Next Sparc was founded with a mission: to build exceptional businesses and teams for the long term. We accelerate lasting, sustainable growth, rather than focusing on short-term exit strategies.
We’re constantly asking ourselves how we can do more to make a greater impact on our partner’s companies and provide mentorship to founders along the way. Our business model doesn’t hinge itself on acquiring large amounts of debt, slaughtering sacred cows, or replacing who’s in charge. We’re not interested in short-lived victories, either. When we partner, we’re in it for the long haul.
As operators ourselves, we’ve been in your shoes. In 1989, our founder, Len Pagon, founded New Media, a technology consulting firm. What began as a three-person company operating in a spare bedroom of Len’s home turned into a three-time Inc. 500-winning interactive marketing agency, later rebranded as Brulant.
Like any other company, Brulant faced its fair share of ups and downs. Despite these challenges and the burst of the dot-com bubble, the company grew from $4M to $120M in annual revenue over a six year period, and became the third largest privately-held agency in North America. After 20 years of building Brulant, Len negotiated a deal with PE-backed Rosetta, a global interactive agency, who acquired the company. What came next: Instead of using this experience to build another company, Len wanted to distill what he learned to other founders.
Next Sparc’s namesake pays homage to the idea of sparking growth in new ventures. Pivoting from working “in” businesses to working “on” them, Len founded our firm in 2009 with the mission of helping other founders sparc new growth in their own companies.
As a firm built by founders, for founders, we offer a more human approach to business building. We back extraordinary companies from the start, working alongside you, not against you. We do more than simply oversee a business when we partner—we treat it like it’s our own.
We’re in your corner through thick, thin, and the unexpected. To us, unknowns are invitations to dive head deep into uncharted territory and get our hands dirty learning something new. We pride ourselves on being aggressive learners who are also empathetic, intuitive, and kind human beings.
See for yourself how we’re built differently.