Drawing on a manila folder, Dan Jones detailed his plans for a Community Social Network with Martin McElliott. The economy was in the tank, but the idea was formed.
Dan Jones (left) and Martin McElliott (right) first drew the concept for a community social network on a manila folder. ©NorthAmericaTalk
“We knew we had a seed of an idea to disrupt the media industry,” says Dan. “We just needed to be patient and wait for the economy to improve.”
Martin, a real estate agent at the time, had met Dan through a business transaction. Their mutual respect for growing a business solidified a partnership that turned into ThurstonTalk. The duo, along with technology wizard Stephen Backholm, launched ThurstonTalk in October 2010.
“As traditional media was trying to adjust to the growing demands of online readers, we saw an opportunity,” says Dan.
The founders gathered a team of local writers to capitalize on the niche market of creating community content. “We quickly proved to the business community that we had captured a valuable subscriber base,” Martin says. “Businesses jumped on board to advertise to our local readers.”
“As ThurstonTalk was growing rapidly, we recognized that we had a business model in place that could expand to other communities,” says Dan. The founders purchased domain names throughout western Washington and set the stage for expansion by adding the parent company, NorthAmericaTalk. It was at this time Amy Rowley joined the partnership team.
“While building ThurstonTalk, we always had expansion options in mind. We wanted to create processes that could scale and support other communities,” explains Amy.
Today, NorthAmericaTalk is the fastest growing media company in western Washington. In addition to ThurstonTalk, the team has also launched community social networks in Whatcom, Lewis, Grays Harbor and Pierce counties. Together, the companies reach 350,000 unique users monthly.
Martin McElliott (left) serves as the VP of Sales while Dan Jones (right) is the Chief Research Office of NorthAmericaTalk. ©NorthAmericaTalk
The NorthAmericaTalk team shows marketers how they can reach a target audience, grow their brand, and measure results. In just five years, customers now number in the hundreds. “Using NorthAmericaTalk, companies have numerous creative options to brand their product or service to our distribution network of over 80,000 subscribers,” says Martin.
“Being one of the founders is special,” says Martin. “Knowing that we’ve created a team that is more like family is an amazing thing. People are excited to come to work each day.”
“Together, in just five short years, we have built a media company that rivals century-old corporations,” summarizes Amy.
“And we’re winning,” chimes in Dan.
“And we’re just getting started,” adds Martin.