IT is with mixed emotions...

​It is with mixed emotions that I share the news that I will be winding down ThinkReps.  When I started the company five years ago I thought that this would be the role I would have until I (hopefully) retired.  I started the business during a recession, I am ending during a pandemic, and the time in between has been a pretty wild ride.  There are a number of people I wish to thank because, without them, we would never have gotten off the ground. 

First and foremost, Ivan Fried.  When Ivan said he was willing to join ThinkReps and help me launch the business, it actually made the idea of ThinkReps a reality.  He took the hits alongside me as we navigated gaining and losing lines, good commission months and bad, and dealing with all types of personalities that come with managing multiple product lines.  His mentorship and experience were extremely helpful to me even if I did not always appreciate it at the moment.  I wish that I could have built the company that we both could have retired from someday.  I am happy he found a role with BLVS.  They are lucky to have him.  Our industry is generally not one that people aspire to.  Teenagers don’t dream of the days that they can schlep around a trunk full of cameras.  Most of us just ended up here.  Because of that, finding people who are willing to do the work is very hard.  Ivan is always willing to do the work.  Thank you, Ivan.

Harrison Baron, I met when he worked for one of our clients.  He was (is) a very confident young guy with a positive attitude.  He invited me to be on his podcast Brutally Honest with Harrison Baron.  Harry was interviewing local entrepreneurs and business people and asked me if I would come on.  It was a very interesting experience.  Zero preparation.  He told me to show up to the studio at 6 pm and after a quick soundcheck, we were recording. We did an hour that felt like 10 minutes and I knew immediately that Harry was someone I wanted to work with.  I reached out to him a few months later when I heard he decided to start his own marketing firm.  I offered him a job with ThinkReps.  He declined, kind of. In a very millennial fashion, he did not want to be an employee, he wanted to be a contractor while still having the leeway to build his own business.  We worked out a deal and he joined the team, bringing fresh energy and great technical and marketing knowledge to our team.  I know Harry will be very successful in growing what is now multiple businesses and I will likely work for him someday.  Thank you, Harrison.
​
You can not have a rep firm without lines so I would like to name a few of the people who took a chance on a startup here. Each of these folks was very important in making ThinkReps a success. Rob Lydic (Isonas), Tom Cook (Hanwha), Jay Mele and Tom Chamard  (Salient), Mike Stoll (Aeroturn), David Schulman and Jeremy Damato (KBC), Rick Caruthers and Ralph Jones (Galaxy).  There are others but this core represented 95% of ThinkReps revenue over the past five years.  I am thankful to each of you.

You also can not have a successful company without customers.  But there are too many customers to name.  If you ever bought any of our products or even allowed us to demo a solution to you, I am very grateful and look forward to a continued relationship as I will be staying in touch with all of you.

Last but not least I would like to thank Monique Merhige.  Mo was the second person I called after I decided to start my own business.  I told her I was going to need some help with public relations, but after we spoke we realized that ThinkReps and her firm Infusion Direct Marketing were selling to the same audience.  We came to an agreement and Infusion was the first line under contract with ThinkReps.  Mo has been a great friend and business partner.  We have had many successes and a lot of fun while working together.  We have acted as each other’s sounding board.  When you own a business there is nobody to complain to when things are not going right.  Or at least no one who really understands the struggle. I believe that we helped each other greatly in growing our businesses and staying relatively sane while doing so.  Thank you, Monique.

So what is next?  This is the exciting part.  I will be joining Qumulex as a Regional Sales Manager.  Qumulex is a startup from the founders of Exacq Technologies, Integral Technologies, and others.  I worked for Exacq for five years and I have told anyone who would listen it was the best job I ever had.  (No offense to anyone else I worked for.)  We had a great management team, a strong product, and a tremendous staff overall.  I am thrilled that Tom, Dan, Dave, Jack, TJ, Jeff, Libby, and Nick have allowed me to rejoin them in this new venture.  There is no group I could be more excited about joining to build the future together.

I will send out all my new Qumulex contact information once I have it, but all the following will continue to work, so please, if you read this, stay in touch.

All the Best,

Adam

adam@thinkreps.com 
631-838-1127