meet the founder

Neil Riddell — Founder / CEO

I’ve had the benefit of standing on the shoulders of giants and learning from great people throughout my life. These life experiences shape your values, your passions, and ultimately, who you are as a human being. They factor into what you do and how you do it, every single day. Applying those learnings, building on them with your own experiences, and then passing that cumulative knowledge along to others is what life’s all about and why I enjoy helping founders build businesses and existing CEO’s take their brands and products beyond where they thought possible. There are three key stanzas to my life that have shaped who I am and how I help businesses achieve greatness.

 The impact of Diversity + Philanthropy

I attended Milton Hershey School in Hershey, PA from the age of 8 to 18. MHS is a school for disadvantaged kids from across the country. It was founded by chocolate industrialist, Milton Hershey. He and his wife were unable to have children but wanted to give needy kids the kind of upbringing he never had. In 1909, he started the school and eventually gave them his entire fortune and controlling interest in the Hershey Company. With an endowment of $13B+ the school provides a phenomenal education and safe haven that I would not have had access to otherwise. Growing up on dairy farms, the school instilled a strong work ethic and appreciation for the necessities of life. What was perhaps most invaluable to me was the diversity you were presented with at an early age—living in homes, side by side, with 15 other boys & girls of all races, religions and ethnicities. This created bonds that go far beyond typical friendships. By handling adversity together, you quickly understood that we are all one. No division. The same team—one humanity. Milton Hershey’s philanthropic gesture has positively impacted and inspired so many over the past 100+ years. For me personally, the experience left a tremendous sense of gratitude, empathy for others, and a hunger to explore my full potential while using my skills to give back.

 the Courage to pursue Dreams

Growing up near the “Quarterback Cradle” of western Pennsylvania that birthed Unitas, Namath, Marino, Kelly, etc., football was in my blood at an early age. In 1989, there was no college football team in the country better than the Miami Hurricanes. No offense was more explosive or innovative. No team played with more passion and hunger. Miami was the team of the ‘80’s. It was my dream to go there to compete for national championships and be a part of their rich tradition. Amazingly, that came to pass. At the time, we weren’t aware of just how special those years would turn out to be. We continued what would become an NCAA record 58 game home winning streak, sent a record numbers of players to the NFL draft and became what was then the most dominant team in the modern era of college football. Like MHS, the brotherhood of football alumni at Miami is special and unmatched, due to the bonds created through striving for greatness. Grit, tenacity, unwavering perseverance, constant competition and unrivaled hard work were the standard. Besides getting an excellent education and living a sports dream, the key takeaway for me was experiencing the power of visualizing something and then doing whatever it takes, regardless of the odds, to make that vision a reality—getting to Miami, winning a national title and setting the school record in the javelin. These experiences set the tone for the rest of my life and allowed other dreams to come true with my career and family. I’m humbled and ever grateful to have been part of such a special moment in time.

To infinity and beyond

Being part of a sports dynasty in college was unique. Little did I know that taking a job at a nondescript ad agency, located in Coconut Grove, FL in 1998 would turn into a similar experience. The agency’s focus was about finding a better way, disrupting traditional advertising and creating work that changed culture. Similar to the University of Miami, the odds were stacked against us in the beginning. The agency was small, in an atypical market, and had to do more with less. It had a unique culture and through sheer force of will, made a name for itself by outworking and outthinking the competition. While I was there, we went from 1 office with 75 employees to 8 offices with 1,250+ employees around the world. Crispin Porter + Bogusky became the world’s most-awarded agency, winning Agency of the Year 13 times and Agency of the Decade in the 2000’s. They are the only agency to have won the Cannes International Advertising Festival Grand Prix in all five categories: Promotion, Media, Cyber, Titanium and Film. A run that will likely never be repeated as the ad industry itself has become disrupted and fractured. The motto in the early days was to “hire smart people and get out of the way.” The talent that came through the doors during that span was incomparable. Many of the current leaders across the creative industry today had stints at CP+B. The biggest lesson I learned early on was the importance of following your passions and perfecting your craft. When you do that, work becomes ‘play.’ You’ll be better at it and people will take notice. Nothing could be more true.

Always at the forefront of progress, CP+B reinvented traditional print/media advertising in the late 90’s, then led digital & integrated creative in the 2000’s. I took these learnings a step further in the mid-2000’s by merging all the skillsets found within an ad agency and combining them with holistic product design, business operations and venture capital to build companies from scratch that were meaningfully connected to culture. CP+B took equity and had big exits, owning their work. This became the next frontier of differentiation in our industry. I founded Noun and ran it as an innovation engine—a separate LLC within the agency—during the last 13 years of my 20+ year career at CP+B. In 2019, I spun it out as a separate entity.

All three of these life experiences have had a profound effect on me and I carry the principles, lessons and wisdom learned from my mentors into the work I do on a daily basis. We’ve been able to tweak and evolve the Noun Ventures business model over the years. Along with our partners and colleagues, we’ve pioneered a better way to utilize the strategic, creative and design skills of people within the creative industry to build valued companies. It’s a better business model and a more fulfilling and holistic way of working that unlocks the full potential of people. Beyond the big exits we’ve had, that is what I am most proud of. For any organization to have success, it’s always about the people. I am deeply grateful that I’ve had the ability to work with some of the “best of the best” and do what I love for so long. Ever-learning and always growing, I’m excited to take this platform for transforming businesses to new heights.