Maxy Media

When you’re scrolling through a news article on a website like CNN’s and you reach the end of it, you’ll come across “paid content” or “related content.” This is what’s known as native advertising. These ads are meant to match the look and feel of the page they’re on, and often feature a great image and carefully crafted headline. And, it’s likely that this content was created and placed by Maxy Media. Founded by Maximilian Lekhtman, a digital advertising expert who started out doing social media for several companies, the agency specializes in native advertising. Maxy Media gets paid when its ads generate marketing leads for its customers.

But it didn’t start out that way. Lekhtman met CEO Mark Lachance when he was doing Facebook marketing for Lachance’s fitness and nutrition business. Lachance was really impressed with Lekhtman’s skills, helping him acquire new marketing leads for $2 as opposed to the $12 it was costing him to do on his own. “Max was sharp and was very skilled in Facebook and Instagram marketing, so I looked at him and said, ‘Why don’t we scale this business,”’ says Lachance.

And they did just that. After the two joined forces, the company was well on its way, having great success with Facebook marketing. But, with several clients under its belt, Facebook changed its ad requirements and algorithm, meaning the strategy behind Maxy Media’s marketing had to change. It was time for the company to pivot. Lekhtman and Lachance thought it might be a very bleak time for the company, but that wasn’t the case. “It turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to us,” says Lachance.

That’s when Maxy Media dove into programmatic native advertising, and the company has neverlooked back. That potentially bleak time is now considered a blessing, says Lekhtman. “Now we can be all over the internet and not beholden to any one platform, like Facebook. We have thousands of websites we are driving traffic for, versus one.”

The expanded platform opportunities allowed for rapid growth for Maxy Media. However, given the nature of the business, Maxy Media waits between 15 and 30 days to get paid by its customers, meaning it’s difficult to have sufficient cash flow.

When Maxy Media went to its bank to get an increase on its line of credit, the bank suggested that EDC get involved. Lachance and Lekhtman didn’t know that EDC could be a resource for a company like theirs. “We didn’t realize that we were considered an exporter,” says Lachance.

However, with the majority of its sales abroad, Maxy Media was a perfect candidate for the Export Guarantee Program. “Most of our clients are in the United States or Germany, so it was important for us to partner with EDC,” says Lekhtman.

Working with its bank, EDC was able to provide a guarantee on the money Maxy Media was borrowing. “What EDC gives us is the ability to raise more working capital and, specifically, debt financing,” says Lachance. “And I think that’s the competitive advantage that we have over anybody in the world. Nobody has the opportunity that we have, and our ability to scale our business is largely thanks to EDC.”

In 2018, Maxy Media’s revenue is going to be close to $5 million, but the company isn’t setting the bar there. “Next year we want to dramatically increase that, and we’re sure we can do it,” says Lachance.

Beyond revenue, the company also wants to position itself as a leader in its industry. “We realize it’s a unique skill to buy media, so we want to position ourselves as one of the best media-buying companies in the world,” says Lekhtman.

To do that, the company intends on expanding to other countries so that it becomes widely known. “We’re predominately running ads in the United States, but we definitely want to expand throughout Europe and the world because that’s where the real opportunities are. Working with EDC gives us that opportunity and protects us financially,” says Lachance.