DALLAS, Texas - 06/30/07 - By the Dallas Business Journal - Dave Kirwan was enjoying early retirement. Having sold his marketing company, The Forbes Group (later known as Brann Forbes), he could have hung up the "gone fishing" sign. But the entrepreneur had an idea, and he had to try it out.
The result was RAZOR, a marketing and advertising services agency formed in 2003 that utilizes a "hub and spoke" approach, diagnosing clients' needs and then customizing a plan, acting as a consultant to find the appropriate marketing avenue and outsourcing services as needed.
The name RAZOR seemed like the perfect way of describing how to get to the core of growing customer by shaving away non-essential marketing elements, Kirwan says, and he credits this model for the company's quick growth.
"I think we're on the leading edge of this concept – you just can't solve some problems with the old tools," he says. "Technology's changed, and clients are looking for other alternatives for reaching customers. We put together the right team around their needs."
Joined in 2005 by former partner Tom Cole, who worked with Kirwan at The Forbes Group and then went on to JWT, Kirwan says RAZOR experienced an explosive 134% growth spurt that year and 5% last year.
The two agree that going from zero to $170 million in billings in four years far exceeded their expectations. Being a talent-based company, hiring enough people to keep up with demand can be a challenge.
"Fortunately we tend to hire ahead," Kirwan says. Adding three or four employees a month, Kirwan and Cole say they focus on bringing on more experienced, passionate candidates.
Many of the hires have been past employees and others are referrals, making for strong relationships among staff and management. Their clients, as well, are the results of referrals.
"We hire for attitude and train for skill," Kirwan says. "If you have the right attitude but not the skill, you can create that, but you have to have the hunger and passion for being in this business."
Which is what keeps Kirwan and Cole in it themselves.
Kirwan in particular waves off any ideas of striking out into some other kind of venture. Although this is his second enterprise (he started The Forbes Group in 1991 and sold it in 1999), he says he will stick with his current endeavor.
For other would-be entrepreneurs, the pair offers this advice for starting out: have a plan for growth – how much, what it's going to take to get there – and allow for flexibility and course correction along the way.
About RAZOR
Ranked 9th on the Entrepreneur Magazine's "Hot 100" list of the fastest-growing concepts in the United States last year, Dallas-based RAZOR is a new model in the advertising and marketing industry. RAZOR uncovers smarter ways for clients to grow customers to build their business. By leveraging customer data at the center of a strategic hub + spoke, the entrepreneurial start-up delivers innovative transaction-level marketing and manages traditional advertising as needed. RAZOR has a three-year growth rate of 750% and currently manages $170MM in U.S. billings with 146 employees. Clients include national retail industry leaders such as Domino's Pizza, Rent-A-Center, GameStop, Baskin-Robbins, Wendy's, Wireless Toyz and Habitat for Humanity. For more information, visit www.razordriven.com.
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