Today we’d like to introduce you to Tommy Swanson.
Tommy, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My story probably mirrors that of many entrepreneurs. Most of us have had that itch since childhood. I started with all the usual suspects: lemonade stands, a lawn care “company”, etc. But as an early teen, I started to explore how I might be able to use the internet to feed the entrepreneurial bug. I’d go garage sale hunting on the weekends and try to sell everything I bought on eBay by the next weekend so I’d have enough money to take bigger risks then.
At 15, I started a virtualized website hosting business with two other teenagers from the UK. The business took off and within a year, we sold it to a $30M technology firm. The funny part was that my partners and I didn’t end up meeting each other in-person until after the sale of the company when we had enough money to travel.
I went to college and quickly realized textbooks were at least five years behind marketing—the industry I wanted to pursue. I decided to drop out and move to Chicago to work in social media.
At 20, I started Stripes. I had seen that smaller agencies tended to lean in two directions. They were either incredibly creative, but had no interest in how data could inform strategy. Or they were so data-focused that they forgot that there was a person on the other side of the screen, and ignored how strong creative can dramatically improve performance. Social needed an agency that was more balanced in nature, someone who could produce measurable results and memorable creative.
It’s been a rewarding five years. We’ve worked on everything from growth startups to a presidential campaign, and with some of the most respected brands in the world. I’m proud of the team we’ve built, the clients we’ve had the opportunity to serve, and the work and results we’ve produced for them.
Has it been a smooth road?
Any entrepreneur that describes a flawless journey is being disingenuous.
A big challenge early on (and even today) is the weight of employment and the implications that come with that.
As a business owner, there is a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. The brutal reality is that most people in the US live paycheck to paycheck. When you’re in your early 20s employing people with spouses and kids, you realize that your decisions have consequences that extend far beyond you.
It makes you question your risk tolerance, despite risk being a necessity in growing a company. When you have several paths forward, you can find yourself choosing a path that presents less risk and upside because a more risky alternative may affect your ability to keep your team together if it fails.
It also makes you question whether or not you should part ways with a team member, even if you know they aren’t a good fit for your team.
I wish I could say I figured this out, but I haven’t. Every owner with any sort of conscious battles this often.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Stripes Agency story. Tell us more about the business.
Stripes is a social advertising agency. We got tired of social media agencies talking big, but not being able to prove that they had done anything—at all. We take a very results-oriented approach to social, which is different than most.
The vision is pretty easy to grasp. Today, most brands put the least paid and least experienced person in the entire organization over what we believe will go down as one of the most powerful marketing channels of all time—social. We set out to change that.
Since then, we’ve spent millions of dollars for our clients on paid social media creating measurable improvements to every aspect of the customer lifecycle. No magic tricks. It’s just a results-oriented advertising strategy built on the back of memorable creative.
We can’t be everything to everyone, but we are among the very best at what we do. And we don’t bother doing anything else. It’s that simple principle—that you can’t be good at everything—that drives our strategic positioning.
Do you feel like our city is a good place for businesses like yours? If someone was just starting out, would you recommend them starting out here? If not, what can our city do to improve?
Dallas is often overlooked when it comes to creative talent. When you take a step back and look at the landscape, there are a lot of great companies that are here. The Richards Group is one of the largest private ad agencies in the country. ReelFX has become a major player in producing feature films. Fossil is $3B giant. And too many up and coming businesses to count like Mizzen+Main, Jack Mason, Breda, and Jack Black—all of which will help attract more creative talent to city. Give Dallas 5-10 years, and I think the country will have a very different perspective of our city.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.stripesagency.com
- Email: pssst@stripesagency.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stripesagency/
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
