Exponential: Transform Your Brand by Empowering Instead of Interrupting

2 Modern Advertising Is a Value Exchange

We started our agency with two desks, one chair, a dying laptop, and the last pack of Marlboros we would ever enjoy. We had one simple idea: marry data and creativity to redefine advertising into something that brought meaning and value to people’s lives. Other than that, we were clueless.

While taking turns sharing our only chair, we set out on our first gig creating a platform of millions of consumers who would be available for internet research. The project would pay our bills for three months, at which point we would run out of money and prove to our friends and family that we were in over our heads.

On our very first day, I installed Photoshop on my laptop and got to work on the consumer interface ...