Disrupting large holding agency networks with a people-focused, constantly evolving approach described as an anti-holding company
AUSTIN, Texas, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Peter Lang and Tom Shipley recently unveiled their joint M&A venture, AVA (AVAacquisitions.com) – a unique digital-agency holding company ready to compete with the current titans in an often-unchanging, traditional field. AVA’s core strategy builds a series of agency groups that harvest value through programmatic scaling and a people-centered approach, focusing on giving founders a choice of career path, while using proven frameworks to enable and empower each subsequent agency and their talent. Founders of new agencies will then be able to choose whether to specialize, move up into AVA leadership, or pursue other opportunities as they arise.
AVA – Founders of a Digital-First Agency Revolution
Peter Lang: An American entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist with more than a decade of experience starting, building, buying, and selling companies in online publishing, media, advertising, eCommerce, training, and consulting. In 2010, Lang founded the Uhuru Network, a digital sales and inbound marketing agency, before later acquiring six agencies and growing revenue by 500%, centralizing sales to a specialist unit. Leveraging both of his leading agency M&A training programs, DAB and Programmatic M&A, Lang and his team have met with nearly 600 agency founders in the past two years, refining the basis for AVA – an anti-holding company. Simply put, this is designed to be shaped by the talent in the acquired businesses, instead of run according to outmoded 20th century models.
“The post-COVID agency market has given us an incredible opportunity to create a serious contender to the traditional advertising networks,” said Lang. “Our focus is on people, on culture, on scaling from the bottom up – on building an agency group with the people who represent the future of digital, instead of relying on outdated models that belong in the past. Both Tom and I have built a series of deep connections in the industry, with an understanding that AVA will represent the best digital-first agencies out there.”
Tom Shipley: A serial entrepreneur, eCommerce and platform investor, strategic advisor, and speaker, Shipley has become one of the leading experts in omnichannel brand building over the last 20 years. Shipley is the co-founder and past President of Foundry – an Ecommerce and Amazon brand aggregator which raised $100 million in 2021 to create a leading digital-first consumer brands company. Prior to that, Shipley built Atlantic Coast Brands, whose iconic brands sold over $2 billion through direct-to-consumer channels and retail. His brands are widely recognized household names on TV, radio, online, Amazon, and can be found in major retailers like Costco, Ulta, CVS, Nordstroms, HSN, and more.
Tom Shipley said of AVA’s launch, “I am so excited to be AVA’s CEO as we reimagine how global agencies are built and scaled.”
Learn more about AVA, its founders, and the company’s future plans by going online. And for up-to-the-minute news and industry information, follow AVA on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
