About
We built brands before we built SAMA.
An independent media, creative and growth company, run by people who spent their own capital first.
Build. Scale. Exit. Then do it again for other people.
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01
BUILD
We started brands with our own capital, our own inventory and our own risk.
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02
SCALE
We grew them with the same media, creative and lifecycle systems we run today.
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03
EXIT
We sold what we built, and learned what a buyer actually pays for.
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04
SAMA
We turned the operating playbook into an independent media, creative and growth company.
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05
TODAY
We run that playbook for enterprise brands and commerce businesses under one roof.
02 / The operator advantage
Most agencies learned marketing by spending their clients’ money.
We learned by spending our own.
That changes what we optimize for. Not impressions, not platform reported returns, but contribution margin, payback and the value of the business at the end of it.
A decade of operating, in numbers.
- 10+
- Years Operating
- $100M
- Client Revenue Influenced
- 300+
- Brands Served
- $50M+
- Media Managed
- 6x
- Brands Built Internally
- 4
- Successful Exits
The people on the work.
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Thomas Desernia
Founder
Built and bootstrapped consumer brands before building an agency. Bought the inventory, ran the margin, spent the media budget and carried the outcome.
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John Florey
Founder & CEO
Leads the company and the client agenda. Treats every media and creative decision as a capital decision with a stated expected return.
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Justin Velez
Head of Commerce
Operator background in direct to consumer. Manages growth to contribution margin, payback and repeat rate rather than platform reported returns.
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Mia Cocoran
Client Experience
Owns the working relationship end to end, keeping senior people on the work and every commitment on schedule.
Start here
What are you building?
Tell us the business problem. We will tell you whether we are the right people for it.