How Bootstrapping and Growing Slowly Helped This Company Succeed Max Fishko started working in art fairs when he was 14. Now, at 33, he's running a profitable business that's turning a seven-figure revenue.
By Catherine Clifford •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The well-worn path to Silicon Valley startup success is to launch quickly, raise a giant investment round, pivot, pivot a few more times, exit and then start up again, often in a completely unrelated field.
That's why Max Fishko's path to launching Art Market Productions is so noteworthy. He and his co-founder, Jeffrey Wainhause, aim for consistent, steady, manageable growth. They have bootstrapped as much as they have been able to manage. They did have one investor early on, but that investor has since been bought out. And Fishko himself has worked in the same industry since he was 14.
Related: If You Push Hard Nonstop, You Will Not Become Superhuman. You Will Burn Out.
"We started out small, we kept everything really manageable and we grew at a pace that we could control," Fishko says, explaining that he and his co-founder launched Art Market Productions out of his apartment. "We were able to get ourselves to a place now where we have a healthy, stable business."
Today, Brooklyn-headquartered Art Market Productions is turning a solid seven-figure revenue. It's profitable and has 12 full-time employees.
Related: Arianna Huffington: 'Sleep Deprivation Is the New Smoking'
Fishko has worked in the art fair industry since he was 14 and has spent his career assisting with temporary art showcase events. He remembers his first job, when he desperately wanted to be senior enough to be granted a walkie-talkie. "Now I am the guy who gives out the walkie-talkies, so I that means I have arrived," Fishko says in a video interview with Entrepreneur.
To learn more about how Fishko launched and grew his business, watch the video above.
