How Ryan Sprance and Dave Marcy Built Awestruck to a $31 Million/Year Marketing Agency
- Aug 24
- 4 min read
In early 2019, Dave Marcy was scrolling through social media when he saw a video of his old friend, Ryan Sprance, alongside Gary Vaynerchuk. Dave and Ryan had met 26 years earlier as co-workers at the WWE restaurant in Times Square. After that, they went their separate ways. Marcy spent 14 years in TV advertising, then started his own digital ad agency. Sprance worked in retail management, then built one of Instagram's first lifestyle brands before becoming a social media consultant. Marcy still had his number, so he sent a text. By late 2019, the two had reconnected, joined forces, and launched Awestruck, a marketing agency for hotels, resorts, ski mountains, theme parks, and more.
That first year, Awestruck did $106,000. In 2025, Awestruck did $31 million in revenue.
This is the story of how that chance scroll through social media brought two friends back together at exactly the right moment and how they scaled Awestruck into the 25th fastest growing company in the United States.
How Ryan Sprance and Dave Marcy Met
Ryan and Dave meeting as co-workers at the WWE restaurant in Times Square should have never happened. Dave applied for a job there and didn't get it. But when he overheard another applicant being told to come in for a training night, he just showed up and it worked.
"I basically hired myself there." — Dave Marcy, Awestruck
That's where he met Ryan Sprance, who was managing the gift shop. They became friends but eventually went their separate ways. Marcy moved into TV advertising and spent 14 years in sales before starting his own digital agency. Sprance worked his way up in retail — from the Gap to managing 500 T-Mobile stores, then to Apple's flagship store in Grand Central, where he first got excited about a new social media site, Instagram. Ryan started creating his own content which led to him running a social media consulting business.
One of Marcy's advertising agency clients needed help with organic social media — something his agency didn't do yet. After seeing that video of Sprance on social media, he texted him to see if he would want to help out and and he delivered. More properties followed and by late 2019, it made more sense to build one company together than keep running two separately.
The space they landed in turned out to be a perfect fit. Hotels, resorts, ski mountains, and theme parks all needed help with digital marketing and most of them had never worked with an agency that truly understood their world.
Launching A Destination Marketing Agency Into the Pandemic
The first year was supposed to be about proving the idea. Instead, it became about surviving.
"2020 happens and you go into COVID in a destination marketing space — where hotels are shutting down, people can't travel, and essentially we're in the travel industry."
Hotels closed their doors and resorts went quiet. The clients they'd been building relationships with froze. They had employees to pay and an industry that had just been told to stop.
However, Awestruck ended its first year with $106,000 in revenue without letting go a single employee.
How They Navigated the Shutdown
Despite it being the most difficult time period the travel industry had even seen, Sprance and Marcy knew that wasn't the end of it.
"We knew there was a big wave of business coming. We spent that time solidifying our relationships and getting ourselves entrenched and ready to go for when these guys were ready to open their doors. So we actually signed a lot of contracts."
They found outdoor water parks in Texas that stayed open and kept running campaigns for them. They protected their core team, a decision both founders say was one of the most important they made. And they knew a country stuck at home for 18 months was going to come out ready to travel. They wanted to be the ones ready to jump on that opportunity when it happened and their bet paid off.
From $106,000 to $31 Million: The Trajectory
The numbers after that move fast. With no outside funding and no money spent on marketing themselves, their good work spread like wildfire through word of mouth.
"It has been largely organic and it's based off of doing good work and developing a good reputation."
Year one: $106,000. Then $1 million. Then $3 million. Then $7 million, $12 million, $17 million, $24 million. And in 2025: $31 million. Inc.com reported more than 11,000% growth rate in the three years after 2020 which landed Awestruck on the Inc 5000 list of America's fastest-growing companies four years in a row.
"We were the 25th fastest growing company in the entire United States. Number one advertising agency. And that was, I think, shocking for all of us."
Today, Awestruck has over 90 employees across 13 countries. They've expanded their offerings and have slowly brought in clients outside of travel. They're also building an influencer platform for hospitality called Sugarcane, and a set of AI tools to help take care of their clients and stay at the forefront of technology.
What Founders Can Take From the Awestruck Story
Never discount the value of building relationships. People you meet early in your career can change everything. Ryan and Dave crossed paths as co-workers, stayed in touch, and 26 years later built a $31 million company together.
Bad timing isn't always fatal timing. Launching into COVID was objectively terrible. But surviving it came down to two intentional choices - having the conviction to stay, and the discipline to go lean.
Being specific is a strength. Destination marketing is a narrow focus. But that focus made Awestruck very good at serving those clients. That reputation spread from one property owner to the next and allowed them to diversify later on.
Results are the best marketing. Awestruck has spent very little money promoting themselves. The businesses you serve speak to each other. When the work you do is exceptional, word spreads.
"Bet on yourself. If you feel it in your gut that you can be a success on your own, the answer is you can be. It takes boldness and bravery, but you just got to do it and move forward and you'll find your pathway." - Dave Marcy
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