Auto Enthusiast of the Month - November 2018

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you started

I grew up in a small northern Canadian city called Sudbury, the former nickel mining capital of the world. I got into cars at a young age thanks to my father who always involved me in everything needing to be done to the family cars in our garage most notably the annual winter/spring tire change.

I lost my father when I was 19 and put myself through University, graduating with a Systems Engineering degree then worked at DuPont Canada in various Sales & Marketing roles for 9 years including automotive paints and plastics.

In the evenings I worked on several digital passion projects and launched MadWhips.com in 2006 which leveraged my passion for technology, photography and the internet which was just started to see user-generated content models flourish like Flickr & YouTube which were brand new.

MadWhips mission was simple; create a niche social network for automotive enthusiasts to share photos of the world’s hottest cars. MadWhips was Pinterest & Instagram for exotic car photography 5 years before either of those companies started.

It's worth noting that I was a young car spotter at heart in my younger years and my first car was a used Manual 1993 Honda Prelude SR-V that was lowered with an exhaust!

I spent all my corporate holiday time (and spending money) traveling and attending the hottest car shows around the world getting content for Madwhips.com from SEMA, Monterey Car Week to the Tokyo Auto Salon. After 2 years MadWhips was seeing 10,000 daily visitors and ad revenues paid for the best laptops, cameras, and travel to all these car shows!

Less than a year after leaving DuPont while working for a small digital company I was let go of my job due to company downsizing. I was completely destroyed as I had never been let go from any job in my life. Within 3 months, I decided what I was going to do. It was now or never to take the leap of faith. I was 35 and always wanted to be my own boss and see what I could with my experience, skill, and determination to succeed.

Summer of 2013, I decided to go with it alone as a full-time entrepreneur, selling both my cars; 2002 Silver Subaru WRX & 2000 Imola Red BMW Z3 M Coupe - naturally, both were manual, and putting that money to work by hiring several developers to re-build MadWhips.com & mobile iOS/Android Apps.

During the 8-month development cycle, I lived as cheap as possible logging 16-18 hour work days, 7 days a week. I took over term Lease-Buster cars (2011 BMW 328xi - manual of course) to stay mobile while using every dollar I had to fund the company's growth.

It took me about a year of playing on Instagram every day figuring out the early algorithm before I hit gold and had amassed my first MILLION followers on 5 accounts. I hired my first automotive business school co-op student who worked from my couch, and 4 months later I was invited to join Ryerson Universities DMZ Business Incubator in the heart of downtown Toronto.

While at the DMZ for 2 years (2015-2017) I scaled my company by hiring over 25 co-op students and fuelled our web visitor growth by leveraging our fast-growing Instagram Network consisting of over 30 automotive accounts which have grown to over 18 Million followers.

As Instagram evolved, so did our company, launching e-commerce products such as carbon fiber phone cases and hats, and promoting other automotive companies and their products which generated a very healthy 6 figure annual income.

In 2016 MadWhips took the very first 2016 McLaren Sports Series delivered in Canada and daily drove it through Miami, Key West, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles putting over 20,000 miles on it less than 18 months. I am credited as the first McLaren owner to daily drive his McLaren during a full winter here in Toronto and even went snowboarding with my car during several major snowstorms!

We've since sold the McLaren, and picked up a 2011 Porsche 911 C4S and modified it. Thanks to all my clients who helped me build a super fun, reliable, manual, naturally-aspirated, street-legal, rally-ready race car to represent our brand and keep a smile on my face 365 days a year. That is until our next special new car is built (and soon to be announced)...stay tuned.

Today MadWhips continues to help launch new brands while driving sales through our massive Instagram Network showcasing the world’s hottest cars while providing digital & social media consulting for automotive companies leveraging the 12-year digital mastery of our automotive niche.

If you could pick one unique automotive, which would be your favorite and why?

I have always been obsessed with the Porsche brand. Especially the older ones 993/997 where a naturally aspirated manual transmission can be used in harmony to deliver one of the most rewarding and engaging driving experiences physically and audibly.

I'm obsessed with my manual 911 C4S that Gi Automotive in Beverly Hills built me this summer that has a full INCONEL exhaust tuned by VF Engineering and finished in a weathered race livery thanks to Protective Film Solutions!

The sound it makes as I run it through various gears and RPM's is like nothing else on earth...Well, ALMOST. Ultimately for me, it's a manual V10 Porsche Carrera GT, manual V12 Pagani Zonda or manual Lamborghini Murcielago SV that serve as my ULTIMATE car goals in life.

They just don't make them like they used to. RAW, ANALOG & MANUAL, true engaged drivers’ cars!

What makes MadWhips different from others in your field?

MadWhips is rather unique. There aren't any other automotive photography-based social networks in the world that have innovated and been around since 2006 which demonstrates & highlights all the hard work that has gone into the brand during the last 12 years I've owned it as the digital landscape has changed and social media has become king. We have also helped more than a dozen major automotive companies launch and become the #1 selling products in their niche and have helped scale existing companies to leverage relevant social media channels to generate new untapped revenue streams from new demographics of customers! MadWhips gets some celebrity love. DJ Khalid, Chris Brown, Chef Gordon Ramsay, and ex-NFLer Michael Strahan are just some of the prominent Instagram personalities that follow one or more of my MadWhips’ Instagram accounts!

What would you say that is the greatest satisfaction of being an auto enthusiast?

Connecting with other enthusiasts from around the world of all ages who drive their cars as hard as I do year round! No garage queens here!

What's next for you and MadWhips?

That has been the million dollar question I get asked very often.

The honest truth is that having a digitally focused company, especially one so leveraged to social media (which is always changing) is a stressful one.

What works to make me money this year might not work next year, so I am always on the hunt for new ways to monetize my brand while ensuring that I am happy doing what I am doing. I don't LOVE all aspects of what I do, so, trying to keep that balance of what I LOVE to do, and what I NEED to do to keep the business running is a delicate dance that doesn't allow for long-term company planning.

It's been a 12 year run with this passion project, and I'm excited to see what 2019 has in store based on the partnerships and strategies I have been testing and working on this year!

We are also excited to see more from MadWhips in the future. Follow them on Instagram and Facebook for more photos of some of the world's best cars. Don't forget to click on the subscribe button on their YouTube channel to get the latest updates from Anthony and MadWhips.

Are you interested in being our next auto enthusiast? Let us hear from you!