Triple Strength In The Roaring 20s

By Vijay Chattha, Founder and CEO

When I started VSC 18 years ago, I was only a few years out of a startup — single, no kids, and unsure of my future. I was a one-man show.

Nearly 500 clients later and a firm now 40 times larger, VSC has evolved from ‘something to do before my MBA’ to a masterclass in communications for startups. Growing VSC is how I found my wife and business partner, Archie Chattha, and how I’ve learned from the best company-builders, creatives, and engineers.

Today, however, sets a new high: officially elevating three of my longtime colleagues to partners, bringing 40 years of combined experience together.

Maggie Philbin, Eric Gonzalez, and Anne Sophie Hurst — welcome to the partnership.

Here’s the story of how we came together.

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Eric Gonzalez

After the dotcom bust, Eric found us through a craigslist ad, working together on a number of early VSC companies. Our firm was tiny and Eric was a consultant. He was offered a senior full-time role at another firm but after a few years we ran into each other on Market St. in SF; at that point our firm was larger and ready to bring Eric back in a bigger way.

He joined, and after a dozen-plus years — he’s not only stuck around, but helped expand the firm to New York City, working with six unicorns and more than 100 startups across the creator economy, entertainment, fintech, VC, enterprise/SaaS, AI/retail, cybersecurity, and gaming. He’s helped launch a variety of startups that either IPO’d like Gumi or got acquired by the likes of PayPal, Zynga, Visa, and Spotify.

Eric is the yin to my yang. His calming presence puts both clients and the team at ease, in what can almost always be a high-stress environment as clients have pressure to scale at a much faster rate than journalists want to cover them. His meditative vibe is actually the opposite of what you’d expect to find on the East Coast if you ask me, but that’s because of his Bay Area roots. Chill and in control, Eric is a trusted master and has been a loyal member of our team who will continue to guide companies to their promised lands.

Anne Sophie Hurst

I’ve known Anne Sophie for almost 20 years — before she was a Hurst, before she was a mom — but after she was a certified BOSS. She was a bridesmaid at my wedding, a bestest of friends to myself and Archie. We’ve built a union of trust, humor, and political bantering that spans almost my entire west coast existence. We ran in concentric professional circles: I was in PR; she was leading creative teams at several Bay Area and New York digital agencies where she launched e-commerce flagships and mobile apps for clients like Google, Target, Overstock, Sephora, and Le Tote.

About four years ago we had an opportunity to scale and I asked Anne to help out on a few things here and there. What could go wrong? Everything. What went wrong? Nothing.

Anne Sophie has scaled VSC from a 20-person shop located in SF and NYC to a 45+ strong, work from anywhere team that spans 10 states and two continents. As part of our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, we’ve gone from 19% BIPOC to 45%. And despite a pandemic, we’ve done some of our most important work ever, helping clients tackle everything from climate change to social justice.

Maggie Philbin

Facebook ads don’t work for hiring rockstars, except for once. The year was seven years ago and our promoted post reached the desktop of a PR professional based in Tampa, who after a few meetings, uprooted herself and her entire community to go across the country and start fresh in SF. The rest, as they say, is history and historic outcomes.

If I need to hire someone to tell my story, it would be Maggie. Her mix of creativity, passion, and hustle is rare and is why the firm has been able to serve more exciting companies with big stories to tell. Beyond the 100+ startups she’s shaped and the half-dozen exits and IPOs, Maggie is an equal student and teacher of the game, always learning and always leading and always getting shit done at the highest level. Beyond this, she is also one of the kindest and caring professionals I’ve ever worked with. She wears the emotions of her companies on her sleeves and it’s that level of care that is rare and redeeming. Maggie has become one of my closest confidants and I look forward to building the next 1000 startups together with her.

Eric, Anne Sophie, Maggie — welcome to the partnership.

- Vijay

For more information, check out our press release here.