Partner Spotlight: Irish Titan
Partner Spotlight: Irish Titan
Business First. Online Second.℠
Like so many good ideas throughout history, the philosophy "Business First. Online Second.℠ " originated at happy hour.
Back in 2009, 5 years after founding Irish Titan with this strategy (but without the poignant phrase), Irish Titan CEO/Founder Darin Lynch improvised the phrase—pint of beer in hand—while giving a pep talk to his team regarding a challenging project they had undertaken for a client. They were in the mud, trying to get to the root of the client’s problem. Darin casually dropped the line, "Guys, we've got to remember that we need to be business first and online second," and a team member affirmed how important—and true—those words felt. It was a kind of "Eureka" moment for Irish Titan. Business First. Online Second.℠ became their corporate philosophy: We solve business problems and support business strategies for clients, not just build fancy technology. The right technology must stem from the right solution, not the other way around. Darin had the phrase trademarked it and it hangs on the office wall today like a kind of lighthouse for the company, influencing how they work and who they hire.
Irish Titan is a digital full-service agency specializing in e-commerce and strategic digital experiences. In Darin's words, they help "put meat on the bones" of e-commerce websites and flesh out an e-commerce marketing strategy for clients. Irish Titan does all the work in-house, with a fully devoted team of "Titans," who include expert salespeople, strategists, designers, developers, and marketers.
Culture-Forward
It's no secret that people love to work at Irish Titan, and retaining talented employees is critical to the company's success. Their culture is defined by the company's core values, P.O.T.I.S. And no, it's not a political reference point: it's just a catchy acronym that stands for Passion, Ownership, Teamwork, Impact, and Skills. That's what every "Titan" must bring to the table. Of the company’s culture, Darin notes, "We like to say... we take our work seriously but not ourselves seriously." Expertise mixed with shenanigans; discovering ground-breaking solutions for their customers followed by team building outings—all in a pet-friendly environment. In short, Darin seeks to inspire employees to be their genuine selves while working hard. Creatis shares this approach by putting our core values to work at work.
Creatis & Irish Titan
Creatis President/CEO Kathy Hollenhorst is an outspoken member of the Darin Lynch fan club. Darin’s approach to building a healthy work culture and digital integration provide ongoing inspirations for Kathy as she moves Creatis forward, especially during the challenging and complex time of COVID-19—where going digital has become a do-or-die necessity for businesses.
Kathy and Darin are also part of organizations that help entrepreneurs and small business leaders in the Twin Cities stay connected, get resources, and utilize each other's unique knowledge. There’s some company kinship here too: Creatis and Irish Titan both solve problems for clients in the digital space. For Creatis, it's our unique Studio solutions model and for Irish Titan, the use of only in-house employees (proudly referred to as “Titans”) with no outside contractors, freelancers, or offshore resources.
Kathy and Darin share referrals, business ideas and run in the same executive circles. Because of their ongoing partnership and Irish Titan's expertise as an agency in the digital e-commerce space, Kathy invited Darin to be a guest on the Creatis podcast, In the Key of D: Using Digital to Transform Your Business.
In the episode, Kathy and Darin dig further into his thoughts on culture and how Irish Titan has interwoven digital throughout its structure to create efficiencies, increase scalability and retain top employees. Listen here.
Visit Irish Titan here.
If you are in need of digital and marketing support, especially during the challenging era of COVID-19, Creatis offers flexible resourcing solutions so that you can get your work done on time. Please contact our Director of Business Development, Sandi Henrikson This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
