I’m not sure why my old friend James Marks didn’t mention it to me when I saw him a few days ago, but it looks as though his merchandizing logistics company, Whiplash, has landed a spot near the top of the “Inc. 5000” – Inc. magazine’s annual ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States… How cool is that?
Congratulations to James, Sean Hurley and Mark Dickson, who have invested untold hours over the past half dozen years to reach this point. I know, from talking with James, that they’ve still got a ways to go, but hopefully this attention that they’re getting in Inc. is a harbinger of positive things to come, as they set out to raise capital, grow the company internationally, and revolutionize their industry.
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As a friend of his why didn’t you conduct one of your “exit interviews” with him when he moved to San Francisco?
I was holding out hope for a few years that James, Ruth and Amelia would be coming back to Michigan. Until recently, they still owned their house here on Pearl, and I thought it was likely that, after a few years in Oakland, they’d come back. The house just recently sold, though. And they seem to be truly happy in California. Amelia likes her school. Ruth loves her job. And James is making the most of what the area has to offer to help push Whiplash forward. So I think they’re happy where they are. I guess I could do an exit interview with them now, but they’ve probably been gone about four years now. I think I missed the window. If they come back, though, I’ll do an immigration interview.
I didn’t know that they’d moved to Ann Arbor. I thought that they were still in Ypsi.
Whiplash opened an Ann Arbor warehouse when it outgrew VGKids, but we’ve just outgrown that and opened a 2nd facility in Ypsilanti. So it was gone for a couple of years, but back in Ypsi again. Out by the Willow Run airport in the industrial park.