Our Company History

Active Media Architects was born at the height of the dot-com explosion, back when seeing a Web URL in a print ad or TV commercial was new, and there were more people off-line than there were online.

In 1996, our founder cultivated the framework for what would later become Active Media Architects in his downtown Detroit loft. Early that year in a meeting with his boss, as a result of spending too much time online, he was told that "the Internet is a passing fad" - no kidding (he left the job not long thereafter). He spent most of his spare time dabbling in and exploring the relatively new Internet and, subsequently, developed his first Website. The rest is of course history, but here's a quick timeline:

The Startup - 1998

In 1998, the company's initial Website was launched and we started working for a handful of small, local clients. Our focus was more so on the front-end of Websites - design, soft-coding and markup - than anything else. Because there were so many others providing Web design services at the time, any upswing in our business was purely a result of hard work and a lot of luck. A good case study came in early April 1999 when a call came in from a nearby company that was in urgent need of finding someone to takeover the management of its Website. We met with the owner - on Easter Sunday - and closed the deal. The constant work from the project would help spur some growth and help our company gain experience. Later that year, we would move out of the loft and into our first real office.

2000-2001

These were very interesting times - the dot-com bubble was bursting and the economy was in the tank, and of course the September 11 attacks occurred. We watched Web firm after Web firm close its doors. We, too, had to slim down - at one point going down to just two employees. But we survived.

This was also one of our company's greatest chapters. We realized that we needed to be more than just another Website design company. We sketched-out and planned what would become the cornerstone of what makes Active Media Architects unique - our Web application framework. This would be our future. We would work for the next year perfecting our application and developing ways to become more efficient in our production. It worked. From this point forward, every single one of our clients took advantage of our powerful development process and ability to execute better than other firms. Clients who needed content management, ecommerce, CRM solutions, document management, and of course custom programming and design, were able to get it from us.

2002-2003

These years were significant because Active Media Architects reached maturity. Our company now had a noticeable, tangible advantage over all other Web services companies. Instead of relying on third-party products to provide specialized Website functions, we used our own. And instead of relying on third-parties to produce work for our clients, we kept everything in-house. Even today that's unheard of, with so many companies contracting their work to freelancers and low cost countries.

Our client roster grew considerably and the complexity of our clients' wishes grew as well. With these challenges came more growth, not only in revenue and size, but in invaluable experience and knowhow. These were efficient, production-type years for us. We were constantly busy. This validated that our decision to re-invest in ourselves, that reinvesting in our future had paid off.

2004-2005

Active Media Architects was now the go-to company for custom interface design and Internet applications development. Our sharp focus on providing services for the Web and the greater Internet lead us to being hired by a diverse group of clients thoughout the North America. This diversity in clientele and project type helped us continue to gain invaluable, irreplaceable experience. And in a way, things became simpler. We could confidently tell clients 'we can do anything' without blinking. This is a testament to both our expertise and of course our left-brained and right-brained talent. Like any thoroughbred, we want to push status quo and perceived limitations - and we have the talent to do it.

And speaking of talent, we were fortunate enough to find and hire some of the best designers, programmers and business people in our company history during these years. Our collective skill and capacity to get even better put us on top of our field.

2006

With nearly 100% growth, 2006 was the most rewarding and important to our company's future. We undertook and accomplished our goal of refactoring our Activa Framework™ Web application core to PHP 5 in order to take full advantage of the increased flexibility and modularity made possible by the update. This polished and powerful base allowed us to introduce a unique set of applications and ways for our customers to harness the power of the Web to their advantage. We also moved into a new, larger building that provides us with more room to accommodate our planned growth.

Put our history to work for you. Contact one of our specialists today.