Blayre Britton is, by almost any measure, the walking personification of small business success.
She has that rare ability to use today’s reality as a lens to focus on tomorrow’s possibilities. But Britton says she has had help. She said BEAM Collaborative helped her not only in seeing those possibilities, but in turning them into a profitable reality.

After graduating from Harvard with a degree in economics, she went on to get a law degree from Duke. And it wasn’t long after that when she began working in her father’s small 50- person company, CDI Printing, located just outside of Pittsburgh.

“My father was dealing with some health issues, and I stepped in to help him out,” said Britton. “One month turned into one year and now it’s been almost ten years.”

In 2018, Britton succeeded her father as CDI’s president and she soon realized that the rapid expansion of digital communications and marketing meant that she had to refocus her company’s vision. She needed an outside perspective.

Britton reached out to Joel Burstein, BEAM’s CEO, whom she had met at a Chamber of Commerce event.

“BEAM is different,” she said. “Most consultants seem to have a framework that they want you to fit into, instead of helping you develop a framework based on your specific company and your specific goals.”

After learning about CDI’s challenges, BEAM helped Britton expand her business into the sphere of shipping and packaging, and specifically in “kitting,” where items can be consolidated, sold and shipped as a single order, simplifying the acquisition and accounting processes for businesses and universities. Britton’s team even developed and patented its own child-proof box for kitting scientific supplies.

“BEAM took the time to learn about both me and my business,” said Britton. “Then they used their connections and solid reputation to help us get us where we want to go.”