Imaginet

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Imaginet LLC was founded in 1991 as a NeXT Computer and Apple Computer publishing Value Added Reseller.

Imaginet's path has taken some detours over its long life. From its initial focus on digital printing, the business retooled by 1994 to become an early provider of web services, a move that attracted some big-name companies, including 3M.

In 1997, Imaginet was sold to the 3M spinoff Imation, but the formal corporate culture and Imaginet's decidedly casual one were not a good fit. Within 18 months, the company turned private again.

To become a private company, Founders Scott Litman and Dan Mallin partnered with Skip Gage to acquire the company from Imation and spin it out as a private entity. Along the way, Imaginet acquired the assets of the Gage Interactive Marketing Group.

As a private company, Imaginet, LLC flourished in 1999 and 2000, rapidly growing into a regional leader in eServices. The focus of the business was the delivery of web applications that provided personalized and relevant communication to their audiences. Customers included the St. Paul Companies, RBC Dain Rauscher, Goodyear and Express-Scripts.

Imaginet rediscovered its culture, becoming a great place to learn, develop, and work. The staff grew from 40 to 120 employees in the span of two years and while there were clearly growing pains and occasional chaos, the business built a team of energetic, youthful talent that had great success in delivering web applications to its clients.

After determining that the best path from regional to national expansion was through the sale of the business to an organization with a national reach, the business was sold once again in the final days of 2000 to WPP Group, where the business would become a part of J. Walter Thompson (JWT), one of the world's oldest and largest traditional ad agencies. Imaginet was rebranded into the RMG Connect international network under JWT.

Many talented people have been a part of the Imaginet business. A few of them remain with the current business at RMG Connect, but most, including founders Scott Litman and Dan Mallin, have since left the business. Organizations like Valtira and Authentisoft (now Atlassian) are representative of the many Imaginet alumni that have gone on to found businesses or contribute to the business community since their days at Imaginet.