Photo by Donna Chiarelli
Andrew Stanten learned his first lesson in business at a very young age, as a delivery boy for The Boston Globe. “When the Blizzard of ’78 hit in full force, I wanted to go sledding with the rest of the neighborhood kids. But I knew my customers were counting on me to deliver the news because the power was out for a few days,” he says. Stanten says it was then that he learned the importance of focusing on your customer and not always doing what you want to do.
Now the president of Altitude Marketing, which he launched in 2004, Stanten continues to make his customers the priority. “As Altitude grew, my commitment grew,” he says. “About five years ago, I had to make some of the toughest decisions in my life, some involving personnel decisions and others involving macro-level business decisions. It was then that we purposely refocused our client mix on business-to-business technology, life science and manufacturing companies. With that narrower focus, Altitude’s year-over-year growth took off and has been on an upward projection ever since.”
It was important to Stanten to foster a charitable culture at Altitude. He supports Big Brothers Big Sisters, Community Bike Works and Betty Lou’s Pantry, and he encourages the efforts of his employees. “It is a no-brainer for me to magnify their efforts. And when they thank me, I thank them right back, telling them cutting the check is the easy part,” says Stanten. “It’s giving of time, energy and heart that is hard.”
