Razor

Chris Merkel has been building digital products since age 13, but his entrepreneurial journey began unexpectedly in 2008 when he was just 20 years old. While interning at a company earning roughly $15,000-20,000 a year, a friend approached him with an opportunity: someone wanted to build a daily deals application (timely, given Groupon's emergence). Despite having no agency experience, Chris saw the chance to earn three times his internship salary and committed to the project from his mom's kitchen table.

Chris's path to that first client was anything but conventional. He credits "random things" and word-of-mouth for his early success. Years earlier, he'd worked as a photographer for five or six years, building relationships with brands. When someone noticed he could combine photography skills with web design, doors opened. That first client referral came through a friend who connected him with someone seeking a daily deals application. What made this deal remarkable wasn't just the size—it ended up being $60-70k—but how Chris won it as a complete unknown.

His strategy was elegant in its simplicity: break the project into digestible chunks. Rather than pitch a six-figure deal upfront (which would have scared any reasonable client), he proposed starting with the marketing website for about $10k. By delivering on that first milestone and introducing a senior-level contractor he'd found through Facebook, he proved he could walk the walk. The client then authorized the full scope.

For that first $60-70k project (delivered over three months), Chris paid roughly $15k to contractors and designers, keeping 40-50% profit—roughly $24-35k—after expenses. He operated from his mom's basement with minimal overhead. From day one, he understood leverage: hire specialists where needed, deliver quality, and let results speak louder than credentials.

Chris also famously listed a New York address on his website early on, despite being based in Atlanta, to appear bigger and command higher rates. While he's since grown into actual New York and Atlanta offices, this early "fake it till you make it" move—combined with cheaper tools like P.O. boxes—helped him negotiate higher contract values.

By the time of this interview (roughly 2016, eight years after launch), Razor had scaled to just under $3 million in annual revenue. Chris managed a distributed team of 4-6 full-time staff in New York with 8-16 total resources across Atlanta contractors. The agency typically juggled 5-6 concurrent projects, working with 10+ clients per year at varying price points: $50-75k for larger clients, $10-15k for newly-funded startups (which he'd grow over time). Razor specializes in conceptual prototyping, iPhone app development, custom websites, and backend systems—the exact skills that made his first deal possible—and now serves Fortune 100 brands alongside startups.

At age 28, Chris attributed his success to refusing to be paralyzed by failure and constantly moving forward.