Robert Dough
Creative technologist. Relationship-driven.
I help companies find each other, and then I help them figure out where their capabilities actually meet. I've spent the last fifteen years doing this kind of work across brands, experiential moments, simulation and training, robotics, AI, and marketing. The more I do it, the more I notice that the most interesting work tends to live between companies, not inside any single one of them.
First and foremost, I'm a storyteller. The reason I spend so much of my time at the cutting edge of technology is that new tools keep opening up new ways to tell stories that weren't possible a year ago. The tools change a lot, but the underlying work of finding the right story to tell hasn't really changed in a very long time.
That instinct has taken me across a wider range of work than most resumes would suggest fits together: brands, experiential moments, simulation and training programs, robotics, AI integrations, and marketing operations. On paper it can look unfocused, but it's really one habit applied in a lot of different rooms. Figure out what someone is genuinely trying to do, find someone or something else nearby that's doing related work, and help the two of them connect.
Most of the best conversations I have these days start the same way. Someone calls and says something like, “I'm not sure what to call what you do, but here's what we're trying to figure out.” That's almost always where the real work is.
Partnerships
I'm not a sales guy, I'm a relationship guy. My work is finding the places where two companies' capabilities meet, then helping both sides actually get to where the meaningful work can happen. In practice, that looks like cross-company introductions, joint ventures, and embedded business development.
Experiential Marketing
Brand activations, live moments, and story-driven experiences both in person and hybrid. I've spent a lot of years on this kind of work, and the principle I keep coming back to is that the technology should always be in service of the story, never the other way around.
AI Integration
I help companies bring AI capability into the actual day-to-day of how they work, not just into their marketing or their press release. The focus is practical, not theatrical: less “isn't this cool,” and more “here's what your team will actually use on Monday morning.”
Operations
I have senior-executive operational experience. The work of making the machine actually run once strategy meets calendar weeks. I've stood up teams, processes, and infrastructure across most industries you'd care to name, and I'm comfortable doing it inside companies of nearly any size or stage.
Team Leadership
Building, motivating, and aligning teams across function and stage. The kind of work that takes a group of strong individuals and gets them moving like one organism, instead of five very talented people pulling in five very different directions.
The best conversations I have usually start with a warm intro from someone we both know, or with a specific opportunity that you're trying to think through. Email is the fastest way to reach me.