VP Sales Search

Why this profile

Danielle is a stretch candidate with high upside — her ~7 years as Sales Director at Townsend Leather and current Technical Sales Manager role at Modern Meadow demonstrate real commercial chops in the leather/materials space, but she has not yet held a VP-level or sales leadership title that would signal readiness to build and lead a full sales function at a venture-backed biomaterials startup.

✓Green Flags

• •Deep domain alignment: Danielle's entire sales career has been in the leather and materials industry — including a Sales Director role at Townsend Leather covering U.S. A&D and Hospitality markets, and her current Technical Sales Manager role at Modern Meadow, a direct analog to Uncaged Innovations' plant-based leather business.
• •Proven B2B client development: Her career progression at Townsend Leather — from Customer Service Representative to Product Development to Sales Director — demonstrates an ability to develop client relationships, close enterprise accounts, and understand material customization needs across industries Uncaged targets (luxury fashion, automotive, hospitality).
• •Mission-relevant background: Uncaged Innovations sells into markets (luxury fashion, automotive) that require both technical material fluency and relationship-driven sales — skills Danielle has built across multiple roles in exactly that ecosystem.

⚠Yellow Flags

• •No VP or team leadership experience on record: There is no evidence of Danielle having managed a sales team, set OKRs/quotas at an organizational level, or held a VP title — critical gaps for a role that will likely require building a sales function from the ground up at a ~24-person venture-backed startup.
• •Transition from traditional to bio-based materials is unproven: While her leather industry experience is relevant, selling a novel biomaterial (grain-based, plant-based leather alternative) to brands is a distinct challenge from selling established luxury leather; her ability to navigate the longer education/trust cycles of an emerging materials category has not yet been demonstrated.

Why this profile

Cindy McNaull is a solid mid-level fit, bringing 25+ years of sales and marketing management in specialty materials and textiles — industries directly adjacent to Uncaged Innovations' sustainable biomaterials space — with demonstrated business development and brand commercialization experience, though she lacks a direct VP Sales title or startup-stage revenue leadership.

✓Green Flags

• •Deep adjacent industry expertise: Cindy has 25+ years spanning specialty chemicals, textiles, and non-wovens — sectors closely aligned with Uncaged Innovations' bio-based material offering — and held senior roles at INVISTA managing the global CORDURA® brand across fashion, workwear, military, and automotive channels, all of which are key target verticals for Uncaged.
• •Sales AND marketing crossover with business development depth: She has served in both sales and marketing management positions and spent over a decade driving global business development at INVISTA, including building relationships across the full value chain from mills to designers, manufacturers, retailers, and brand houses — exactly the B2B sales motion Uncaged needs to commercialize its bioleather at scale.
• •Sustainability and innovation orientation: Cindy has led the expansion of durable, sustainable fabric platforms and spearheaded collaborations with leading global brands, signaling comfort selling innovation-driven, sustainability-positioned products — a strong match for Uncaged's mission and its target customers in luxury fashion and automotive.

⚠Yellow Flags

• •No formal VP Sales title or P&L ownership on record: Cindy's career has been rooted in brand management, marketing direction, and business development rather than a clearly defined sales leadership role with quota ownership, pipeline accountability, or a direct sales team reporting structure — a potential gap for a VP Sales seat.
• •Large-enterprise background vs. early-stage startup context: Her experience is anchored at INVISTA, a large, established Koch Industries subsidiary with mature brand infrastructure and resources; Uncaged Innovations is a ~24-person seed-stage startup (~$8M raised), and the transition to scrappy, founder-led commercial execution may require a meaningful adjustment in style and scope.

Why this profile

Sergio is a seasoned Senior-tier candidate with 30+ years of progressive sales leadership — from SVP roles at Cole Haan and FitFlop to his current SVP of Sales, Marketing & Brand at Ultrafabrics — bringing a proven track record of driving revenue growth and building commercial teams across premium materials and lifestyle brands that map directly to Uncaged Innovations' target markets in fashion, furniture, automotive, and luxury.

✓Green Flags

• •Deep expertise in sustainable/performance materials sales: As SVP of Sales, Marketing & Brand at Ultrafabrics — a premium coated fabric brand serving commercial, hospitality, marine, and RV markets — Sergio has already been selling into the exact B2B customer segments (fashion, furniture, automotive) that Uncaged Innovations targets with its bioleather, making him immediately credible with prospective buyers.
• •Demonstrated ability to deliver results at the executive level: Sergio joined Ultrafabrics in 2019, was appointed to its Board of Directors in 2022 after delivering record revenue, and was promoted to SVP in 2025, signaling consistent, measurable commercial impact — exactly the caliber of performance a growth-stage startup like Uncaged needs in its first VP of Sales hire.
• •Broad, senior-level sales career with major brand pedigree: With 12 years at Nine West Group across Wholesale Sales, Retail Operations, and Finance, followed by SVP roles at Cole Haan and FitFlop leading North American sales, and an MBA from Fordham Gabelli, Sergio brings the executive gravitas and enterprise-level relationships with retailers like Nordstrom, Macy's, and Saks to open doors for Uncaged at scale.

⚠Yellow Flags

• •Entirely B2C/wholesale background may not translate to deep-tech or biomaterials startup sales cycles: Sergio's career has been rooted in consumer lifestyle brands and textiles sold through established wholesale channels; Uncaged Innovations is an early-stage biomaterials startup requiring consultative, long-cycle B2B sales to luxury fashion houses and automotive OEMs — a fundamentally different sales motion he has not explicitly led before.
• •No visible startup or venture-backed company experience: Having spent his career at established mid-to-large companies (Nine West, Cole Haan, FitFlop, Ultrafabrics), Sergio may face a learning curve adapting to the resource constraints, ambiguity, and founder-led selling environment of a ~24-person, seed-stage company with under $1M in current annual revenue.