Finally! The big winner of the Inc 5000 annual list is an Advertising and Marketing company! Freestar of Phoenix, Az., “works with businesses to build brand awareness, establish marketing campaigns and increase revenue based upon content promotion.”
Their route to the top began with a printed wall calendar…
Not a buzzy new calendar app. Not a life-altering meeting request. A printed wall calendar. One of those relics with pictures of animals or landscapes that we all used to tack up in the kitchen.
This particular calendar—Tempe12—had, well, swimsuit models. Arizona State University co-eds in bikinis, to be exact. "All the girls had to have a minimum 3.0 GPA, so they had beauty and brains," explains Freestar co-founder David Freedman, without a trace of sheepishness. Freedman, who launched the calendar when he was a 22-year-old fifth-year senior at ASU back in 2004, has come a long way since then. But he draws a straight line from that fairly crude start to his current success.
Freestar, you see, sells solutions and services that help publishers make more money online by optimizing their advertising operations.
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