This month I sat down with Chris Gomersall, currently in charge of Creative Direction and Design at Systems of Systems. Mr. Gomersall’s background includes being Facebooks first Creative Strategy Ad Executive, a Strategy Lead at Instagram, and the founder of Atomized – a visual rich content calendar management software that enabled brands and creative agencies to keep track of all their information in an executive dashboard. We explore how he integrated his creative background with emerging technology to successfully launch Atomized, and how he subsequently pivoted when it was acquired by Opal. Chris Gomersall speaks to the importance of an invested team, balancing creativity with business acumen, finding value in the struggle, and the excitement of creating on the frontier of emerging technology.
Ever on the cutting edge of technology, Mr. Gomersall had recently integrated the Apple Vision Pro into his Zoom setup, so this was my first interview with a virtual avatar. This is how it unfolded…
The Interview
Griffin Connolly: Welcome Mr. Gomersall, let’s start by getting a glimpse into your entrepreneurial journey. Can you share a bit about your background and how you ventured into the business world?
Chris Gomersall: Absolutely. My roots lie in creativity, initially as a fine art student at Michigan State University and then as a graduate student at the Miami Ad School in Atlanta. The journey into marketing and business unfolded organically as a necessity. I realized that being a creative guy meant finding ways to monetize that creativity. This realization aligned with the digital boom around the year 2000, when I was newly out of grad school. I was always interested in the emerging realms of technology and the internet, and I was able to meld this with my passion for creativity.
It was a transformative time in advertising, navigating from traditional television, radio, and print media to the internet, even before the era of apps. We had all these giant brands with budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars who were looking to figure out what the next big thing was. And the next big thing was obviously the internet and all the connected devices. So, my background essentially evolved from creativity to marketing and then integrated technology, giving rise to the business aspect.
Griffin Connolly: It sounds like a very exciting and pivotal time to have been involved in advertising and marketing. As I look at your background, your involvement in various startups stands out. Can you shed some light on your experiences with these startups and where they currently stand?
Chris Gomersall: Certainly. One of the key startups was Atomized. When I launched Atomized I’d already had experience in the agency world, servicing brands, and I’d worked with a couple of brands that had products. When I went to Facebook, now Meta, it was totally different. It wasn’t a brand or an agency; it was a platform. Mark Zuckerberg was more interested in users than big brands. He cared about what the users wanted to see – their friends, families, and interests. This focus on users of software, as opposed to making money, was a radical new idea and a turning point for me.
In my role at Facebook, I was working on advertising with big brands. I was meeting daily with companies like Disney, Warner Brothers, and Paramount. I kept hearing the same things come up: everyone wanted to be able to see what their creative ads would look like on Facebook versus traditional media. Solving this problem was the impetus for Atomized. It addressed a common challenge faced by big brands in visualizing and comparing their creative content across various platforms.
It quickly became a full-time job convincing people that this was a prototype that could launch successfully. The work before the work is an exhausting phase of start-ups. I always wanted to write a book called “Crawling to the Starting Line” because there’s so much work to be done before you actually begin.
The prototype gained traction when major players like Wendy’s, Home Depot, and Arby’s expressed interest. Armed with their support, I crafted a compelling business pitch, secured the initial funding needed, and in 2014 Atomized was born.
Eventually, Atomized found its place under Opal, aligning well with their existing product and clientele.
Griffin Connolly: That’s an impressive journey, especially transitioning from a startup to a successful acquisition. Working in an arena on the forefront of technology, what were some of the significant hurdles you encountered during the early days?
Chris Gomersall: The major challenge stemmed from bridging the knowledge gap with clients who weren’t as tech-savvy. We spent a significant portion of our meetings demystifying emerging technologies like web banners, tracking, and interactive content. Communicating the potential of these innovations often took precedence over presenting our creative ideas. It was a balance of educating clients on the evolving technology landscape while trying to showcase our groundbreaking concepts in a limited amount of time. Even though I loved what I was doing, spending so much time getting people on the same page about what we were even talking about was exhausting.
Griffin Connolly: Certainly, navigating the unfamiliar terrain must have demanded a lot of groundwork. Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently in handling those early challenges?
Chris Gomersall: I think there are always things to do differently. Reflecting on my entrepreneurial journey with Atomized, one key lesson stands out: don’t go it alone. I learned the importance of having a dedicated and invested team. While I wasn’t deeply involved in the coding needed to build the software itself, I was juggling product development, sales, and investor relations – everything that would ensure what I had envisioned came to life. It can easily become overwhelming. A more robust team could have eased the load.
I’ve also learned over time that it’s crucial to clarify roles upfront and ensure everyone is as invested as needed. Everyone can wear a lot of hats, so being clear about where one role ends and the next begins is important.
Griffin Connolly: You had a lot of high-level experience before you launched your own business. Do you think that was crucial to your ultimate success?
Chris Gomersall: I wouldn’t say it was crucial. The scale was so much smaller with the start-up, it was almost less helpful to have that experience. When you’ve been working with big brands, launching campaigns with huge budgets, and then suddenly you have no money, you must adapt significantly and find a scrappier way to succeed. The scale is so different; it’s a totally different beast.
Griffin Connolly: That’s interesting insight. Moving on to another pivotal moment – the acquisition of Atomized by Opal. How did that unfold, and what prompted the decision to merge with Opal?
Chris Gomersall: The acquisition had roots in existing relationships within the investor network and an introduction was made. While Atomized was considerably smaller than Opal, our consistent presence in new business pitches caught their attention. They were always identified as ahead of us in the game, so partially they were motivated to remove the annoyance of us being considered as a viable alternative in their business space.
While our products were different, our value propositions were similar. The synergy emerged as Opal, with its larger team and resources, could seamlessly integrate our product into their offerings and overall business strategy.
Griffin Connolly: After the acquisition, how did you navigate the post-Atomized phase and decide on your next steps?
Chris Gomersall: Post-acquisition, I craved a return to my creative roots. Engaging with brands in a more singular role allowed me to focus on what I loved – marketing and creativity. It was a reset, providing the mental space I needed at the time, and was crucial to moving forward with a clearer perspective.
The thing about entrepreneurship is that the first time, you have a sort of unbridled enthusiasm. You don’t have a complete picture of the struggles and work in front of you. But you definitely approach second and third launches with a little more hesitation, knowing what lies ahead.
Griffin Connolly: That sounds like a well-deserved pivot to recharge creatively. Considering your extensive experience, what aspect of entrepreneurship do you find most fulfilling?
Chris Gomersall: For me, it’s the pursuit of creating something from nothing. Whether it’s a piece of art or building a business, the process of creation is immensely fulfilling. In the toughest phases of entrepreneurship, witnessing an idea materialize from absolutely nothing and garner interest and support, is what keeps me driven. There’s a lot of pride in creating something that no one has thought of before, or that people thought would be impossible.
Griffin Connolly: Absolutely. Given your insights, what trends do you observe in the digital space now that differ from when you began your journey?
Chris Gomersall: Really, the more things change the more they stay the same. There will always be technological advancement and there will always be the initial hurdle of bridging the knowledge gap and marketing successfully to the consumer. For example, one of the biggest projects I worked on in my agency days was launching the iPhone. The concept of apps and pushing on a screen totally confused people. And now we have the Apple Vision Pro that I’m using for this interview, which is layering the digital world over the real world. It’s clunky right now, but I’m having daily conversations with tech savvy and innovative people about the future this headset is creating. Think of what can be accomplished when you layer all the combined power of apps over reality. And you control it with your pupils and by touching your fingers together to push buttons.
It’s the looking ahead that excites me because that’s the realm that no one has created in yet. And there’s not enough people paying attention to it.
Griffin Connolly: There are certainly exciting possibilities in front of us. As we wrap up, I have one last question. If you could give the budding entrepreneurs in my Student Launch Club at school one piece of advice, what would that be?
Chris Gomersall: Embrace the struggle and find the value in it. Entrepreneurship inherently involves challenges and setbacks. Understand that the journey will demand hard work and perseverance. Rather than viewing the struggle as a hindrance, recognize it as a crucial part of the process that molds and strengthens you. The difficulties you encounter today contribute to the resilience you’ll have in the future.
Griffin Connolly: Powerful advice! It’s been a pleasure delving into your entrepreneurial journey and gaining insights from your experiences. I appreciate your time and the valuable perspectives you’ve shared.
Chris Gomersall: You’re welcome. It’s been a pleasure talking with you.