By Sylvie Belmond
belmond@theacorn.com
The Acorn: http://www.theacorn.com/news/2005/0209/Business/060.html
Michael Weiss and Kevin Goldberg, founders of the Westlake Village Internet services company, Imagistic.
Imagistic, an Internet software services firm specializing in Web application development, survived the boom and bust of the cyber market because its founders knew how to steer the business through financial storms.
Now the thriving, small company is relocating to Westlake Village and closer to its clients.
"We are moving to where the opportunities are," said Kevin Goldberg, Imagistic’s CFO and cofounder.
"Business is thriving here and we are very excited to get in and help become part of the success," he said.
Westlake Village and the entire Conejo Valley is teeming with successful startups and well-established businesses, Goldberg said.
Imagistic (http://www.imagistic.com/) is a boutique, professional web technology and design services company with an emphasis on e-business development and online branding.
The robust company creates websites for clients like Disney, Paramount, HealthNet, Bank Of America, Union Bank, UCLA, Kellogg’s, CPK, Southern Poverty law Center, Acura, Honda, Range Rover, and others.
"Ninety-nine percent of our work has been website development or some sort of Internet technology application," said Michael Weiss, CEO and co-founder.
Weiss, an Agoura Hills resident, and Goldberg of Oak Park, founded Imagistic in 1997 with Marcelo Ziperovich.
The trio started out modestly using their home computers.
"We each put in $3,000, that’s the only money we have ever put into the business," Weiss said.
When Imagistic opened its offices in Venice, the Internet was just beginning to take off and Venice was considered the heart of the Digital Coast at the time, Weiss said.
Business picked up quickly and after a year of operation, Imagistic was earning about $500,000 in revenue, said Weiss. By 2000, Imagistic employed 30 people and was earning $2.5 million.
In 2001, the up-and-coming company was named the fourth fastest growing in Los Angeles by the L.A. Business Journal.
But the Internet bust that occurred later that year forced Imagistic to downsize.
Since 2001, the company has maintained $1 to 1.5 million in revenue annually, according to Weiss.
To remain viable, the company didn’t place itself into a niche.
"The companies we work with don’t depend on the Internet, they use the Web as a gateway to market their business," he said.
Imagistic has steadily grown since 1997. Along the way, the company has won awards, including two Webbys. The Webby awards are given by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence in Web design, creativity, usability and functionality.
"A lot of people call us survivors," Weiss said. "I guess that is true, but I like to think we are savvy business people who know how to run a business."
