The New Jersey accounting firm formerly known as WithumSmith+Brown got a nice little write-up in ROI-NJ for turning 50 on March 21, go read it if you want to find out what year Withum reached $100 million in revenue (2014). The article talks about the “no jerks allowed” philosophy founding partner Ivan Brown had in mind when he, Fred Withum, and Len Smith founded the firm in 1974 (“In the beginning, we didn’t have any grand ideas or long-range plans,” Brown said. “We were just trying to figure out how we could be successful. We just knew it started with a commitment to people.”). And it features a large section on Bill Hagaman, the former managing partner behind the Withum flash mob video no one born this century remembers.
Before anyone judges this too harshly, let’s remember it was 2012. Just the fact that a sub-$100 million revenue firm had a YouTube channel they didn’t immediately abandon is amazing on its own. And they’ve been maintaining it all these years.
So here’s the celebration video.
Said the firm in a blog post:
Using the timeline created by Maraziti, the video’s song lyrics were written and performed by Withum’s Seattle-based team member Matt Swanson. Viewers take a journey through time, recapping both world and Withum’s history as team members display workplace and street fashions in decades from 1974 to 2024. Founders Ivan Brown and Len Smith introduce the video, featuring team members from over 15 offices and work-from-home locations.
“We dug into our archives and utilized tech hardware that our IT team kept from our past,” said Matt Basilo, Senior Interactive Marketing Manager and project lead. “We also used our vintage swag and past logos to really replicate what our offices looked like in those time periods. It was a blast recreating our work hard/play hard mantra over 50 years, honoring our ‘special culture before it was a thing.’”
Additionally, a special tent was erected at the venue, in which installations, such as the 20’ x 11’ timeline wall of key moments and photos, were displayed. Several screens played past culture videos, along with photo montages of each decade, featuring Withum team members, offices, events and leadership throughout the years.
Withum is currently #22 on the INSIDE Public Accounting Top 100 with $519,847,000 in revenue (and climbing). Happy birthday to them! We hear 50 is the new 40.
