Why I Just Moved From LA to NYC and Took My Agency M&A Firm HQ With Me

Guess who just arrived in New York City, fresh from Los Angeles? (Spoiler alert: it wasn’t Spider-Man). My agency M&A firm Barney moved its headquarters from LA to NYC. Why would anyone trade the West Coast’s palm trees for the glittering skyscrapers of the Big Apple, much less take work with them? The decision to move, like the Empire State Building, didn’t spring up overnight. Instead, it was part of an organic process that went hand in hand with our growth as a company.?

But more on that in a moment. First, I owe you an explanation. Why transport Barney HQ from sunny, expansive California to the concrete jungle of the Five Boroughs?

First, we didn’t we didn't relocate the business. Our office in SoCal is still very much alive, as are our awesome employees who work from there. The move was a combination of tactical and inspirational. We believe that moving our focal point here –?while keeping and nourishing our SoCal roots – is the next step for Barney.

Why?

Well, not the least because of the sizzling agency M&A market, the fact that NYC is home to some of the world’s most creative minds, and the thriving digital agency space in America’s largest city (and the ninth most populous city in the world).

The team is already bursting with excitement to pursue the endless possibilities that nest between the high-rises of this iconic skyline. While we’re settling in, I thought it’d be a great idea to share about our decision to take the plunge and move from LA to NYC.

New York City, here we come!

American Dream, Meet Madison Avenue

New York City isn’t just the native city of your favorite superheroes. It’s also the metropolis that spawned the Golden Age of Advertising. That era laid the foundation for agencies as we know them today, and accordingly, it holds lessons for the future.

There’s truth to the “Mad Men” trope of advertising gods sipping whisky within the hallowed halls of Madison Avenue. As far back as 1861, there were already 20 ad agencies in the city. Then as you dive deeper into the agency history rabbit hole, you’ll run into a who’s who of marketing and advertising. You’ll also encounter a fact that’s kind of astonishing if it’s new to you: in 1911, NYC already was home to the New York City Association of Advertising Agencies.

To give you some perspective on how “OG” NYC is in ad land: the American Association of Advertising Agencies wasn’t founded until 1917. For 6 trailblazing years, NYC was the only location on the map for advertising.

Before digital, there was print. And no one did printed advertising better than the creative types that flocked to New York from all over America – in search of others like them. What the Valley is for tech, New York is for agencies. And it has continued to be even after the rise of the Internet. I know because from the moment I set foot in NYC, I could feel that energy still pulsing in the air.

So it makes sense for one of the fastest-growing agency M&A firms to also make a home for itself in the city that taught billions around the globe how to sell trillions of dollars’ worth? of products by the sheer power of their imagination and creativity.

We can already “feel” it – and it’s just been a few weeks.

Blitz-Scaling an M&A Firm: Grow or Die

The musician/actor Tom Waits once said: “New York is like a big ship, and the water’s on fire.” I don’t love all of his music, but he makes a memorable point. He’s wrong, though – because what’s on fire in NYC isn’t the water. It’s the M&A market.

How do you grow an M&A firm in one of the hottest spaces – i.e. digital agencies – in the country? You double down, of course. But to break away from all the noise, you need an uber-ambitious and empathetic team that can pilot your vision.

At Barney, we’re deeply moved to make the experience of buying and selling digital agencies 100% painless and yes, even fun. We’re founder-friendly – because we’ve been there ourselves and have seen how broken the process is with our own eyes.

This vision and mission is also fueling fast growth. As we skyrocket into our upward trajectory, we need access to a talent pool that cares about this vision as much as we do.

NYC gives us unfettered access to such a pool.

They’re here. They’re well-versed in the space. Some of them have already joined us – you’ll be seeing and reading more from them in the coming weeks and months. We can’t wait to meet the others.

The Bucket List Just Got Shorter, Too

But there’s more to this than just business.

While all the above informed and encouraged our decision to expand to NYC, I won’t deny that deeply personal reasons also played a role.?

For me, as for so many others, Covid changed my outlook. It made me reevaluate so many things: how I view my work, appreciate my family, do business, live my life. When all we have is uncertainty and constant change, we realize: we have to live to the fullest.

The only time to ‘love the life you live and live the life you love” is always RIGHT NOW.

I’ll always carry with me the grind of the 405 and the vibe of the SoCal suburbs, where everyone and everything is golden (at the very least, on the surface). Covid taught my husband and me that life is short. And since life is ultimately the sum of your experiences, if there are any that are still on your bucket list, it's time to go out and live them.

On that note, what other city in the world packs more experiences into one pi?ata than NYC?

It’s Still Day 1: What’s Next For Barney

This year, Barney’s had the wildest of bull runs. In 2021, we lived through one of the hottest years in the digital agency M&A space as the pandemic unleashed years of untapped demand for agency acquisitions.

We believe we’re the best suited in the country to get agency founders the exit they deserve. And with a deep expertise in agencies, a thriving network of over 25K buyers, the quickest time-to-close in the business, and some 250M in transactions this year already, the sky’s the limit for the team (or should I say “skyscraper”?).

But it’s still Day 1 here.

What has changed? Our office now stretches from the “Best Coast” to the “Beast in the East” Coast, over the entire U.S. There’s also palpable excitement in our team about what’s next. But the deep desire for change that drove us to found Barney continues to push us forward. To all the ambitious agency founders in this city and beyond – we’re here. We’ve arrived. Raring to go.

Let’s catch up over a cup of coffee, or maybe even a Manhattan? If we meet virtually, remember: those New York City lights you see twinkling behind me aren’t my custom Zoom background. This is home now. ??