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To mark Farotech’s 25th anniversary, I took a step back and reflected on what actually held up over time, and want to share some lessons I’ve learned over the last quarter century.
Over the years, I’ve experienced moments of triumph, faced unexpected challenges, and navigated changes in technology, markets, and client needs that constantly tested my assumptions. Each success reinforced what worked, and each setback offered lessons I could never have learned in a textbook.
Looking back, it’s clear that the journey was never just about building a company — it was about growth, resilience, and discovering principles that have guided every decision, every project, and every relationship along the way.
These are the ten foundational insights I carry forward, and the ones I hope can offer value to anyone building something meaningful today.
1. Start Before You’re Ready
Farotech officially began January 1, 2001.
At the time, I had no background in technology. I was a graphic design minor. My sister worked in marketing, but I knew almost nothing about the industry I was stepping into.
There was no master plan. No grand vision. Just a guy in an apartment building websites and figuring it out as I went.
In the beginning, it wasn’t “we.” It was just me.
For years, I worked with subcontractors — talented people who helped bring projects to life — but it was still a lean operation.
In 2007, I hired my first official employee — her name was Christie. At the time, I had no idea how significant that decision would be. Christie helped create the kind of workplace that people genuinely enjoyed coming to. She brought levity, quick wit, and a lightness that made hard seasons more bearable and good seasons even better. We were blessed to have her with us for 18 years. She embodied leadership before I even had language for it. No ego. No spotlight. Just a commitment to the work and the people around her.
That’s when “me” slowly became “we.”
The vision didn’t come first. The work did.
2. For Every Level, There’s Another Devil
In the early days, I joked that we tripled our revenue for the first three years.
Technically true: when you start from almost nothing, tripling sounds impressive. Year one wasn’t lighting up the scoreboard. Revenue was minimal. Every dollar mattered. Survival felt like success.
I remember walking to the mailbox praying a client check had arrived — not for growth, not for profit — just so we could make it another couple of weeks.
The challenges that once felt insurmountable are now part of a normal day.
Growth doesn’t eliminate problems. It upgrades them.
3. The Only Way Around It Is Through It
Farotech was born in the post-9/11 downturn.
It lived through the dot-com bust.
It endured the 2007–2009 recession.
So by the time COVID hit, we were seasoned.
That didn’t mean we weren’t scared.
I tell my kids that bravery is being scared and doing it anyway. That season tested that definition in real time. What we learned from those months — and the years that followed — was that resilience compounds. In the middle of that uncertainty, something else happened.
We brought on our third business partner, Todd Smith — someone I had known for more than 21 years.
In what felt like one of the most volatile seasons in modern business history, adding a partner might have seemed risky. It turned out to be one of the greatest blessings of that season.
Todd brought emotional maturity, strong business instincts, and a gift for sales that we needed at exactly the right moment. As our VP of Partner Growth, he has a natural ability to build relationships, create trust, and generate momentum. His synergy with my other business partner, Mark, was instant.
His leadership strengthened the company. His ability to open doors accelerated it.
There are seasons when there is no shortcut. Sometimes the only way around it is through it.
You don’t skip disruption.
You don’t bypass pain.
You walk through it.
And then I lost my Mom that year to COVID.
The loss gutted me. It was sharp, sudden, and suffocating. But my team rallied around me with quiet strength and steady support. They showed up with compassion, consistency, and care. I never felt alone.
One of my employees, Roy, even helped me write the eulogy — a gesture I will never forget.
Now we’re facing AI — a tsunami of opportunity and disruption all at the same time. It will reshape marketing. It will reshape our clients’ industries. And just like every shift before it, we will adapt. We will learn. We will evolve.
That’s what lasting companies do.
4. Marketing Never Stands Still
Farotech started by building websites with beautiful designs and clean structures. But clients would often say, “Our website looks amazing… but nobody can find us on Google.”
So we leaned in. We studied the world of search. We tested. We worked tirelessly to make sure our clients could be found. Eventually, that problem was solved.
Then the next one surfaced: “People are finding us now… but we’re not getting enough business.” That’s when we leaned into conversion science.
We studied buyer behavior. Messaging psychology. Funnels. Data. Marketing automation. Farotech climbed the ladder inside HubSpot step by step — earning trust and capability — all the way to Platinum Partner. Over time, the work evolved from small websites to comprehensive marketing strategies for some of America’s largest companies.
Every time marketing changed, we changed with it.
5. Farotech Is Nothing Without Its People
Sam Altman once said that OpenAI is nothing without its people. It always made me laugh because, as innovative as they are, the stories of chaos within those walls are legendary. That wasn’t our experience.
I’m not saying every day from a culture perspective was a breeze. But as the company grew, so did the respect, the trust, and the commitment we had to one another.
As for me, people management did not come naturally. It was an area where I had to mature and improve over time — and I’d like to think I have. But I’m often keenly aware that I still have a long way to go.
Over time, I learned that leadership isn’t about mastering every skill yourself; it’s about building a team that makes the whole stronger than the individual.
In 2013, I hired Mark Oestreicher. We knew each other briefly through his wife, but we really connected while helping organize a charity bike ride called Wheels for Wells. Even though it was my fundraiser, I quickly noticed how naturally other riders gravitated toward his leadership.
Before he joined Farotech, he started in sales — which wasn’t his forte — but the same steady leadership he showed on a bike carried over to the team. He found ways to organize the chaos, build systems, and double down on fiscal responsibility. Over time, he became my business partner and stepped into primary operational leadership. We are wired very differently, and I believe that’s exactly what makes our partnership strong. We test each other in ways that are often uncomfortable, but in the end, we keep winning together.
Over time, Farotech grew to over 20 employees. At our high watermark — including employees and subcontractors — we were more than 50 strong. I often call our team rockstars — because they are. Talented. Driven. Creative. Resilient. A critical part of what makes Farotech work is that we have incredibly talented Directors. Lindsey Daku and Joe Grillo serve in those roles at Farotech. They are very different leaders, but both are essential. They are the glue that holds it all together.
They translate strategy into execution.
They innovate.
They understand marketing deeply.
They see around corners.
They push the work forward.
I’ve always said, “We want the very best for you — and we expect the very best from you.” I think people understand that. It’s not pressure for pressure’s sake. It’s mutual commitment. If we’re going to build something better together, if we want it to be meaningful, it requires both care and accountability.
6. Life Beyond the Work
Hiring is taken seriously.
Firing — and in the rare event of layoffs — is taken even more seriously.
Why? Because to us, people matter. The environment we build matters. I’ve always believed that if you genuinely care about the people you work with, the work doesn’t always feel like work. The average person probably spends more waking hours with their teammates than they do with their own family. That reality isn’t lost on us.
Over time, we made a conscious decision to take stock — not of revenue or rankings, but of the real things that mattered beyond the work — through the ups and downs, the good seasons and the hard ones.
I believe more than 10 babies have been born during this journey — including two of my own.
We have celebrated new life together.
We have also mourned parents and loved ones — including one of mine.
And one deeply talented and instrumental team member went to battle with cancer, reminding all of us that business is never just business.
It’s life.
Because we’ve focused so intentionally on that reality, the team shows up the way it does — fully committed, pushing each other, working hard — not out of obligation, but because they know they’re part of something rare.
My business partners and I sometimes laugh and admit we don’t even know how we pulled it off — how we found such a talented, humble, hard‑working group who genuinely care about one another. But we did. And we remain deeply aware of how rare that is.
7. The Hardest Season
In a single year, our largest client paid nearly $1,000,000.
We staffed up. We invested. We built around that opportunity. By the end of that year, the relationship had run its course. It was difficult and draining, but parting ways was the right decision even as the financial impact was enormous.
We stretched sales to the limit. We pushed hard. We worked from every angle. We carried expenses on company credit lines and bought as much time as we possibly could. We did everything we knew to do to protect the team.
And in the end, I failed.
I wasn’t able to generate enough revenue fast enough to prevent layoffs. For the first and only time in 25 years, we had to let people go. It was one of the darkest seasons of my career.
But in the famous words of Jalen Hurts, we knew we had to “keep the main thing the main thing.”
Fight for the team.
Protect the ethos.
Rebuild with intention.
And most of all, learn.
8. Relationships Over Revenue
Over 25 years, we’ve had remarkable clients. They put their trust in us — with their brand, their reputation, their livelihood, and often the future of their company. That responsibility carries weight.
We’ve always had a knack for finding companies with exceptional products and services that struggled to tell their story. Helping them clarify their message and communicate their value has been a privilege.
At its best, marketing isn’t hype — it’s clarity. And when clarity is paired with trust, relationships deepen.
We’ve shared more than strategy sessions. We’ve done dinners and drinks, golf and games, conferences and courtside seats. We’ve celebrated wins and weathered losses together. Many became friends.
One client once drove two and a half hours to attend my wedding ceremony — uninvited — simply because he cared. That moment said more about the kind of relationships we’ve built than any contract ever could.
9. Gratitude, Always
No 25-year journey happens alone, and if this is my Oscar moment, I have some people I’d like to thank.
I want to thank my parents who believed in me from the beginning. Even when the idea sounded crazy. Even when I was starting a company with no experience. They always had my back.
I want to thank my wife — my steady foundation through every season. She carried more than anyone sees. She endured the long hours, the late nights, the stress, and the uncertainty.
And my kids — my incredible kids — who grew up alongside this company. There is a short, golden window when your children are young. You only get that season once. They sacrificed more than they realized.
To my business partners — thank you for seeing past my weaknesses and leaning into my strengths. You didn’t just complement me — you freed me up. You empowered me to focus on vision, growth, and pushing the company forward.
To our Directors and the rest of our rockstars — thank you for being the glue, the innovators, and the steady hands behind what we build every day.
And to our clients — the ones who trusted us, challenged us, supported us, and believed in us — thank you.
10. The Journey Is the Reward
Steve Jobs once said, “The journey is the reward.” After 25 years, I understand that more than ever.
I don’t know what the next chapter holds for Farotech. But I know this:
The work has been meaningful.
The relationships have been real.
The growth has been earned.
And I wouldn’t trade the journey for anything.
Chris Carr
President | CEO
Farotech
