Growth Spark
Mission: We Use the Web to Help Businesses Grow
The Start: December 2008
Revenues: $50K+
Initial Investment: $0
Broke Even: Immediately
Where: Boston, MA
Your name, email, phone: Ross Beyeler, ross@growthspark.com, 978-401-4141
Babson Affiliation: Class of 2009
Employees: 4
Founder’s Past: A graduate of Babson College, Ross has been an active entrepreneur in the technology space since 2005 with experience ranging in affiliate marketing, business development and strategic management. In 2007, Ross co-founded For Art’s Sake Media, Inc., a technology company servicing the art industry, where he led the organization through its seed funding, team building and product launch. Since 2008, Ross has focused on helping Growth Spark, a full service web design, development and consulting firm, and its clients become leaders in their spaces.
How The Idea Began: After the conclusion of my first company, I needed to start earning income immediately – start-ups are expensive. Over the course of the two years I spent at For Art’s Sake Media, I acquired a vast amount of experience with technology, strategic development and an understanding of the start-up environment. I initially applied that experience through freelance consulting but eventually saw an opportunity for a full service consulting firm that could provide businesses with web-based marketing/sales solutions spanning strategic development through implementation.
Favorite Thing about the Business: The close involvement with so many different businesses. Each client feels like a new start-up that my team is apart of. We work intimately to help our clients identify their goals, develop a strategy to achieve them and provide the services necessary to do so.
Worst Thing About the Business: Service-based businesses often lead to unpredictable revenue cycles and can be dramatically affected by client relations/expectations. The variability of deadlines throughout the development process can be frustrating as projects are pushed back.
Biggest Challenge: Building the initial foundation of portfolio work to establish a reputation and sample of your capabilities. It’s difficult to demonstrate to businesses how you can help them if you don’t actually have samples of your work.
Lesson Learned: It’s essential to balance strategic development with ongoing client work. Getting caught in daily project is far too easy. It’s necessary to step back to evaluate the strategic direction of your company even in the midst of a heavy project load.