It all started above a tiny bakery called the Blue Frog in Orange, California. Twelve years ago, we didn’t have a grand plan — just enthusiasm, crappy IKEA furniture, and a tiny office barely big enough for me, Jordan, and Cory.
We began Common Thread Collective (CTC) driven not by dreams of immense wealth or corporate grandeur, but by a deep passion for meaningful work and a genuine enthusiasm for the process.
Back then, Jordan had just wrapped up his professional football career in the NFL, and I had transitioned from baseball into the marketing and consumer products world. We brought together a unique set of experiences: Jordan's network and relationship-building skills paired perfectly with my strategic and execution capabilities.
Early on, we had some wild ideas, one of which came from my brother … a silicone wedding ring company called QALO. QALO and CTC grew side by side, and it was here that we first experienced the real power of targeted Facebook advertising.
We discovered something revolutionary: Facebook knew users' relationship statuses. It meant we could pinpoint engaged and married firefighters, CrossFit athletes, and military personnel with incredible accuracy.
This insight into digital advertising changed everything.
We weren't just theorizing … we were investing our own dollars into advertising, and we quickly learned the value of real financial outcomes over vanity metrics. It set a precedent for how we’d run CTC from that point forward.
From the start, CTC was never meant to be just an agency. It was always intended as a vehicle, a launching pad for bigger entrepreneurial dreams.
We thought the long-term success would come from building and owning consumer brands.
This belief led us to create 4x400, a separate entity that would own and scale multiple brands. We imagined operational efficiencies, shared learnings, and collective success. And for a while, it worked.
Our growth strategy had us pouring the profits from CTC into funding these brand ventures.
Brands like Bambu Earth skincare emerged from this model and continue to thrive today. Yet through all these entrepreneurial ventures, the heartbeat of our organization remained our team culture.
We created initiatives like Dream Days, investing heavily in our people’s personal and professional goals, and built vibrant offices in Orange County and New York, buzzing with creativity and energy. Life at CTC was rich, fulfilling, and deeply connected to our purpose.
Then COVID-19 changed everything overnight. Our vibrant, communal office culture vanished instantly as we shifted to remote work.
Simultaneously, demand for digital marketing services skyrocketed, catapulting our team from around 60 to nearly 180 people within just 18 months.
It was exciting … but deeply challenging.
Our systems strained, the quality of our client experience faltered at the edges, and the tight-knit culture we had cherished began to fray.
The rapid growth and subsequent market corrections brought sobering realities. By late 2022, with the normalization of post-pandemic demand, we faced difficult truths. Our rapid expansion had led to structural issues, forcing us into significant layoffs.
It was one of the most difficult periods I've faced as a leader, but it brought clarity and forced us to ask crucial questions: What were we truly building? Was our original vision still sustainable? Was there a better way forward?
Those tough times led us to profound introspection and clarity.
I realized we had underestimated the inherent value of CTC itself. Rather than treating it merely as a launching pad for other ventures, we saw its potential as a robust, profitable, and highly impactful enterprise. We decided it was time to commit fully to operational excellence, financial discipline, and delivering exceptional outcomes for our clients.
Inspired by successful peers and recognizing our strengths, we became laser-focused on rigorous financial forecasting, precise operational management, and a relentless commitment to measurable financial results for our clients. Our work became more purposeful, focused, and deeply satisfying.
The renewed energy transformed our culture into one that thrived on delivering true value and solving complex client challenges.
This newfound clarity and operational discipline naturally guided us toward our next step … finding a strategic partner to help amplify and expand our capabilities. This path led us to our new partner: the Acacia Group.
This marks an exciting new chapter for CTC — not about exiting, but about accelerating our growth and enhancing our existing strengths.
The team at Acacia specializes in backing and building technology-enabled service businesses and will bring expertise, capital, and a deep commitment to innovation.
Frederic Cassis, managing partner at Acacia, captured the spirit perfectly:
“In a time when every marketing dollar needs to work harder, CTC has built a smart, disciplined model for tying marketing to measurable financial results. We believe CTC has all the ingredients for rapid expansion … a brilliant leadership team, proprietary tools, and an unwavering focus on customer success. With our support, they’ll accelerate growth through product innovation, talent development, and targeted acquisitions, keeping customer impact front and center.”
For me personally, this partnership is transformative.
Acacia's financial and operational backing unlocks opportunities for us to scale rapidly, evolve our technology infrastructure, and continue delivering exceptional results for our brands.
Our rationale for partnering with Acacia goes beyond their technology and M&A expertise. We chose to work with them because they get our business, share our vision and our values, understand our culture and are great to work with. Of all the potential investors we’ve talked to over the years, the Acacia team stands out for all those reasons.
We’re excited by the potential of what we can achieve together.
As I write this today, reflecting on the past 12 years, I genuinely believe this is just the beginning. As CTC’s VP of Paid Media Tony Chopp would say …
“Today is the best we’ve been and worst we'll ever be.”
With this new partnership, we have greater resources, smarter technology, and clearer direction than ever before.
Becoming the ultimate resource for brands that seek financial clarity, profitability, and sustainable growth.
So, if you're a brand looking for clarity and measurable success, we're here to help. If you run a world-class service that aligns with our vision, let's talk.
I’m grateful for every employee, client, partner, and supporter who has contributed to this incredible journey. This is not an endpoint — it’s the next chapter in our ongoing story, and I’m beyond excited to see what we will build together next.