Today, we sold Engauge

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I’m so excited to announce that today, August 14, 2013, we have sold Engauge to Publicis Groupe and are being aligned with Moxie, a Publicis-owned digital advertising agency based in Atlanta. For me its very exciting to see two Atlanta startups from “back in the day” finally getting together (Moxie was founded by Kris Zagoria in 2000 and Spunlogic, acquired by Engauge in 2008, was started by Raj and me back in 1998). In fact, when we were both small agencies (2003) we were neighbors on Zonolite Road near Emory, along with 360i. Man, the good old days!

The combined agency will be over 600 talented, passionate, and determined people, forming one of the most formidable digital agencies in the country and by far the largest in the Southeast.

What a journey.  When we sold Spunlogic to Engauge in March of 2008, we had 75 employees. Today in our Atlanta office we have over 140 employees. I’m extremely proud of that growth particularly during the economic recession that we were in for most of that time. And I’m so grateful for the experiences and opportunities that were provided to me during the last five years, but mostly for the relationships and friendships that I’ve had the immense pleasure of being a part of. I truly am inspired on a daily basis by the caliber of individuals in this agency.

As for my plans, more to come on that but for the moment I’m going to enjoy these exciting first few days of the partnership between these two great companies and the formation of Atlanta’s next true digital powerhouse.

Onward and upward!

34 Comments

  1. Tessa Horehled on August 14, 2013 at 1:45 pm

    Huge congrats, Jeff!



  2. G Fagundo on August 14, 2013 at 1:49 pm

    Very cool, Jeff, congratulations! Hopefully you will now have time to develop for me an extension for Chrome like the Hey Girl one, but with Daniel Craig. Perhaps you can call it Blonde Bond. Thank you in advance – I need something to make my on-line legal research be more enticing.



  3. Adam Wexler on August 14, 2013 at 1:58 pm

    Congrats, Jeff. More digital power in Atlanta!



  4. @TonyKinard on August 14, 2013 at 2:12 pm

    Wow. How the years have flown by. I still remember way back when Spunlogic had less employees than I have fingers – and I actually initially blew off the opportunity to join at first… but so glad I came back around and did. We had great times, Jeff. I’m proud to have been a part of what I feel to be the hey days. You can tell who that core group was when at the mention of it, you see that sparkle in their eyes light up as they reminisce; someone is always bound to say “Ahhh…. good times… good times.” ;)



  5. Nick Ayres on August 14, 2013 at 2:16 pm

    Congrats Jeff!



  6. hazybuck on August 14, 2013 at 2:26 pm

    Congrats, Jeff – so very excited for you!



  7. Mona Harty on August 14, 2013 at 2:39 pm

    Congratulations, Jeff!!! This is fantastic news – great news from a GREAT Leader! Onward and upward!



  8. Adam Steinberg on August 14, 2013 at 2:58 pm

    Congratulations Jeff! Really excited you and the team. Congrats on a great journey so far and more to come.



  9. Adam Harrell on August 14, 2013 at 2:59 pm

    Congrats amigo!



  10. Keith Duprey on August 14, 2013 at 3:17 pm

    Jeff, you and your company are an inspiration. I know that you will continue to build great relationships and businesses in the future. Will be exciting to see what the next 20 years holds for you, Raj, Kris and Dave :)



  11. Lisa Calhoun on August 14, 2013 at 5:52 pm

    Well done Jeff–saw you guys on Zonalite a few times, later as Engauge, and followed the path…enjoyed the burn. And better Publicis than Omnicron, right? :P



  12. Raghu Kakarala on August 14, 2013 at 6:36 pm

    Ahhh…. good times… good times. ;-)



  13. Vlad Gorenshteyn on August 14, 2013 at 8:57 pm

    congrats, Jeff! Can’t help but be curious about what you begin with your next begin.



  14. Vlad Gorenshteyn on August 14, 2013 at 9:11 pm

    Omnicis’ Mengauge or Publicom’s Enoxie. Either way sound like an exotic, cool, new exotic adult beverage. lol



  15. Toby Bloomberg on August 14, 2013 at 10:15 pm

    Adding my congrats! from you fans and thinking foundry of those Zonolite days. Great to see Atlanta on the national/international map.



  16. jasondominy on August 14, 2013 at 11:07 pm

    Many congrats. I’m proud to work everyday in the culture you helped create.



  17. Alison Albrecht on August 15, 2013 at 11:03 am

    Big news. Congrats for your team being so wanted! Cheers.



  18. Al Vivian on August 15, 2013 at 1:38 pm

    CONGRATS!!! Don’t forget us normal, average, everyday people :-)



  19. […] Mark Suster use this quote in a talk recently and I just love it. Especially now, as I reflect on Wednesday’s sale of Engauge and the journey that I’ve been on for the past 15 years (10 years with Spunlogic, then 5 […]



  20. Jeff Hilimire on August 16, 2013 at 2:37 pm

    Thanks, Tessa!



  21. Jeff Hilimire on August 16, 2013 at 2:38 pm

    :) Yup



  22. Jeff Hilimire on August 16, 2013 at 2:38 pm

    Thanks MH!



  23. Jeff Hilimire on August 16, 2013 at 2:38 pm

    Thanks Keith, and I’m excited to get an update on your new adventure!



  24. Jeff Hilimire on August 16, 2013 at 2:39 pm

    Nice man, worked my blog title into that comment. Well done ;)



  25. Jeff Hilimire on August 16, 2013 at 2:39 pm

    Thanks Alison!



  26. Donovan Panone on August 16, 2013 at 2:53 pm

    Ah, yes. Good times! There is still a bond with true Spunlogic folks.



  27. Drew Hawkins on August 16, 2013 at 3:20 pm

    Congrats to everyone over there Jeff! I know the culture you’ve helped establish there has helped set everyone there up for success. Good luck on this exciting transition.



  28. Courtenay on August 19, 2013 at 3:19 pm

    Congrats, Jeff! How exciting!



  29. Introducing my next chapter: Dragon Army on August 30, 2013 at 8:40 am

    […] one was Spunlogic, which we sold to Engauge in 2008. Chapter two was Engauge, which we sold to Publicis in August 2013. And in the immortal words of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and now for […]



  30. The ultimate partnership on December 12, 2013 at 8:52 am

    […] night I celebrated the recent sale of Engauge with my three Spunlogic partners, Raj Choudhury, Danny Davis and Raghu Kakarala. We had so much fun […]



  31. […] this year has been a great year for me to have a place to share what I’ve been experiencing (selling Engauge, starting Dragon Army, etc) and I thank you guys for going on this journey with […]



  32. […] interesting ride. I’ve had the fortune to do it twice, once to a private equity company and once to a public company. In both cases I learned things along the way that I wish I had known (which is always the case, […]



  33. […] Ten years later, after renaming the company to Spunlogic, we sold the business to Halyard Capital. Our 70+ employees then became part of the new entity, Engauge. Raj and I both decided to stay and give this new thing a chance, spending the next five and a half years building Engauge together. Then we helped Engauge sell to Publicis. […]



  34. […] ultimately became successful, and was acquired, because (and only because) the leadership team was able to build trust. It took years, and some […]



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