PORTLAND, OR (June 13, 2003) Visionary Networks, Inc.(dba Tarot.com) was designated the ninth fastest growing company in Oregon and Southwest Washington based on revenue growth over the last three years. The list of the Fastest Growing 100 Private Companies was compiled by the Portland Business Journal newspaper and validated by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Visionary Networks, a provider of authentic interactive divination experiences, produced revenue growth of 270 percent over the three-year period.
When presenting the award to Paul O'Brien, Founder and Chief Visionary, at a ceremony attended by over 500 Oregon business leaders, Craig Wessel, Business Journal Publisher, quipped, "Only in Oregon would a company that offers Tarot, Astrology, Numerology and I-Ching online rise as a viable business. We congratulate Paul on his creativity and tenacity in making his business achieve such phenomenal success in this very difficult economic climate."
"Visionary Networks' ability to grow in a declining economy has depended on delivering high quality personalized information that delivers value worth paying for," says O'Brien. "We anticipated the inevitable drop in Internet advertising revenue that accompanied the popped dot.com bubble and revised our business model to focus on a mix of revenue generating approaches, based on a belief that there is a market for quality content. This faith, combined with fierce determination and a lot of good fortune, helped us to establish a solid debt-free foundation for the company. Many of our business decisions (and those of some of my CEO friends too) were made with the help of intuitive decision-making support from the I-Ching and Tarot!"
In 2002, Tarot.com was expanded to include Numerology and Astrology features, including Daily Horoscopes. This made Visionary Networks a leader in all four of the most popular divination categories. In addition, Rick Levine's Daily Horoscopes provide a compelling reason for people to visit the site everyday, and the increase in traffic has contributed to the company's revenue growth.
Key business partnerships with a select group of partners including America Online, AT&T, Women's Entertainment TV and many others have also played an important role.
Paul O’Brien, formerly a software marketing executive, has also been the host of a popular radio interview program, “Pathways” on KBOO FM in Portland, which has focused on personal transformation for the past 19 years. O'Brien has himself been widely interviewed by national magazines, newspapers, television, and national radio and is the author of the Visionary I-Ching and a forthcoming book, Dancing With Destiny: The Story of the Divination Revolution.
