Startup Profile: Marblehead
June 1, 2008
Jay Ramirez started Dallas-based Marblehead 18 months ago. With three employees on board he has made some headway in a very short period of time, winning several design awards from the Dallas Society of Visual Communications. Marblehead is a marketing and creative agency that focuses on sales and loyalty programs coupled with extensive metrics and measurement.
Company Name: Marblehead
Website: www.marbleheadllc.com
Blog: http://blog.marbleheadllc.com
Address: 16633 N. Dallas Parkway, Suite 600 Dallas, TX 75248
Number of Employees: 3
Type and Amount of Funding: no external funding, it’s out of my pocket.
(if professionally funded)
CEO: Jay Ramirez
Phone: 972.588.3317
Email: jay@marbleheadllc.com
Q: Why did you start your own company?
A: I started my own company because I was tired of working for companies that did not have the client’s best interest in mind. My previous firm was more concerned about the next big sale then taking care of their existing clients. After seeing numerous clients fire my firm for poor service, I decided the best place to do things my way was my own firm.
Q: What are your favorite blogs? A:Duct Tape Marketing (Lots of helpful ideas for a small company), Brand New (Good insight into brand changes for the big companies) and Chris Brogan (one of the better blogs on social media and community).
Q: Who was your mentor (i.e the person who inspired you to start your own business)?
A: My biggest encouragers were Paul VanZant (www.thevanzantgroup.com) and Hank Durbin (local Chik-Fil-A operator), but I have learned the most from the Michael Gerber’s E-myth business coaching program. It was a year long program where I met with a coach weekly to explore every key area of building a business.
Q: What are you goals for the company (revenue size, employee size) for 1 year, 3, years and 5 years from now?
A: Fully realized, we plan on building a 15MM dollar company with just under 100 employees by 2017. Our plan is to grow slowly, reaching 1MM in revenue by 2010 and 5MM 3 years after that.
