web development Startups

Grandex is a media and e-commerce company founded in 2010 by Madison Wickham and a co-founder, starting as a simple one-liner comedy website called Total Frat Move (TFM) targeting college fraternity culture. The company grew from $2,000/month in ad revenue (August 2010) to $10M in annual revenue by 2015 through diversification into branded merchandise (Rowdy Gentlemen), premium retail curation (Man Outfitters), and expanded media properties. They raised $2.3M in angel funding at a $20M pre-money valuation around 2014, and now operate with 40+ employees using owned media channels to drive traffic to their e-commerce and advertising businesses.

Adleaf Technologies was a 2013 startup that combined programming bootcamps with software solutions, training fresh engineers and delivering client work at low cost. Despite strong initial traction with 43 new admissions in one week from Facebook ads and recovering initial investment in two weeks, the company failed due to poor money management, seasonal dependency on college students, and partnership conflicts. The founder lost approximately $13,000 USD total.