CEO Craig Erlich grew his company, pulse220, by focusing on the
rocks. Erlich keeps a jar at his company filled with five big rocks, a
number of pebbles and sand, and says
it helped define his company as the
leader in experiential marketing and
corporate events.
“If you focus on
putting the pebbles
and sand in first,
you will never fit
in the big rocks,”
Erlich says. “You
have to focus on
putting the rocks in
first, and everything else falls into
place. That’s how I live my life and run
my business, and we keep these jars
here to remind each other to focus on
the big things first.”
The company got its start in 1987 as
Star Trax, which allowed people to
record themselves singing to music
with the lyrics removed — now known
as karaoke.
As pulse220 became more successful, Erlich moved into doing large corporate events for major firms and
changed the name of the company:
pulse220 refers to its ability to get
deep into a client’s firm to take the
pulse of the company and then push it
to the maximum heart rate of 220
beats per minute.
In a service-oriented business, Erlich
places a premium on his employees,
empowering them to be the best and
most creative they can. And he emphasizes to them five core values — experiences to feel what it’s like to envision growth, passion about what you
do, pride in your work, commitment to
your clients, and profitability — to
help him continue to grow the business.
HOW TO REACH: pulse220, (248) 200-3900 or
www.pulse220.com