82.1 F
San Fernando
Friday, Mar 29, 2024

CEO of Magazine Made A Turn in His Career Path

When David Wurth was a wealth manager for Merrill Lynch, he couldn’t keep his mind from racing with business ideas. Learning about companies only spurred the young professional’s entrepreneurial mindset and curiosity. He wondered how these top-level executives reached success. What was their strategy? What advice would they give younger, up-and-coming professionals? In mid-2007, after three years of working for the firm, the wealth manager started working on a concept for a magazine that would help answer these questions. He originally had the idea in 2003 after graduating with a finance degree from the University of Arizona. Wurth left Merrill Lynch in January 2008 and by February, he and a business partner had put out the first issue of their executive leadership and lifestyle magazine C-Suite Quarterly, or CSQ, using business contacts to secure ads. “It was totally grassroots. I put every dollar I had into this,” the 29-year-old magazine CEO and editor-in-chief said, recalling how he, his business partner and friends originally worked on the magazine out of his Sherman Oaks apartment. Later, they worked out of a garage in Calabasas. “The model is we tell stories about how people became successful and we also couple a very high-end lifestyle association with those interviews,” Wurth continued. “I thought, ‘Why don’t we bring those two things together and bring it down to a community level where the people we are reading about are in our community?’” The magazine broke even in its first issue and made a profit starting with its second. However, the recession and the departure of Wurth’s business partner left the publication struggling to stay afloat. Last year, Wurth ended up promoting his art director to also serve as managing editor and hiring a full-time executive assistant. July 2010, the new team moved into an office space in Westlake Village and later hired a part-time sales support administrator. The magazine also contracts out work, using dozens of freelance writers and photographers, distributors, advertising representatives and others. Magazine growing CSQ magazine, which is published by Wurth’s Energie Media Group, has seen considerable growth. It started with a quarterly circulation of about 7,500, which has grown to about 20,000. Wurth, who serves as CSQ’s CEO and editor-in-chief, expects the publication to reach a quarterly circulation of about 30,000 to 35,000 magazines by the end of the year. The Westlake Village-based magazine’s coverage area has also expanded, now including from Beverly Hills to the Ventura coast. Wurth said revenues have already grown, and he expects to see additional growth of 300 to 500 percent year-over-year growth by 2012. Part of the projected revenue growth is due to the fact that Wurth plans on adding various vertical businesses to the magazine. Within the next couple of weeks, he plans on launching a high-end buying Web site, which would provide exclusive offers to executives. CSQ will renovate its Web site by the end of the year and will launch an educational platform in 2012. Growth tactics What has helped grow the magazine is that it offers inspirational stories about reaching success, Wurth said. One of the things that led Wurth to starting CSQ magazine was that he wanted to provide something inspirational amidst all the negative economic news in the media. Brent Reinke, founder and chairman of Gold Coast Business Forum based in Westlake Village, said he is impressed with several components of the magazine. His organization is a networking group for mid- to high-level executives. “He obviously has an opportunity to interview some really influential, well-known executives,” Reinke said, noting the magazine’s recent interview with General Electric’s chairman and CEO, Jeffrey Immelt. “I think the layout of it, it just progressively gets better.” Reinke said Wurth’s drive also speaks volumes. “What I get impressed with David is he basically started a magazine in a period of time in our economy that was probably the most severe downturn in most of our lifetime,” he said. “Through all of that, he’s been able to persevere and build the magazine and its reputation and constantly put out good articles and good content. I just find that pretty impressive for a young guy like him.” Wurth said other things that have helped his magazine succeed have been his ability to make and grow connections in the local business communities, along with companies and friends who have believed in the publication enough to continue purchasing advertisements.

Featured Articles

Related Articles