Scott Sanfilippo
Solid Cactus co-founder Scott Sanfilippo saw it right away, there just wasn’t much he could do about it. “It” of course was the promise of doing actual business on the internet. It was his first job out of college, with Commonwealth Telephone, which launched epix Internet Services. Scott was in the original tech support group. Then he started selling e-commerce web sites. “I thought, ‘hey, maybe we could do this Internet sales thing with ferret supplies,’” Scott recalls. He and Joe Palko brought the TheFerretStore.com to life. It was 1994, before Amazon.com was even invented. We’re talking pioneers here. “We had a crude web site that we launched, and we sent out a simple catalogue. It was our first attempt at direct mail. I remember what a big deal it was when we got our first ink jet printer!”
The first four years were rocky. Scott and Joe plugged away at the Internet and direct marketing, working from a closet in Scott’s townhouse. “Back then no one took credit cards over the Internet. But when the attitude changed we finally left the closet for a garage, then we left the garage for an incubator center, then into our own building, which was doubled to 20,000 square feet and 22 employees.” It was then Scott stopped working two jobs, and was able to devote himself entirely to the TheFerretStore.com. A side effect of buying and selling for the TheFerretStore.com was that Scott acquired a wealth of knowledge about pets’ behavior, illnesses, likes, dislikes, favorite foods, and he shared it. For years he deftly hosted his own weekly radio show and was known affectionately as “The Pet Guy.” It was informative and smart marketing.
The Internet is a competitive place, and TheFerretStore.com withstood some big splashes of competition. “Remember Pets.com?” asks Scott. “The sock puppet ads? They bought a million-dollar ad in the Super Bowl one year. They had a multimillion-dollar IPO. We thought that might be it for us. Ultimately they sold us their inventory at pennies on the dollar when the went bankrupt. We came before the dot com boom, we survived the bust, and went in a whole new direction. We started Solid Cactus.”
In May of ’07 TheFerretStore.com and several other web properties and inventory were sold to Drs. Foster & Smith, the nation’s largest mail-order pet supply company. Scott said the decision was easy. “We realized we had to devote all of our time to growing Solid Cactus.”
Growth is synonymous with Solid Cactus. At the end of ’05 the company occupied 5,000 sq. feet of office space. There were 32 people. By the end of ’06 Solid Cactus was 64 people and at the end of ’07 they’d grown to 135. In ’08 Solid Cactus will occupy 24,000 sq. feet of office space in two locations. The growth was so spectacular Solid Cactus was recognized by Inc. Magazine in ’07. The Inc. 500 list named Solid Cactus as its 255th fastest-growing privately held company and 28th fastest-growing IT company. “This is wonderful recognition for us,” said Scott. “We never set out to be a fast growing company; we merely wanted to be the very best at what we do. Our success has led to more success. One unique feature of the Internet is how fast the word gets around about your company. Be it good or bad, people find out and respond accordingly. The Inc. 500 listings mean that we’re doing things right and succeeding along the way.”
Perhaps more important to Scott, though, is that while managing this growth Solid Cactus managed a positive work environment. In ’06-’07 the company was selected as one of the “Best Places to Work in Pennsylvania.” Despite doubling in size during both years the Solid Cactus actually went from #21 up to #11 out of 220,000 businesses in the commonwealth. for the past two years they have been selected as one of the best places to work in
The “Best Places” award is weighted so that 75% of the decision comes from anonymous employee responses and 25% is employer response. The award is modeled after Fortune’s “100 Best Places to Work” and is organized by the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Team Pennsylvania Foundation and the Best Companies Group.
Looking down the road, Scott wants Solid Cactus to grow the right way. “I want Solid Cactus to be a leader in e-commerce,” he says. “That comes down to a great company giving great service. We go above and beyond for our clients, we want them happy. We want to treat them the way we’d like to be treated. Also, we have to be the best. I know technology. A good Internet business needs great service people and also great technical people. That’s our challenge — find those people.
“I have a goal. When someone — ANYone starts an e-business or upgrades their e-commerce site, I want Solid Cactus to be the first name on their lips.” It will be if Scott Sanfilippo has anything to say about it.
Scott has a bachelor's degree in broadcasting from King's College and currently resides in Moosic, PA and
Scott currently sits on the board of directors for the following:
Scott's recent achievements:
- "Person of the Year - 2007" nominee by the
- "Top 20 Under 40 - 2006" (Top 20 business executives in Northeast, PA under the age of 40)
- "Young Millionaire - 2005" Entrepreneur Magazine
Scott has been featured in the following national publications:
- Entrepreneur
- Internet Retailer
- Inc. Magazine
- Wall Street Journal