Executive Management

Joe Palko, co-founder of Solid Cactus, was always in business, always in management from the time he was a teenager. It started at a grocery store in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania. “By the time I was sixteen I was doing all the scheduling, the ordering, the stocking, pretty much everything,” says Joe. “Then one day the owner just gave me the keys and said ‘you do it.’” Joe did. The grocery chain saw what they had and moved him up. Joe did years of managing grocery stores. From there he went to UPS as a manager. It was along the way his friend Scott Sanfilippo had a crazy idea: sell ferret supplies and other pet-related items via the internet. It was a crazy idea. After all, Amazon.com hadn’t even been invented back in 1994 when the Ferretstore.com started.

“I was management, Scott was technology,” says Joe. “We had one employee and worked out of a closet.” Within two years the closet grew into a garage, and today the Ferretstore.com is twenty-two employees, a 20,000 square foot distribution center, 4800 unique SKUs, 250,000 customers, a quarterly print catalogue and annual sales over $5 million. But Joe and Scott wanted their web site to work better, be user-friendly, easier for search engines to find. They wanted a good web site to be a great web site, and in 2000, Solid Cactus was born.

Joe knew from the grocery business that products have to be easy to find and inventory has to be easy to control and started corresponding with Andrey and Stas, the first designer and programmer for Solid Cactus. “People were coming to us asking for help with redesigns of their own web sites,” says Joe.

Joe knew he could help people. “Scott and I made every mistake you could make along the way,” laughs Joe. “Solid Cactus doesn’t just design web sites, we know about operating an on-line business. With us it’s not theory, we’ve been there. We are there.”

Joe knows that most people who start internet businesses are trying something very new. “When I was working for big companies, I know how much I always wanted to work for myself,” says Joe. “I can see that in others. I like helping businesses succeed. I love learning about new businesses. I like helping people.”

As to Solid Cactus and the future, well, the present looks bright. As of 2004, Solid Cactus had grown to 25 employees with over 1500 clients. They’ve designed or redesigned a thousand web sites. Joe looks five years down the road carefully. “In five years hopefully we’ll all be the same people,” he says simply. I want to make Solid Cactus better, to keep it growing without over-growing. Right now I know everyone really well. That’s important. As we grow that will be the challenge. To get big without getting—you know—BIG. To make sure we continue to get great people who look after our clients. To keep everyone good at what they do, and me too. That’s my greatest concern,” says co-founder Joe Palko.

“We were in the internet business before we could even take credit cards via e-mail. It took four years before we even thought about quitting our day jobs.”

Solid Cactus co-founder Scott Sanfilippo saw it right away, there just wasn’t much he could do about it. “It” of course was the promise of doing actual business on the internet. It was his first job out of college, with Commonwealth Telephone, which launched epix Internet Services. Scott was in the original tech support group. Then he started selling e-commerce web sites. “I thought, ‘hey, maybe we could do this Internet sales thing with ferret supplies,’” Scott recalls. He and Joe Palko brought the TheFerretStore.com to life. It was 1994, before Amazon.com was even invented. We’re talking pioneers here. “We had a crude web site that we launched, and we sent out a simple catalogue. It was our first attempt at direct mail. I remember what a big deal it was when we got our first ink jet printer!”

The first four years were rocky. Scott and Joe plugged away at the Internet and direct marketing, working from a closet in Scott’s townhouse. “Back then no one took credit cards over the Internet. But when the attitude changed we finally left the closet for a garage, then we left the garage for an incubator center, then into our own building, which was doubled to 20,000 square feet and 22 employees.” It was then Scott stopped working two jobs, and was able to devote himself entirely to the TheFerretStore.com. A side effect of buying and selling for the TheFerretStore.com was that Scott acquired a wealth of knowledge about pets’ behavior, illnesses, likes, dislikes, favorite foods, and he shared it. For years he deftly hosted his own weekly radio show and was known affectionately as “The Pet Guy.” It was informative and smart marketing.

The Internet is a competitive place, and TheFerretStore.com withstood some big splashes of competition. “Remember Pets.com?” asks Scott. “The sock puppet ads? They bought a million-dollar ad in the Super Bowl one year. They had a multimillion-dollar IPO. We thought that might be it for us. Ultimately they sold us their inventory at pennies on the dollar when the went bankrupt. We came before the dot com boom, we survived the bust, and went in a whole new direction. We started Solid Cactus.”

In May of ’07 TheFerretStore.com and several other web properties and inventory were sold to Drs. Foster & Smith, the nation’s largest mail-order pet supply company. Scott said the decision was easy. “We realized we had to devote all of our time to growing Solid Cactus.”

Growth is synonymous with Solid Cactus. At the end of ’05 the company occupied 5,000 sq. feet of office space. There were 32 people. By the end of ’06 Solid Cactus was 64 people and at the end of ’07 they’d grown to 135. In ’08 Solid Cactus will occupy 24,000 sq. feet of office space in two locations. The growth was so spectacular Solid Cactus was recognized by Inc. Magazine in ’07. The Inc. 500 list named Solid Cactus as its 255th fastest-growing privately held company and 28th fastest-growing IT company. “This is wonderful recognition for us,” said Scott. “We never set out to be a fast growing company; we merely wanted to be the very best at what we do. Our success has led to more success. One unique feature of the Internet is how fast the word gets around about your company. Be it good or bad, people find out and respond accordingly. The Inc. 500 listings mean that we’re doing things right and succeeding along the way.”

Perhaps more important to Scott, though, is that while managing this growth Solid Cactus managed a positive work environment. In ’06-’07 the company was selected as one of the “Best Places to Work in Pennsylvania.” Despite doubling in size during both years the Solid Cactus actually went from #21 up to #11 out of 220,000 businesses in the commonwealth. for the past two years they have been selected as one of the best places to work in Pennsylvania. “Everyone sets out in business to be financially successful,” said Scott. “But Joe and I also measure our success by the happiness of our people. This award proves we really are a success. We try to make work less ‘work-like.’ We have no dress code; we provide free snacks, a free gym, regular company outings, performance bonuses and health and retirement plans. No company with serious plans for its future should do any less.”

The “Best Places” award is weighted so that 75% of the decision comes from anonymous employee responses and 25% is employer response. The award is modeled after Fortune’s “100 Best Places to Work” and is organized by the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Team Pennsylvania Foundation and the Best Companies Group.

Looking down the road, Scott wants Solid Cactus to grow the right way. “I want Solid Cactus to be a leader in e-commerce,” he says. “That comes down to a great company giving great service. We go above and beyond for our clients, we want them happy. We want to treat them the way we’d like to be treated. Also, we have to be the best. I know technology. A good Internet business needs great service people and also great technical people. That’s our challenge — find those people.

“I have a goal. When someone — ANYone starts an e-business or upgrades their e-commerce site, I want Solid Cactus to be the first name on their lips.” It will be if Scott Sanfilippo has anything to say about it.

Scott has a bachelor's degree in broadcasting from King's College and currently resides in Moosic, PA and Palm Beach, FL. He shares his home with his Chihuahuas - Baby, Peanut and Freckles, as well as Cosmo the cat.

Scott currently sits on the board of directors for the following:

• Great Valley Technology Alliance
• Luzerne County SPCA

Scott's recent achievements:

• "Person of the Year - 2007" nominee by the Wilkes-Barre, PA Citizens' Voice Newspaper
• "Top 20 Under 40 - 2006" (Top 20 business executives in Northeast, PA under the age of 40)
• "Young Millionaire - 2005" Entrepreneur Magazine

Scott has been featured in the following national publications:

• Entrepreneur
• Internet Retailer
• Inc. Magazine
• Wall Street Journal
• USA Today

Justin Rattigan brings years of extensive technological and managerial experience in the Internet industry to his role as Chief Marketing Officer of Solid Cactus Inc.

Mr. Rattigan joined the company in 2004 and is responsible for the day to day operations of the company. Under his leadership, Solid Cactus has developed multiple strategic partnerships with 3rd party vendors such as Yahoo! Small Business and OrderMotion as well as increasing customer satisfaction and retention by implementing new CRM policies and procedures within the sales and project management group.

Prior to joining Solid Cactus, Mr. Rattigan served as president of TurnAhead.com, a company he and Solid Cactus Chief Marketing Officer Sean Gove founded while in college. Using his knowledge and expertise in programming and design, TurnAhead.com successfully launched over 200 Yahoo! Merchant Solutions stores for various clients. TurnAhead.com merged with Solid Cactus in 2004.

Mr. Rattigan attended Binghamton University, served on the board of directors of the eMerchant's Association, and is a moderator in the Yahoo! Store Owners' Forum where his advice to other merchants is invaluable.

"I know everything about Solid Cactus. This is important for me to be able to do my job better. Also, Solid Cactus is a really cool company to know about."

Executive VP and General Counsel Jonathan Tennenbaum is the Solid Cactus company lawyer and he's a busy man. He counsels the company in various aspects of operations and he manages all corporate legal matters including contracts, reviewing documents, employment and human resources issues, collections, client disputes, litigation matters and intellectual property issues along with many other tasks. "Basically I'm responsible for all legal aspects of the company," says Jonathan. "There are basically two aspects, the legal and the practical or logical standpoint."

Jonathan graduated with a degree in finance and worked as an accountant among other entrepreneurial endeavors before finishing law school. He owned and managed his own record label (he's an accomplished rapper) and was general partner in a company which bought, renovated and sold real estate. Upon finishing his legal education, Jonathan passed the bar in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and was a municipal prosecutor while working in private practice. Then he found Solid Cactus. "I liked the individuals, I liked their vision and I liked the idea of having one client," Jonathan says. "With one client you really get to know the people and the company and the issues. With many clients you never have that chance." Jonathan started out by doing various legal chores for the company, but "finally they got tired of paying me by the hour and hired me," he laughs.

Jonathan is in charge of Protected By Cactus. He is developing a suite of intellectual property protection services which the company offers to clients. Among them are copy writing and trademark services. Protected By Cactus is set up specifically to protect the interests of e-commerce operators. "There's lots of unprotected, unsecured �copy and paste' going on," says Jonathan. "People are spending lots of time and money on projects and processes that others can steal easily if they're not properly protected. These concepts are in flux and precedents are being set every day."

As for Solid Cactus, Jonathan has �drunk the Kool-Aid.' He likes the attitude. "They believe anything is possible," says Jonathan. "I'm excited by their vision. At Solid Cactus, the sky's the limit. I never had any reason to look elsewhere. I'm in it to win it."

"Solid Cactus is a services company that supplies e-commerce solutions. When people run into a wall, my job is to get them past that wall."

As the Vice-President of Operations, Miguel is responsible for leading the various teams and keeping them on track with the company's goals. "There is a Solid Cactus way," Miguel says simply. "I guide and mentor the various team leaders to hopefully help them manage more effectively. Our goals are all the same though; we're after an outstanding overall design, clean programming and the best client service in the business."

Miguel does it the old-fashioned way with an open door and one eye constantly monitoring the industry trends. "It's a real challenge to manage our constant growth while trying to streamline our efforts and keep each department agile," he says. "It's a continuous balancing act."

Miguel has a degree in communications and he found Solid Cactus the old fashioned way; an ad in the local paper. The timing was perfect. Miguel had been creating and designing web sites on a freelance basis, and he realized he would have to either expand his own business, or join a larger company. Solid Cactus was a natural fit. They liked his experience in dealing with clients, and shortly made him a project manager.

"I was the primary contact for my clients," says Miguel. "Along the way I consult with the designers and the programmers. I dissect the job into specific tasks and then make sure they're completed to bring my clients' ideas and visions to life."

Miguel knows computers having built PC's from spare parts. He knows office software and PC applications; he knows graphic design and programming languages. "The body of knowledge means I can be a communications bridge and liaison between Solid Cactus and our clients."

Miguel knows that communication can be an on-going process. "At Solid Cactus, our clients stay with us," he says. "Their needs continue to change, and the more success they have, the more help they need to grow their businesses. It is so satisfying to watch their little web sites become big ones, to watch their little businesses become big businesses."

Typical of his Solid Cactus colleagues, Miguel likes the people who make him look good, and he loves how the view looks long term. "Everyone here is incredibly nice. That might sound corny, but I loved that about Solid Cactus right from the start. And the future is very exciting. This company will continue to grow and evolve, and I want to be there." Count on it….

"I liked the idea of startups and loved the growth potential I saw in Solid Cactus. I thought my skill set would match theirs. It has!"

Lou Pagnotti did nearly 20 years working for big companies in corporate America, but suddenly did a complete reversal when he became something like the 30th person through the door at a tiny startup called Solid Cactus. He has 2 decades of management, sales and marketing experience and as Vice President of Sales, he uses every tool every day. "I manage the ECC's (E-Commerce Consultants) who are the lifeblood of customer service. Once a project is sold, our team is the main contact for our clients."

Overall, Lou makes sure that Solid Cactus projects are done on time and to the client's satisfaction. His job breaks down to three different areas: client service, project management and driving revenue. Then he laughs. "Plus I assist with training, development, coaching and teaching. Training support and tech support report to me. There are lots of meetings and lots of personal interaction. It's a full day."

Lou brought to Solid Cactus more than 2 decades in the business world. After a business degree, he sold stocks and bonds, then managed a retail tire store. Then he turned his interests to customer service and sales management and managed programs for a bank, a pharmaceutical telemarketing company and a metal fixtures company. "They were all transferable skills," he says modestly.

The move to a then-tiny company was easy. "Client service and sales management are in my blood and they're the lifeblood of Solid Cactus," says Lou. "This company is passionate about client service. You know, a company is a mirror to the way it treats its employees. If you treat your people well, they're much more likely to treat your clients well. It's no coincidence that Solid Cactus treats us very well and we're known for client service.

Lou knows what he wants to do at Solid Cactus. He wants to do just what he's doing, only to do it better. "Client service is an on-going process," he says. "I want to continue to develop our team. I honestly believe we're already the best, but I want us to continue to lead and offer world-class, state of the art client services and consulting. I plan to retire here. A long, long time from now."

"At Solid Cactus, people act on your ideas. There's no corporate nonsense taking months. Here, we talk in terms of days."

Patty Sleboda is in charge of payables and receivables. "I'm the money person at Solid Cactus," she laughs. Patty provides financial statements to executive management. She oversees the finance department and payroll functions. She sets up policies, procedures and implementation, as well as coordinating audit materials for the corporate accountants. "I've helped the finance department grow to catch up with the rest of the company. There are lots of challenges here and I'm enjoying them."

Patty comes to Solid Cactus from the accounting world. After college she became the controller for a brokerage firm. While there, Patty received several brokerage licenses, allowing her to trade stocks and mutual funds. "I learned a lot about the money world," says Patty. "It gave me a good foundation for accounting."

Then it was on to a local newspaper which was part of a national chain where Patty worked as a financial analyst. She worked on the month-ending accounting tasks, reported statistics and was integral to the budgeting process of the newspaper. Before leaving the paper Patty was promoted to Finance Manager. "I had to deal with many different divisions at the paper," she recalls. "It's important in finance to know how things work."

Solid Cactus was something completely different for Patty. "To go from newspapers where things are constantly shrinking to the internet—which is constantly growing—was a big shock," says Patty. "A good shock, but a big one." That isn't the only shock she's dealt with. There is a different snap in the air at Solid Cactus. "I love it here," Patty says. "I love working for a young company and working with young people. The culture is out of this world. Everyone is so nice. The retention here is unbelievable. They spend a lot of money here to keep people. They provide the big things like multiple-screen monitors, little things like free food in the kitchen and everything in between. The people we're training will stay here."

Patty Sleboda has her hands full now. "We're in the process of going paperless. It has to happen, but it's another big change. There are so many changes here. Just to watch our growth is fascinating."

Patty has been profiled as one of "2008's Top 25 Best & Brightest Women in Business” by the Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal.