How I Accidentally Started a Marketing Agency with Orso Founder Vince Amatuzzi
Team Orso in
Agency Updates 8 min read • 1d ago
It matters how things begin. And why they begin. In Orso’s case, it started with Vince Amatuzzi and an openness to figure out “what’s next” – a quality the agency reflects to this day. While Vince may have missed his calling as a restaurant critic or travel blogger, our agency and our clients are better for it. It led us to build a marketing agency that values genuine relationships, brings fresh perspective, and delivers meaningful work (while not taking ourselves too seriously).
Tell us about Orso’s auspicious beginnings
I always wanted to build something, I just wasn’t quite sure what. But I definitely didn’t set out thinking I’d start a marketing agency. When I left my career in professional sports marketing and was looking for a change, I started by doing some freelance consulting. I had all these skills I’d built over the years, so I started using them to help friends and colleagues with their business challenges.
As the work grew, my clients had more and more needs that I couldn’t fully support by myself; being a jack-of-all-trades in marketing can only get you so far. Public Relations was a great example. Fortunately, I had a good friend who was skilled in PR, so I looped her in on a few projects. Over time, I began to involve other connections of mine and it started to snowball. We had a group of really talented people delivering meaningful work in an ad hoc way, and we realized there was an opportunity to build something special. We started adding some structure, a more formalized process, and that really kick started the journey we’re on today.
What was the best part of those early freelance days?
Easy: I took full advantage of the fact I wasn’t stuck at a desk 9-5 and spent two years traveling around the world. This was before remote work was the norm so it felt really liberating.
I would basically track cheap flight deals and work from wherever I could find Wi-Fi. I spent most of my childhood in Europe and we moved around a lot because my dad was in the Air Force, so I’ve always had this sense of wanderlust that I couldn’t really embrace working in corporate roles. So I started with a cross-country roadtrip to visit friends and family. I spent a winter in Hawaii and a summer in New York City. My then-girlfriend-now-wife and I went to Australia and spent 3 days on a liveaboard scuba boat in the Great Barrier Reef. We took trains across Spain and Italy and I spent one of my birthdays exploring Japan.
As a fun side note, all of that travel is how our original brand – Coordinate – came to life. I was picking up clients all over the place as I was traveling. So I had this idea that we all had our space in the world, and that I’d blog from wherever I was and use those coordinates to mark each post.
Did you?
Haha, no. I realized I enjoyed actually doing things more than documenting them so that concept didn’t go far. But it was a fun idea at the time.
How did you get into marketing in the first place?
That one also wasn’t straightforward. In college, I started in engineering but decided halfway through that it wasn’t for me. I didn’t like sitting at a computer by myself all day—slightly ironic given our current remote working style. I still wanted something technical, but needed a creative outlet and the opportunity to collaborate more with others, so I switched to filmmaking and fell in love with making documentaries. Turns out, I found a lot of purpose in helping other people tell their stories.
After college, I moved to Chicago and used my love of storytelling, along with my technical and creative background, to find an entry level digital marketing role so I could pay my rent and student loans. I pursued new challenges and opportunities from there, and during my 15 years in Chicago, I got to work and partner with some amazing companies: Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago White Sox, Under Armour, Monster Jam. Eventually, through my work with the White Sox, I got introduced to the Chicago Bulls and then the United Center, and took on the Director of Marketing role there.
I feel like my career path, much like the path of our agency, is more about keeping an open mind to things versus executing against some rigid plan. It’s about staying open to opportunities and not being afraid to see where they might lead.
Over and over, as we talk to the team, everyone talks about how authentic Orso is. Is that important to you?
Authenticity is huge for me, both personally and professionally. They say you should build the business you want to be a part of and I took that to heart. Selfishly, I want to be in an environment where I can be myself. I also want people to bring the best version of themselves to work and I don’t think you can do that if you’re pretending to be someone else. We’re bringing a diverse set of backgrounds, opinions, and flavors to what we do and there’s value in that because we support a broad audience. Plus, it serves as a good litmus test for client relationships: If a client takes themselves too seriously or is looking for someone to show up in a suit and tie, that’s not us and we would rather find that out up front.
This idea of big agency expertise and small agency vibe keeps coming up as well. What’s the secret sauce?
That was one of the things I didn’t realize we were doing at the time. I mentioned before that when we started growing, I was pulling in friends who were experts in their fields. Each of them brought this wealth of experience, whether from their time at enterprise companies or big agencies, or from having built their own businesses along the way. And because we all knew each other, there was this comfort built in where people could be themselves, you know, a little more casual and have some fun along the way – those “small agency vibes” you mention. Over the years that mentality has extended into our client relationships too, and at this stage, I’m fortunate to call many of them personal friends.
I think the best part of this from a business perspective, is that we’ve been able to take that level of talent, supplement it with best practices and processes, and not lose ourselves along the way. I think we’ve built something really special and it’s a) so much more than what you’d get from disjointed freelancers, b) a lot more efficient than a big agency with their overhead, and c) more cost-effective than building a team in-house. We might not be the right fit for everyone and we’re okay with that because it works really well for our clients.
Enough about the business – what makes you tick as a human?
I love food. Eating food. Making food. Sharing food. I like it for all the cliché reasons: bringing people together, sharing experiences, experimenting in the kitchen. My wife teases me that kitchen gadgets are my love language. So if I could do it all over, maybe I should have gone to culinary school.
I also love being outdoors. It’s one of the reasons we moved to California. We’ve got an ocean down the street from us and no longer have to shovel snow. We’re considering buying a camper van so we can get out and explore more often and bring our dog, Roux.
We also play a fair number of board games in our house, everything from Rummikub to 7 Wonders to Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza. We had a great community of board game friends in Chicago but not out here yet, so we’ve been exploring more two-player games. I’m always open to recommendations and happy to offer some as well if you’re looking for something new.
What motivates you day to day?
Oh, so many things, but my work and my family are easily the biggest two. My wife says if we won the lottery she’d happily retire, but I know I would still need something like this to feel fulfilled. I get a lot of joy out of it. We talked earlier about a love of telling stories and helping grow businesses, but I think at the core of both of those things are the people and connections you make along the way. Those relationships give meaning to what we do. And not just with our clients, but with our team as well. I’m really fortunate to have found all of that at work.
Okay, time for the hotseat.
- Concert or movie? Movies at the theater. Especially on a Tuesday night.
- Olympics or World Cup? World Cup, hands down (pun intended).
- Which kitchen gadget is your favorite? It’s not a very fun answer, but my kitchen scale. If you’re going to be serious about baking, please weigh your ingredients. For something more exciting, I’d say my biltong slicer.
- What restaurant do you miss most in Chicago? Au Cheval. Go on a weekend for brunch and get the blueberry muffin to start. Then order the General Jane’s Chicken, but when you’re finished, don’t let them take the plate. Order the burger and fries and use the leftover sauce from the chicken dish for dipping. Then go home and take a well-deserved nap.
Whether you need help developing your brand, launching new products, or reaching a bigger audience, our team at Orso will jump in with an open mind and bring our authentic selves to the relationship. Let us know what you want to accomplish and we can figure out how to grow your business together. (Unless, of course, you want us to show up in suits and ties.)