My roots in advertising and marketing go back over 4 decades, growing up in the family ad agency. My father was an unlikely visionary for his time. A cardigan sweater wearing, white haired/balding, bleeding edge early adopter of what was then loosely called desktop publishing, he had the foresight to purchase what eventually became a Mac Plus (after numerous upgrades) to facilitate the rapidly increasing deadlines his clients, and evolving media, were demanding.  Before long the darkroom, photostat camera, typesetting machines, drawing tables for pasting up mechanicals and every tool and process that had been used in the industry would be gone. And somehow my father at 60+ years old saw this coming. Or maybe he didn’t and was just doing whatever he could to save time and money. But either way, observing the changes occurring in this long-standing industry was where I started understanding the impact and opportunities presented by an emerging technology. Little did I know this would become a recurring theme in my career.

Years later, my father wanting to wind down the business and ease towards retirement, cut me loose. It was tough – I was now married with a young daughter. The future was uncertain. While my father’s decision at the time felt harsh, in reality, he did me a favor - it made me get outside my comfort zone into the “real world”, away from the security blanket and limited purview of a family business. I joined a direct mail company that shared a similar vision for producing marketing materials direct from computer to printing press – meaning no conventional artwork, film, plates, etc. were required to produce the materials. It was all electronic and digital. I would like to say this linear evolution was planned, but just as my father made moves out of necessity, I was simply following opportunity. After travelling to many of the largest printing companies in the U.S., and surviving the trials that go along with pioneering unproven, virgin technology, I found success. As a result, I was recognized as one of the frontrunners of this new era of digital printing, which later expanded to include new ways to personalize marketing materials, moving away from a mass market approach to a one-to-one relationship with constituents. My unique knowledge was eventually sought by others, and I spent some of my free time sharing my “power-user” experience using the leading tools (Aldus, Adobe, Quark as well as many pre-press digital platforms) with others, at seminars and tradeshows.

It was at this time I also got a taste of entrepreneurialism beyond what I had seen in my family business. The ironically also family-owned (just not my family) catalog business I had joined was led by an 80-year-old patriarch, who took me under his wing, and like my father, was more visionary than one would expect for his years. Together we started a company inside the parent business catering to still neophyte but yet burgeoning desktop publishing market. Within months I built the business to include hundreds of proprietary products, a million-catalog circulation, a million customers, and a dominant and respected brand in the marketplace. Our reward for success came in the form of 2 suitors for each of the respective businesses. It was a deal the family owners could not refuse. Sadly, while I had strategic and managerial control and unparalleled knowledge of the inner workings of both businesses, I did not have a significant equity position or safety net. Fortunately, instead of losing my job,  one of the acquiring entities considered me an integral piece of the sale and I received a consulting deal to aid them with the transition, and ultimately expand the business...