Today we’d like to introduce you to Les Kollegian.
Hi Les, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
People often ask me where our agency’s name came from. The name itself – Jacob Tyler – is named after my son, Jacob Tyler Kollegian. But the inspiration for the brand that Jacob Tyler has become, began at a clothing store in Grand Central Station in New York City.
Let me rewind.
In the late 90s, I left a job as the creative director at a large agency to test the waters for new opportunities. While searching for a new job, I started to do some consulting work.
To legitimize my new business, I registered the domain name “Vivid Commerce” to host my portfolio, figuring it made sense for a graphic designer that had a strong interactive design and development background– though I hadn’t really given it much thought.
Most of my clients at the time – large firms I had connections with from my agency work and referrals from friends – happened to be on the East Coast, mostly in New York City. So I often flew east from San Diego to work with them (in no small part because my “office” in San Diego at the time was my bedroom and my business attire consisted of boxer shorts and tee shirts).
From a wardrobe standpoint, I was chronically unprepared for New York. I never packed enough clothes. During many of my trips, I had to extend my stay and the last thing I had time to do was laundry. Knowing I couldn’t go back to the office in the same dirty shirt and tie yet again, I decided to buy some clothes on the way to the office. Wearing the previous day’s outfit, I took the train to Grand Central Station and walked into the Kenneth Cole store… luckily they opened at 8 am. I bought a brand new shirt and tie, changed clothes in the fitting room and went off to work.
It became a routine.
Soon I was in Kenneth Cole up to three times a week, picking up new outfits. I was making decent money at the time, so had some “disposable” income but I kept going back because the clothes were reasonably priced, I thought they looked great on and the customer service was impeccable, always greeting me by name. Eventually, they had multiple outfits, pressed and ready to wear, for me to choose from every morning – whether I showed up or not.
By 2003, my “consulting” business was taking off and my son was about to be born. We had decided to name him Jacob Tyler, and I decided to rebrand my company with the same name. Of course, I loved the name itself – I had chosen it for my son – but it also reminded me of Kenneth Cole, a brand I wanted the Jacob Tyler brand to emulate.
Whenever I left that Kenneth Cole store, I felt and looked great. I wanted Jacob Tyler’s clients to feel the same way. I wanted Jacob Tyler to be the Kenneth Cole of graphic design. Like Kenneth Cole, at Jacob Tyler, we provide a great customer experience and top-quality products at a reasonable price.
The inspiration I took from my experience at Kenneth Cole in those early days in New York became the heart and soul of the Jacob Tyler brand. And really, that’s what a brand is – a living, breathing thing. It’s your organization’s culture. It’s the people. It’s what you deliver and how you deliver it. It’s something you live every day.
The name Jacob Tyler and our visual representation embody our brand and agency. They communicate who we are and what we’re about. But it’s our culture that defines us. For more than a decade, we’ve cultivated our brand and grown with it, but have never lost sight of those early principles I learned from Kenneth Cole.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Show me an entrepreneur who’s had a smooth journey, and I’ll show you someone who hasn’t really started yet. After 18 years, I’ve made every mistake in the book—bad hires, worse decisions, lost clients, burned cash. The difference between those who make it and those who don’t? Resilience. Not the inspirational poster kind. The ugly, unglamorous kind where you want to quit every other Tuesday but you just… don’t.
2014 nearly broke us. Jacob Tyler was bigger than ever on paper—more revenue, more projects, more everything. Except we were drowning. We’d said yes to too much and couldn’t deliver on the brand promise that built us. Projects spiraled. Quality suffered. We hemorrhaged money we didn’t have and bled client trust we couldn’t afford to lose. We went into debt.
2015 was reckoning year. I gutted the company and rebuilt it from the foundation up. It took two brutal years to stabilize—two years of hard decisions, difficult conversations, and proving ourselves all over again. But we emerged sharper. Today, we’re doing the best work of our careers with a strategic team that actually delivers on our promises. We’re profitable, sustainable, and finally the company I knew we could be.
The road wasn’t smooth. It was hell. But we’re still here.
We’ve been impressed with Jacob Tyler, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Jacob Tyler builds brands that don’t just look good—they grow businesses. We’re an integrated brand experience agency that creates marketing strategies and creative experiences that expand reach, build loyalty, and drive real revenue. From startups with napkin sketches to global companies, we’ve spent 25 years turning brand potential into market dominance.
What I’m most proud of? The growth stories. We’ve taken clients from concept to empire—companies that walked through our doors with nothing but an idea and now pull in hundreds of millions annually. One will hit $250 million this year. We built that brand from absolute zero. That’s not luck. That’s what happens when you have a team that understands growth isn’t about pretty logos—it’s about strategic creativity that moves numbers.
Some of the more recent work we have specialized in is focused in the AEC vertical (Architects, Engineers, Contractors). We have put a lot of emphasis of growth in this area because we have so much fun working in the space and love our clients. The largest brand we have worked with and continue to work with has over 4 billion in revenue.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I’m a fine artist. Everything else pays the bills—this feeds my soul. My happiest moments are lost in flow, drinking a beer, listening to music, hands covered in paint, and building layers of mixed media on canvas. Right now I’m deep in a new series, and I’m promising myself that 2026 is the year I’m getting it into a gallery. Not hoping. Not trying. Doing. 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jacobtyler.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leskollegian/
