Before WordJack ever existed, two people—Zac in Australia and Matt in the U.S.—were unknowingly living parallel lives. Picture them on opposite sides of the world: one in Melbourne, one in Seattle, both staring at aging phonebook companies and thinking, “We can do better than this.”
They were each hired to help giant traditional media companies survive the digital era, which, at the time, felt a bit like teaching a dinosaur how to tap-dance. Matt was leading digital transitions at Verizon and Superpages. Zac was doing the same at Sensis. Both discovered the same truth: traditional media companies wanted digital growth but weren’t built for digital thinking.
Although they didn’t know it yet, this shared frustration was their first collaboration.
When Two Paths Collided
In 2009, their worlds finally overlapped at Canpages in Vancouver—a smaller but scrappy challenger to Yellow Pages. Leadership there had an idea: if they were going to compete, they’d need to reinvent themselves through digital innovation, so they assembled a small “let’s-try-everything” team.
Zac and Matt were both brought in. Imagine a tiny room with whiteboards, mismatched coffee mugs, and two guys testing wild ideas about pricing, local SEO, online ads, mobile apps, and the changing ways people find small businesses on the internet. Amazingly, their ideas worked. Canpages became one of the first traditional media companies to actually win online, enough that the company was acquired in 2010 for its digital success.
But behind the celebration was a nagging realization: small businesses weren’t being served by any of this. Not by the big media firms. Not by the new software platforms. Not by anyone.
Zac and Matt had learned one crucial thing: small businesses don’t need more tools—they need actual people who know what they’re doing.
“What If We Just Built the Darn Company Ourselves?”
When their time at Canpages wrapped up, they stood at a crossroads. They could go work for another large media group, or they could build something entirely different.
They chose “entirely different.”
WordJack didn’t start with a business plan—it started with a list of things small businesses kept saying out loud:
- “I don’t have time for this.”
- “I can’t afford to hire a full-time marketing person.”
- “I just want someone to do the work.”
So Zac and Matt designed a company around those ideas. Not around technology. Not around flashy strategies. Around actual needs.
Building the Agency for Small Local Businesses.
WordJack wasn’t meant to be a traditional agency. It was almost an act of rebellion.
Instead of big retainers, they decided on pricing for small business owners – affordable and predictable.
Instead of selling the newest shiny thing, they sold what actually worked.
Instead of pushing software, they pushed service.
They hired real people, trained them deeply, and gave every client a marketing manager who wasn’t just taking notes—they were building relationships, writing content, fixing problems, and getting their hands dirty.
No glamour. All substance.
Growing the Hard Way
The early years weren’t easy. Funding came from angels, not institutions. The team worked remotely long before Zoom backgrounds were a thing. There were no shortcuts—just long nights, lots of trial and error, and a belief that small businesses deserved more than yet another “DIY platform.”
Slowly, the approach started working. Clients stayed. Teams grew. WordJack became financially viable—not by growing huge, but by growing right.
Why WordJack Still Works Today
If you walk through WordJack today (virtually or otherwise), you’ll see the fingerprints of Zac and Matt’s early lessons everywhere:
- We roll up our sleeves and help – nobody wants an armchair expert; they need someone to get stuff done!
- We hire humans who know how to get things done.
- We focus on quality, not on looking big.
- We obsess over small businesses because we never forget the people we built this company for.
WordJack became a home for business owners who needed a marketing manager but couldn’t hire one and for a team who wanted to do meaningful work—not just push buttons.
Where We’re Headed
The digital world changes constantly, but WordJack’s foundation hasn’t: real people helping real businesses, without the hype. As the company grows, that original spirit—the one forged in a Vancouver coffee shop —stays firmly in place.
WordJack exists because they realized something simple:
Small businesses don’t need more headaches. They need a partner.
And that’s who we’ve always been—and who we plan to remain.
