Kurt Baumberger

Kurt Baumberger is the Managing Partner of MarketSquare Worldwide (www.marketsquareworldwide.com), an innovation acceleration firm that works with companies and teams around the world.

Kurt is an entrepreneur, speaker, and author. He has taught classes at Stanford, Duke, Emory, and Georgia Tech. Kurt regularly speaks at business and innovation conferences. He also delivers workshops and programs to private clients.

He has always been an "idea man," starting his career as one of those "Mad Men" on Madison Avenue. Then, he worked at the world's premier international marketer, The Coca-Cola Company. This experience led to engagements with Apple, Microsoft, Nissan and other organizations that grow through innovation.

Kurt's first book, Adapt Or Die: How The Internet Is Killing Dealer Profits And What To Do About It helped the automotive industry innovate their business processes and even their entire business model. This book foresaw the impending automotive industry recession and provided detailed plans on how to survive and thrive on the rebound. It remains a "must read" for everyone in the industry today.

Kurt's second book, Innovation Navigation: How To Get From Idea To Reality In 90 Days is a practical, easy to use guide for anyone who is ready to stop talking about innovation and start building something. Innovation Navigation features mapping exercises, illustrations, and one-page summary tools used by startups, marketing agencies, consultancies, and companies worldwide. Like Adapt Or Die, it's a down to earth, roll up your sleeves and get working kind of book that doesn't pull any punches.

He graduated from the College of William and Mary with Honors in Social Psychology and earned his Masters of Business Administration at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. While at Duke, he became friends with Coach Mike Krzyzewski and has been obsessed with Duke Basketball ever since.

In his spare time, he's played one-on-one with Michael Jordan, performed on stage with Jackson Browne, and has played golf with Jack Nicklaus. Each of these incredibly lucky experiences has a great story behind it.

Kurt grew up in a rural community in upstate New York and has lived in the thriving metropolises of New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Atlanta.