Adriana & Sean ParsonsCranial Crush
10115 E. Bell Road, Scottsdale
480-236-2462
Whether or not to comingle their business and personal lives wasn’t even a question for Sean and Adriana Parsons. They’ve never known any other way. The young couple met on the elevator during Adriana’s first day of work. At the time, she didn’t realize Sean was the son of her boss, Bob Parsons, who’d go on to develop GoDaddy.com into the world’s largest domain name registrar.
Within just a few days of their elevator ride, Sean and Adriana were practically inseparable. Together they were pulled into the whirlwind of Bob’s entrepreneurial tornado, working round-the-clock the first seven years they lived together. When the two decided to get married, Adriana was running the company’s 24-hour call center and Sean managed the booming reseller program. Their schedules were so hectic, they ran down to Scottsdale City Court on their lunch hour to tie the knot on a Valentine’s Day.
Something had to give. Sean didn’t want a relationship like that of his workaholic parents, who’d built the family’s first fortune but ended up divorced.
“By the time we thought about leaving, Go Daddy was at 45 percent market share, and it required every minute that we had. We would sleep there sometimes, bring our dogs,” says Adriana, who served as the first Go Daddy Girl in her father-in-law’s controversial marketing campaigns.
She remembers the precise moment she and Sean came up with the business concept that would become Cranial Crush. They were in front of Zinc Bistro at Kierland Commons, chatting about how to improve the company. “And basically we realized a wealth of other things can be done once a website domain is purchased. We saw the need for a service to help with marketing and business strategies, logo design,” she says. “At the same time we thought, why don’t we improve ourselves, our lifestyle.”
By focusing on a smaller group and taking those clients further, the Parsons saw a way to cultivate meaningful professional relationships while freeing up time for themselves.
The couple now hold Cranial Crush staff meetings every day at noon in the swimming pool. Adriana says she and Sean swim laps then discuss the projects their working on and how they can help each other “get unstuck from a situation” if necessary.
Cranial Crush’s official mission is helping businesses and startups integrate media into sales channels, marketing strategies and branding to achieve measurable results. Though Cranial Crush is a separate entity, the company is still in partnership with GoDaddy and has its own “dream team” of 30 designers and developers.
The Parsons consciously bring different talents to the table. Adriana is more of a people person and likes to engage her artistic flair. Sean, a product of his family’s entrepreneurial crucible, thinks bottom line, and he’s an expert at instilling confidence and closing the deal.
“I get stuck in the creative side of things: Here is a beautiful picture and design ... let’s do this with color,” Adriana explains. “He sees the business reason. He’ll cut through the clutter and say, yeah, this looks great, but the project has to make money.”
Adriana also tends to make lists, to weighan issue’s pros and cons, which makes Sean smile and shake his head. As a disciple of “thin-slice thinking,” he gives himself no more than one minute to make a decision, which isn’t surprising for a man who knew mountain biking was the sport for him after he broke three ribs his first time out.
“A reckless plan implemented today is better than a well thought out plan implemented tomorrow, because if you’re not growing you’re dying,” Sean says. “You should try to fail fast. The faster you fail, the quicker you find the way to success. Relish failure!”
Bold and brave words, delivered in true Cranial Crush fashion. Scan the company’s ads and website and the terms “refreshingly honest” and “no bull****” jump out at you.
Adriana admits she doesn’t wait to be asked for her opinion during a consult. “She’s made grown CEOs cry and she’s 5 foot nothing,” Sean says. “My father doesn’t hide anything either.”
The Parsons share a philosophy that a notso-gentle push is often just what an inventor or entrepreneur needs to get out of the gate.
“I see it again and again, entrepreneurs who have the money, idea, product, but they can’t delegate, they can’t make decisions. They’re afraid of making a mistake and they can’t move forward,” Adriana says. “I tell them, we know how to create a millionaire, we know how to take you from your garage to your million-dollar jet. But is that what you want? Because most people don’t. They’re not ready to get out of their comfort zone.”
The honesty aspect of Cranial Crush has a few softer sides too. The Parsons truly want to give clients what they want. Whether it’s a modest website, a $500 Facebook tutorial or a multiplatform marketing campaign, they’ll lay out all the options with budget recommendations, and cheerfully fill your order.
In fact, Cranial Crush offers free one-hour consultations to “get the popcorn popping.” Competitors might try to lure prospects with a nominal $99 fee, but Sean doesn’t believe in creating barriers. “If you get two quotes that are off by a couple hundred bucks, you’ll probably go with the one who sat down with you for free.”
In the Parsons family, business is family. Everyone enjoys talking shop, including their 3-year-old daughter, Stella, who negotiates bites of vegetables at the dinner table, complete with a time stamp. When it’s recreation time, Sean’s meticulous project tracking lets he and Adriana snap the work Tupperware shut without worry, he says.
In 2010, Cranial Crush grew 100 percent from the previous year in revenue and clients. Down the road, the Parsons may transition into more charity work, but Cranial Crush will always be in the family. “We want to create an opportunity for our children to learn and explore business the way Sean did when he was growing up,” says Adriana.