For the year-end, we thought we’d try a “culture blog” – letting you in on what the people in our company are really about, what we care about and how we interact.
The truth about smaller companies is that they don’t often talk about culture and core values — they just “exist.” So talking about culture definitely requires some deconstruction. Here’s what we came up with:
- Every one of the 12 people working at iPublish Media Solutions is focused on providing and improving easy-to-use, white-label, self-service advertising solutions that either grows revenue, saves on operational expenses or both. That’s just de facto, the way it is.
- What we DO think about and talk about all the time is client retention (currently at 95% year over year) and the amazing work of our project management team. The small percentage we lose is generally due to acquisition and they express genuine disappointment in having to say “Goodbye.” Our shared goal is 100% customer satisfaction and zero turnover. Some of our customer-partners, such as Hearst Newspapers, have been with us for all 13 years. It is because of the great work we’ve delivered and effort to stay abreast of technology that we continue to grow year-over-year.
- We don’t need to work to “humanize” our software because it is easy to use, and every single partner knows their project manager and sales manager is a phone call away. Our 24/7/365 customer support team is staffed on a rotating basis by 9 of those 12 people mentioned above (the 3 people in sales are not on the formal support team).
- Turnovers at iPublish are few and far between. Team members stay with the company long-term because they have a history in publishing and remain devoted to the industry. With over 300 years in combined publishing experience, nearly everyone at iPublish Media has worked in or with newspapers for 10+ years. The shortest amount of time a project manager has been with iPublish is 4 years. Our three founders have worked in the company’s day-to-day operations for the last 13 years. Our developers have been here since the beginning; and are the people our customers have come to count on to deliver.
iPublish Media Co-Founders: Andrew Zimmon, Brian Gorman, Jim Spurrell
- Days often end with a spirited game of darts. When the quiz app “HQ” took the country by storm, we took a break every day at 3PM to play; and we were deliriously happy when our President won (although his share was less than $2). We get together every Wednesday in the conference room for lunch on the bosses — usually Chinese food or pizza. With Red Sox, Yankees and Cubs fans in the mix, there are some heated sports discussions as well.
- When it comes to values, self-care and taking care of your family top the list. Everyone is mindful that some team members have younger children who need to go to soccer or hockey practice, so we don’t schedule calls late in the afternoon for them unless it is an emergency. We also have team members with aging parents and caring for them is never a problem. We just do it. When our VP of Sales got braces (and along with them a temporary speech impediment), every one pitched in on conference calls to ensure potential partners received the info they needed in a clear voice.
That’s iPublish Media. From our family to yours, we wish you a peaceful holiday and a prosperous New Year.
