Peter Shankman : How did you start your first advertising agency?

I left my position in the AOL newsroom and wanted to start my own agency. It was back in 1998 and the movie Titanic had just come out, so I took my rent money and created 500 T-shirts that said, "It Sank. Get Over It." I went to Times Square and thought if I sell 150 T-shirts, I at least cover the costs. I sold all 500 in 6 hours. I called a friend at USA Today who asked me if I had a website, I said "yes" and then created it that night. He wrote a story, which led to many more pieces, including Howard Stern, who hated the movie. I ended up selling 10,000 T-Shirts at $15 each for a $100,000 profit and used that to finance my first agency.

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