Javier Tirado CEO and Ricky Soler CCO, Co-Founders of Tampa’s Cientochenta Agency and their sister agency in Puerto Rico OneightyFCB, were honorees last week of the Syracuse University’s ‘CUSE50 Alumni Entrepeneur Award. The program recognizes the 50 fastest-growing businesses owned or led by Syracuse alumni across the globe. Their mission since day one has been to constantly challenge themselves to better strategic and creative solutions for our clients.

Javier Tirado explained “We established the agency in Tampa in 2020 and in Puerto Rico in 2013 after a long and succesful career in top global agencies.

What inspired us to start both of our agencies was the passion to do what we do better every day without the beuraucracy and politics that we had witnessed in big agencies. For years the advertising business model had been the same. We saw a great opportunity to improve this model and bring a more efficient way to do business. Since there are no two clients alike, we developed a customized solution for each of our client’s needs. At a time where many agencies were struggling to re-invent themselves, we offered working solutions that were more relevant to the needs of the time. To this day, thirteen years later, that continues to be our formula of success in both of our agencies.”

Ricky Soler adds that “Syracuse University opened our minds to the fact that to be succesful in whatever you want to achieve, all you need is a dream with a deadline. Our experience at Syracuse University allowed us to see the possibilites that are out there in order to design a path to success. Today, as we look back at our careers, we can both proudly say that our entrepeneurial journey began in the university campus. Our advice to aspiring entrepeneurs is to have a clear objective/vision before developing any business strategy. Make sure you stay valuable to your clients every single day. “