Swimming with Razorfish
By Lucas Daniel
Last in a three-part series on design shops in New York.
In the large pond known as the Web-design industry, one name perpetually surfaces. All designers know about Razorfish (www.razorfish.com). What they might not know is that this year is crucial for the Razorfish vision, or that the company is planning some heavy broadband and mobility projects.
Peter Seidler, chief creative officer, recently spoke with us in the company's New York offices, giving his opinions on Razorfish's internal workings and how it's approaching the future of Web design. With the recent flurry of shop consolidation, Seidler explains how Razorfish keeps its head above water.
Web Techniques: How long have you been with Razorfish?
Peter Seidler: Well, I started a company called Avalanche, which was very similar to Razorfish. A couple years ago we were probably the leaders in New York. We decided that we were a lot stronger together. Avalanche was about 40 people and Razorfish was about 60 people, and together we were a big company of 100 people, so we put the companies together. That was two and a half years ago. Since then we've acquired a lot of companies. We are now 1300 people globally, and about half of our business is in Europe.
WT: Do you know approximately how many companies you've acquired?
PS: Well, actually, the acquisition isn't the way that we've grown the most.
