Click here for Part I & Part II

A versatile marketing and creative platform for growing businesses

Rich Caserta is the founder and CEO of Brandxpander, a production agency headquartered in Philadelphia. Created to give businesses better control over their marketing and creative department costs, Brandxpander describes itself as an “agency in the cloud” that provides its clients with flexible, round-the-clock access to a team of experienced project managers, designers, developers, and creative strategists. The company also offers a white label version of its software, so users can brand and customize the platform when pitching ideas or their business.

EDWIN WARFIELD: What sets the Brandxpander team apart?

RICH CASERTA: What makes our team great? It’s really about culture, and it really starts at the top, and it starts with the person or the people who are driving and leading the company. One of the things I learned a long time ago is the kiss of death that causes a business’s failure is when you think you have all the answers, and you’re not open to people's ideas, and you don't challenge each other. One of the things that I’ve spent a lot of time focusing on is really hiring people that have passion, and also setting the tone that it doesn’t matter who you are or what level you are—people have good ideas. If you hire people that are really right for the position, the most important thing is spending a lot of time nurturing them, making them feel confident that their ideas matter, and then allowing them to grow and feel comfortable that they can own it.

Our platform has two different sides to it: there’s the user side and then there’s the project management side. When all of that work is coming in, the project management side of the platform has all these other features that allow [project managers] to manage the data fast and efficiently. When we first developed this platform, I said, “Hey, I want you guys to come up with solutions on how I can make your job better. How can I make it easier?”

It's the culture that I believe in and I practice, and the people that work with us have that same sort of passion, and every idea matters and every idea is taken into account. It doesn’t matter what level you are at. A great idea can come from someone who just came out of school; it can come from someone who is in high school; and it can come from someone who has great experience over the years.

Q. What are you most proud of with Brandxpander?

A. What I’m most proud of with Brandxpander is really watching an idea develop and then seeing other people take ownership of the idea and take it to a whole another level. It's great to see people that embrace something that was once an idea, and then see people utilizing it and making money off of it—making a living at it. That’s one of the things, I think, as an entrepreneur, that’s always your passion: to see something that starts from nothing and then watch it grow and watch other people embrace it and take it to another level.

Q. Where do you see Brandxpander three years from now?

A. One of the goals is to get ourselves into more companies and help them manage that creative process. Because, for companies, that is an overhead cost, and when it comes to marketing and creative services, if companies can save money and still get out of it what they want, then it becomes a very good solution for them.

We also want to help people start their own businesses—people who love the marketing space and love to sell, but don’t really have the resources to do so.

Connect with Rich on LinkedIn

Sponsored by:

ABOUT NEWMARK GRUBB KNIGHT FRANK

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) is one of the world's leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NGKF's 14,100 professionals operate from more than 400 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents.

With roots dating back to 1929, NGKF's strong foundation makes it one of the most trusted names in commercial real estate. NGKF's full-service platform comprises BGC's real estate services segment, offering commercial real estate tenants, landlords, investors and developers a wide range of services including leasing; capital markets services, including investment sales, debt placement, appraisal, and valuation services; commercial mortgage brokerage services; as well as corporate advisory services, consulting, project and development management, and property and corporate facilities management services. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.

NGKF is a part of BGC Partners, Inc., a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. BGC's common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ: BGCP). BGC also has an outstanding bond issuance of Senior Notes due June 15, 2042, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol (NYSE: BGCA). BGC Partners is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer  Howard W. Lutnick. For more information, please visit http://www.bgcpartners.com/.

Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybizlist, conducts the CEO Interviews.

If you're interested in reaching CEOs, please contact edwin.warfield@citybuzz.co

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