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Dogged determination.
Using those words to describe Sic 'Em Advertising is more than a convenient pun, it is the type of reputation Sic 'Em wants to earn.
"We're not the show dogs," says Jim Mercado, cofounder and co-owner of Redwood City-based Sic 'Em. "We're the working dogs: You give a dog a task - to go out and bring me back something - and the dog will do it."
Likewise, that determination is also the very inspiration for the company's name.
"When you want to go out and get some action, get something to take place - the concept is to say 'Sic 'Em' and to go after it," says David Zeitman, Mr. Mercado's partner in Sic 'Em. "We wanted some kind of value proposition about what we deliver to be very quickly evident when you heard our name."
Mr. Zeitman and Mr. Mercado's guiding philosophy for hard work has made Sic 'Em one of Silicon Valley's fastest-growing private companies, with a 640 percent increase in revenues from 1998 to 2000. The company made $7.4 million last year
This year marks the second time Sic 'Em has been recognized for its rapid financial growth; last year, it was ranked eighth in the Business Journal's fastest growing private companies in Silicon Valley list.
This heady growth is explained quite humbly by Mr. Mercado and Mr. Zeitman. They point out that they financed their advertising business on their own six years ago and slowly built up a client...