10 Questions With: Karla Santi

10 Questions With is a new series featuring people of interest in the 605. Have someone you’d like to see featured? Email info@pigeon605.com. 

This edition features Karla Santi, CEO and founder of Blend Interactive, who recently was named the SBA South Dakota small-business person of the year.

First, some of our readers won’t know what Blend is all about. What do you do?

Blend is a web strategy, design and development shop. We build websites – guiding teams through complicated web and content problems, from content strategy and design to CMS implementation and support. 

Was there a moment in life that made you decide to start a business? Or was it a more gradual thing?

The company I was working for in the early 2000s abruptly closed when the dot-com bubble burst — open one day and unexpectedly gone the next! I felt an obligation to finish the projects I’d been working on, so I started my own company, Santi Interactive, to complete the work. Word of mouth spread, and I began getting new projects and more clients. I never had time to go search for a “real” job. 

In 2004, life had handed me a slew of challenges. My sole proprietorship was doing well, but my personal life was filled with loss. It’s one of those periods of life you can look in the rearview and be grateful for because it provided a turning point. In early 2005, I merged my business with Deane Barker and Joe Kepley to found Blend Interactive. We were a “blend” of good web design and development, which was uncommon in the industry at that time.

Long story short, I’ve started two new businesses. I founded each while standing on the edge of a precipice. Sometimes, we each need a gentle shove to take that first step. 

Lots of tech-minded people – especially entrepreneurs – would have left South Dakota, especially when you were getting into business. What kept you here?

Our clients were all over North America, but we had this amazing team located here in South Dakota. We had the opportunity to travel to pitch new projects, see the world and visit clients, but we enjoyed calling Sioux Falls home. We still do.

What do you think people would be most surprised to learn about owning a business?

A perceived benefit of running your own company is that you can’t be fired and don’t need to answer to anyone else. However, it also means that you really can’t quit. For some of us, owning a company is like having a child — it’s a long-term commitment that demands your attention and guidance for years to come. The company also becomes a part of your identity, and its success feels like a direct reflection of your personal success. No pressure! It’s a weight I carry with me at all times.

If you could go back and do it all over again, what’s something you’d do differently?

I’d adopt an operating system like the Entrepreneurial Operating System, EOS, or Pinnacle much sooner. We were flying by the seat of our pants for years. As a small business, we were experts at talking about and identifying our issues but rarely could work through how to solve them. EOS has given Blend the structure and guidebook we needed. It also drove us to establish a leadership team that expanded beyond the company’s owners. It’s incredible to see a group who deeply cares for the company as if it were their own. It makes my heart full.

That whole idea of work-life balance can be especially tough when you own the business. Have you figured out any secrets to it?

Nope. It’s tough, maybe impossible — the demands between work and family ebb and flow. As long as they average out at some point, we’re good, but they are never equally balanced. However, my business success has introduced a nontraditional family model. My husband used to work in tech but now works very part time so that he can manage the rest of our lives. That shouldn’t be considered nontraditional, though. Let’s change that. 

Where can we find you when you’re not working?

My sister and I own a lake home in Minnesota, so we’re either remodeling, redecorating or relaxing there with our families. I also play doubles in a tennis league every week, typically followed by a celebratory glass of wine. 🙂

If you weren’t running Blend, what other sort of business do you think you might like to run?

My husband and I enjoy hosting themed dinner parties for our friends, which I’ve branded Forks + Friends. He loves to cook, and I love to entertain, so we put on a pretty decent shindig between us.

I’ve assembled some great place settings and beautiful tablescapes comprised of antiques and modern elements by hosting these events. I’m considering packaging them up to rent for private parties of eight or fewer — each with detailed step-by-step instructions on setting the table, suggested menu items and fun facts to accompany each theme.

So if you are ready to fly in some live lobsters to host your own seafood shindig, I’ve got you covered! 

But, in reality, I’d likely become an EOS Implementer or Pinnacle Business Guide. Maybe I’d do both!

What’s the best advice you’ve got for current or aspiring entrepreneurs?

Find your people. I’m not talking about finding the people you want to hire. Find the people you need to surround yourself with support and business guidance. It’s a lonely journey. I’ve been lucky to have others believe in me throughout the years, and sometimes they believed in me more than I believed in myself. Seventeen successful years in business, yet I feel we’re still trying to figure things out. There’s always a new surprise waiting around the corner and a new chapter to write. That’s the fun of entrepreneurship. 

Final question, you get a shameless plug for anything in the 605. What is it?

Salas Salsas. Seriously. All of their food and salsas are excellent! Marcela is a recent graduate of the CO.STARTERS program at Startup Sioux Falls, and I recently hired their company to cater a business event we hosted. We had a fun night that included a few friendly rounds of Blend bingo.

Knowing that, she brought us the traditional game of chance, lotería — the Spanish word for lottery referred to as Mexican bingo. To say they go above and beyond is an understatement.