Laurie Peterson

Build & Imagine (www.buildandimagine.com) is an award-wining toy company with a line of magnetic dollhouses. Led by toy industry veteran and 2015 “Rising Star Toy Inventor of the Year” Laurie Peterson, Build & Imagine aims to shift the multibillion dollar construction toy category in a girl-friendly direction to help overcome the gender innovation gap.

“Brings magnetic building toys to a whole new level.” — FORBES
“Innovative toy to teach science, technology, engineering, and math.” — SF CHRONICLE
“They’re lots of fun.” — BOSTON GLOBE
“The best STEM gifts for girls.” — HUFFINGTON POST

• Invented, manufactured, patented, and brought to market an innovative line of building sets
• Raised $1.3M to fund market launch and traction, and did $1.6M in revenue in the first two years
• Received hundreds of five star reviews and more than 30 industry awards including nominations for “Construction Toy of the Year” and “Rookie of the Year” from TOTY, presented by the Toy Industry Association
• Cultivated all necessary infrastructure, contributors, and partners while maintaining low burn
• Grew line to 9 items and placed with Amazon, QVC, Walmart.com, Barnes & Noble, Target, Nordstrom, specialty retailers, and more
• Drove strategy and execution of all aspects of the business including product design, packaging, branding, website creation, online marketing, manufacturing, sales, fundraising, budgeting, strategic planning, warehouse oversight, order processing, and compliance
• Acquired by a top-tier US toy company

Sifteo was a tech toy startup out of MIT Media Lab that created an award-winning portable game system designed to make digital play more tactile. Sifteo Cubes sense each other, and react to your moves. Combine up to 12 Sifteo Cubes to play a variety of puzzle, learning, party, and adventure games. Laurie Peterson was brought on to establish the marketing strategy and team. Laurie stayed with Sifteo until it was acquired by 3D Robotics.

“Best of What’s New” — Popular Science
“Top 10 Most Innovative Consumer Electronic Companies” — Fast Company
“Top Tech Gifts This Holiday Season” — TODAY show
“Top 5 most engaging TED talks” — PostRank

• Managed all customer touchpoints including sifteo.com, social media, PR, advertising, events, packaging and POP, and customer support
• Led 4 direct reports as well as PR and creative agencies
• Built retail channels from zero to 500 store fronts in 12 months
• Collaborated with external PR agency to earn more than 76 million impressions following the launch of our 2nd generation product from well regarded media including Consumer Reports, Fast Company, Mashable, CNN, NBC, WIRED, etc
• Kicked off a parenting blogger review program resulting in 19M twitter impressions in Nov & Dec
• Placed Sifteo Cubes into the hands of elite influencers including Katie Couric and Jimmy Fallon
• Connected with retailers, partners, and press at CES, ToyFair, Maker Fair, Blogher, and more
• Worked with Nickelodeon to acquire licenses including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles