JV was among first investors in, Board Director and proactive advisor to CEO. Acquired by Marine Max Feb 2020

Artistory

Data-driven Music Gaming & Fan Engagement for B2B

Universal Music Group

UMG is a great partner, and occasional client, and we are alumni, and all the above

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cliiipi

delivering a new asset class for the creator economy and the clipaverse

Affinio

Advanced audience segmentation based on consumer passions and interests. JV is on the board and helps with business development & partnerships

Starchive

Starchive innovates to simplify digital asset management for creators, solopreneurs, and SMBs. Extraordinarily effective and sophisticated software yet simple easy affordable to use

Songclip

Music, TV, Film Clips for The Clipaverse

CultureSonar

Media blog site targeting music passionate adults

Strobelabs

audience analytics for music venue operators. Acquired by Ticketmaster

Indie.Ninja

Early-stage startup matchmaking independent contractor resources to the music industry

Signal Fox

Advanced Data Scientists and business operators with cutting edge product, performance marketing analytics, simulations

Digital ReLab

A command center for today’s content producers. Manage, maximize, and make your content work for you with Starchive. 1/20th the cost of the closest competition.

Where Hip Hop Lives

We helped Emmis with strategic partnerships and digital strategy

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Paint.one

Digital Art Battles for today's digital artists

Emmis Communications

We helped Emmis with strategic partnerships and digital strategy

Crowdalbum

Tracy Chan CEO, we helped TC grow the business and get acquired by Spotify

Museum Of Pop Culture

MoPOP was founded as Experience Music Project by the late MS CoFounder Paul Allen. JV has been on Board Of Trustees since 2016

Shift Energy

Unique cloud-based algorithmic energy efficiencies for venue operators, building managers, more

Inception VR

Israeli VR platform developing unique content and channels

Angama

An impact investment and hospitality provider luxury eco-travel. We help the team connect with investors of substance to execute big plans for future growth