agency-founder
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Garrett Mehrguth and the customer who disappeared
His first restaurant client closed before paying him. Garrett Mehrguth went on to build Directive around a question that still follows every campaign: did it bring in a customer?
Rick Greenberg and the art of getting the band together
Kepler began with six founders and nine clients. Now its founding CEO leads kyu, carrying a long-running belief that better technology depends on people who know how to work together.
Michael Mothner and the question that cost Goldman Sachs a recruit
A $10 search-engine service gave Michael Mothner a reason to walk away from banking. After two decades building Wpromote and a move to its board, he is back with another answer to a small-business problem.
David Regn’s long game began in a bakery
Before he co-founded Stream Companies, David Regn learned to grow a business inside a grocery store. Thirty years after starting an agency with his friend Jason Brennan, he is still working on the same question: what makes customers come back?
Russell M. Kern and the education of a boss
He built a marketing agency that reached 400 people. Along the way, Russell M. Kern discovered that growing a company meant learning how to let other people grow.
Nitin Agarwal and the value of showing your work
An early client wanted proof that the work was getting done. Two decades into Wildnet Technologies, Nitin Agarwal is still building a business around the distance between a promise and its delivery.
Peter Ross and the value of saying no
Peter Ross helped build 829 Studios by earning the money to keep going. His journey from bootstrapping to investment partnerships is a story about choosing the terms of growth.
Brad Simms built GALE backwards.
He started with customer data and built outward into creativity and media. By the time Brad Simms retired in 2025, GALE had become a test of whether an agency could put the business, and its people, together differently.
Jeannie Yuen and the trouble with a translated ad
After studying in Canada and working in Hong Kong and New York, Jeannie Yuen built APartnership around a larger assignment: understanding the people an advertisement hopes to reach.
Tom Gallego and the Trouble With a Finished Idea
He founded L7 Creative in 2001, wrote Adapt or Die, and kept returning to the microphone. For Tom Gallego, a marketing career means getting comfortable with the next revision.
Susan Flinn Cobian and the case for a smaller room
Susan Flinn Cobian built SFC Group around close client relationships and a team that could work from anywhere. Her career offers a practical argument for fewer layers, clearer ownership, and paying attention long after a pitch ends.
Scott Pipitone Keeps Making Room
A Pittsburgh designer started with a loan for a computer and printer. Three decades later, Scott Pipitone is still rearranging the space around other people’s ideas.
Patrick Charlier and the work between the jobs
At Wonder Media, Patrick Charlier brings technology to a business built around brands. His work connects technical strategy, a creative co-founder and the practical demands of running an agency.
Greg Zilberfarb’s Thirteen-Year Lesson in Showing Up
Greg Zilberfarb earned his degree through 13 years of night classes while working and raising four children. The TSN Communications founder went on to build a virtual agency around experienced people, practical questions and work that could be measured.
Ben Merritt and the art of leaving something unscripted
He built Merritt Group, sold the agency, and returned to startup PR with Merritt & Rose. Across a career that includes Navy service and Silicon Valley, Ben Merritt keeps coming back to the people inside the pitch.
Bessie Ramirez Knows Where the Next Pass Goes
Before she founded Marketing SI, Bessie Ramirez played volleyball for Puerto Rico and Penn State. Her work in marketing asks a familiar question: how do you get a group of people moving together?
Grant A. Johnson and the Case Against the Pitch
The Responsory founder built his career around making marketing answer to results. After decades of testing campaigns, he is asking harder questions about pitches, platforms and who owns the customer relationship.
Joe Boyd and the Art of Keeping the Door Open
A newspaper reporter became an agency founder. What stayed with the people around Joe Boyd was the welcome, the work, and the calls he kept taking.
Samantha Pyle and the Art of Choosing the Right People
She built Green Apple Strategy around a small core and a network called The Orchard. Samantha Owens Pyle’s career traces what happens when a founder makes lasting relationships part of the business plan.
Laura Van Eperen and the art of handing over the keys
She spent twenty years building the communications firm that became FOVNDRY. Then Laura Van Eperen passed ownership to a colleague and kept doing the work that had drawn her into the business.
Brandon Rochelle plays the long game
A school friendship became Designsensory. Fencing took him around the world. For Brandon Rochelle, both have meant learning how to make complicated things work for other people.
John F. Kouten and the Business of Paying Attention
He wanted an agency of his own. Building JFK Communications taught John F. Kouten how many jobs can hide inside that one ambition.
Joanna Kulesa and the art of leaving the band playing
She followed the Grateful Dead west, built a Silicon Valley PR agency, and handed it to two longtime colleagues. Joanna Kulesa’s business story turns on a question of ownership: how much can a founder give away?
Jason Keadjian and the Art of Explaining the Neighborhood
He grew up in Orinda, then helped explain a new neighborhood there. Across two decades of public affairs, Jason Keadjian has built a business around the questions people ask when the place they know is about to change.
Lilya Avagyan and the Work of Belonging
The founder of YourTeam.marketing has built a career across agency work, student government and civic service. Between Yerevan and Glendale, her story keeps returning to the people around the table.
Nathan Imperiale and the Business of Making People Feel Welcome
His grandfather crossed the world to get to know his clients. Nathan Imperiale brought that lesson to Washington, building a creative agency where the work and the welcome belong together.
Izu Aginwa and the Business That Kept Asking to Exist
Before he co-founded Riches & Saint, Izu Aginwa kept sending prospective clients elsewhere. His route from a Nigerian childhood and campus leadership to a California agency began with people asking for help he already knew how to give.
Evan Lamont and the business of getting people through the door
At 22, Evan Lamont handled personnel and accreditation for the U.S. Olympic trials in Long Beach. His career since then has followed a related problem: helping the right people find their way to a business.
Etienne Hernandez-Medina and the Art of the Invitation
He arrived from Cuba at seven. At H+M Communications, Etienne Hernandez-Medina has built a career around a question Hollywood cannot answer with a bigger billboard: what makes an audience feel invited?
John P. Lonsdorf and the art of staying in the story
A former English teacher built R&J through four decades of changing media. His career turns on a quieter skill: knowing which part of a story deserves attention.