Nick Murto and Tyler
Lafferty are the faces of Spokane’s ambitious entrepreneurs. They are the minds
behind media-marketing firms Seven2 and 14Four and have launched four other
startups: Method Juice Cafe, Good Oats, Passenger Pets
and Access2Experie
• Started in
2004, Seven2 does Web design, apps, Web games, digital
media and ads for companies like Disney, AT&T, Nickelodeon and Sony.
• The sister
firm, 14Four, was launched in 2007 specifically just to work
with other ad agencies instead of directly for clients like Disney.
Tyler Lafferty and
Nick Murto plan to open Spokane’s first hip-hop yoga and spinning studio later
this fall.
These are not
generally viewed as a sure bet.
But to the business
partners, it’s a chance to change Spokane, to inject some cultural variety into
their hometown. They’re not doing this to keep busy. The two already run a pair
of digital ad agencies that employ 70 workers.
And they have four
other Spokane startups – Method Juice Cafe; Good Oats, an organic oatmeal food
distributor; an online photo business called Passenger Pets; and a Web business
for matching volunteer professionals with schools or training programs,
called Access2Experience.
People who know them
say Murto and Lafferty are uncommon entrepreneurs who start new businesses not
to make money but because they’re passionate about their ideas.
Dennis Magner,
co-owner of Spokane advertising agency Magner Sanborn, regards Lafferty and
Murto as key contributors to Spokane’s evolving business culture.
“Part of what makes
them successful is they’ve honed their own definition of success and stay true
to it – beyond just the idea of making money,” Magner said.
“Instead of an ‘I
think we’d make millions opening a juice bar’ mentality, it’s more ‘I’d love to
have a better juice bar here. Let’s open a better juice bar,’ ”
Magner said.
Lafferty, 38, and
Murto, 42, say they recharge by finding appealing ideas elsewhere, like the
hip-hop yoga-spinning idea, and transplanting them to their hometown.
Their digital media
work takes them to New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, which is where
Murto discovered hip-hop yoga.
Once back home he felt
Spokane needed to have that kind of workout, an intense style that mixes
stretching with a heavy backbeat. The new business will be called
The Union.
“I can only complain
about something for so long until I try to do something about it by myself,”
Murto said.
They get the
opportunity to spin out new ideas in large part because their core businesses,
Seven2 and 14Four, have been roaring forward and generating
steady profits.
The complementary ad
agencies share space inside a former architects’ office building in downtown
Spokane. Started in 2004, Seven2 does Web design, apps, Web games, digital
media and ads for companies like Disney, AT&T, Nickelodeon and Sony.
The sister firm,
14Four, was launched in 2007 to work with other ad agencies instead of directly
for clients like Disney.
The partners share
company duties, and neither has an official job title. In general, Lafferty
focuses more on the financial side while Murto prefers dealing
with operations.
The interior of the
building has a unique, creative-classy mix of textured walls and open spaces
filled with couches and work areas. No cubicles are allowed, to foster workers
sharing ideas and interacting.
Murto and Lafferty
tend to treat their employees like family, with a focus on friendly games and
enthusiasm for work projects.
“We only have one
company rule for our people: Do great work for great clients and have fun doing
it,” Lafferty said.
The employees at
14Four and Seven2 usually refer to the partners as Mom and Dad, said Katie
Irvin, 29, a former Marine Corps sergeant who’s worked as a graphic designer at
Seven2 for the last three years.
Those names reflect
the age difference between the owners and their younger workers, many of whom
are in their late 20s and early 30s.
The nicknames also
reflect the company’s ideal, of being a family environment where people can
work and have fun inside and outside the building.
Irvin said the mood is
relaxed, supportive and professionally challenging. “It’s been exciting to push
boundaries and try new things and get a chance to develop something a little
different,” she said.
“I love working here,”
she said. “It’s great that we’re allowed to relax and let loose if we
need to.”
Like all new Seven2 or
14Four employees, Irvin on her first day of work went to Spokane fitness shoe
retailer Fleet Feet to get a free pair of running shoes. Murto and Lafferty,
both avid runners and bikers, encourage their workers to keep fit and find a
healthy work-life balance; the basement of their building includes a
workout area.
Lafferty said, “Nick
and I have joked and said we’ve each always wanted to own our own gyms.”
Both partners have
families; Murto has two children, and Lafferty has three.
They say their
employees and company culture are their biggest business success. “We really
feel our employees are creating a fantastically strong culture of loving what
they do and feeling excited to come to work every day,” Lafferty said.
Employee appreciation
is a major point of emphasis for Murto and Lafferty. Their staff get annual
bonuses, and those who reach five years of employment get $5,000. After 10
years, the benefit will be a paid month’s sabbatical. Seven2 has three workers,
all hired within a week of each other, who will reach the 10-year mark
in 2014.
Both Murto and
Lafferty say they were influenced by working at WhiteRunkle Associates, a
successful Spokane ad firm that was created by Jack White and Bob Runkle. They
landed jobs there in the 1990s, becoming early adopters of Web services and
seeing the potential for online and mobile advertising. After the Web exploded
in the early 2000s, Lafferty and Murto spun off and started Seven2. They
refinanced their homes to start the business.
They continue
practicing the WhiteRunkle adage that being in a midsize city is not a
drawback. “It’s now part of our core beliefs that you can have a company in
Spokane that works with great national companies,” Murto said.
Magner, another
WhiteRunkle veteran who left in the late 1990s to start his own firm in
Spokane, says digital media have transformed the way ad agencies work. “Nick
and Tyler’s firm and our firm are not competing with local agencies for Spokane
ad work anymore,” Magner said. Agencies now compete for work with companies
across the country and around the world, he said.
He’s a big fan of the
work of Seven2 and 14Four, and Magner said it’s clear that Lafferty and Murto
get inspired to work harder and smarter by pulling off large projects for major
clients like AT&T and Netflix.
For a number of years
Seven2 has done digital media work for Disney Junior, the division within the
Walt Disney Co. that produces cable TV shows and movies for young viewers.
Andrea Hirsekorn, the
marketing director for Disney Junior, said she values the unique approach and
the personal relationship she has with Seven2.
In the media business,
jobs are won or lost on the quality of personal relationships, she said. “We
found Nick because he and his firm were referred to us,” she said. “We work
with them because they have a unique company culture. They’re genuine.
“When they come to LA,
they’ll sometimes take us out for dinner. But you feel it’s not just work for
them. You can tell Nick and Tyler’s company culture is about keeping their
workers happy and treating clients well,” Hirsekorn said.
Murto and Lafferty, who
admit to having Type A personalities, have a sheet of paper filled with ideas
for new companies. As a natural control, they agree that neither partner will
push an idea without getting the support of the other.
“Though we’re both
extremely confident and driven, we each have the ability to stop and consider
the other’s opinion,” Lafferty said.
Those frank
discussions often mean the other person will change his idea or
abandon it.
“That has served us
well over and over again as we consider and planned new business
opportunities,” Lafferty said.
Murto
said he initially opposed Lafferty’s idea for Access2Experience, the company
that is something like Match.com for educators and businesspeople.
But
he found Lafferty’s passion for the idea convincing. The kernel for Access2Experience, Lafferty explained, was the need for an online tool that
bridges the gap between industry and education. Based on his own experiences
speaking to classrooms and working with community groups, Lafferty decided the
new idea was timely and a valuable solution.
Eventually, Murto
bought in and the idea got the green light. The company is in the beta stage.
Lafferty and Murto see the website having national appeal, and they hope to
develop it into a series of regional portals.
From time to time the
two partners have talked about adding branches in bigger markets. Part of the
lure was having a larger pool of skilled workers from which to recruit.
Lafferty said, “We’ve talked about (having
offices in other markets) but we’ve found over the years that we’ve been able
to service those markets well from Spokane as long as we’re willing to travel
and keep cultivating local talent by staying close to the colleges in
the area.”
