Get Creative

Sometimes, a big job can change the direction of your company.
Consider Stickboy Creative, a Fort Myers-based firm that helps growing companies manage their information technology challenges. Initially, founder Matt Bernhardt formed the company in 2007 with his wife, Reema Bhatia, to design websites for corporate clients.
But in 2010, the couple started a website called CouponsIwant.com after they successfully tested it in the Fort Myers area. “This was an idea, so we stopped taking outside work,” says Bernhardt. “It was almost stupid, looking back.”

The coupon site was an instant success in Southwest Florida because within a few months they had collected 30,000 email addresses from people who wanted to receive coupons from specific retailers.
But the cost of developing the site and hiring sales people exceeded revenues. “It was losing money,” Bernhardt says. “Our funds were running pretty low.”

So in 2011, Stickboy Creative sold the coupon website and chalked up the project as a lesson in how to build a large-scale system. “That allowed us to build large systems for other companies,” Bernhardt says.