Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryan Goltzman.
Hi Bryan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
“Of course you did.”
That is something a friend said after I told him we found a HIDDEN ROOM in our house and I turned it into a speakeasy two weeks later. He was laughing, but he was also right. I tend to see an opening and immediately start thinking, “Okay, what could this become?”
That has been a pretty consistent theme in my life.
My nonprofit background taught me that you do not always get perfect conditions, unlimited resources, or a clear path. If you care about the mission, you figure it out. You bring people together, get creative, make the most of what is in front of you, and keep moving. I carried that mindset into business.
Liquid Screen Design started in branded merchandise, but I have always seen it as bigger than products with logos. We help organizations create moments. A welcome kit can make a new employee feel like they belong. A great piece of apparel can create pride. A thoughtful gift can strengthen a relationship. The product is just the tool. The real value is the feeling or connection it creates.
I am always looking for the next opportunity to make something better, whether that is a client idea, a new process, a technology tool, or a different way to build a team.
A good example is Upwork. We started using freelancers in 2018 because we saw an opportunity to build a more flexible, capable team. That turned into 33 hires over the years, including nine people working with us full time today (and we are in the process of hiring 7 more full-time by the end of September). Then a simple email from Upwork about trying an AI SEO program turned into a conversation, sharing our playbook, presenting to their customer-success team, joining their Customer Advisory Board, doing a Vox Media podcast, and meeting with their CEO.
All because we said yes to a small opportunity.
That is how I think about AI too. I am not interested in it just because it is new. I am interested in what it lets us do better. Can it make our team faster? Can it eliminate busywork? Can it help us serve customers better, find better ideas, and create more time for the work that needs a human being?
I think great things often start small. A conversation. An introduction. A weird email. A hidden room behind a wall.
You just have to notice it, say yes, and be willing to make something out of it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
“Owning your own business is great. You get to work half days whenever you want. You just get to pick the 12 hours.”
That has definitely been true for Benji and me. Liquid Screen Design started as a side hustle, so in the beginning we did everything. Sales, client service, order issues, ideas, late-night emails, and whatever else landed on the desk that day. When you are building something from scratch, there is no magic formula. You just keep figuring it out.
The challenges change when the business starts working.
Getting it off the ground was hard. Getting past the $1 million mark was hard. Getting beyond $5 million and building a team of more than 30 people is hard in a different way. At that point, the biggest challenge is realizing that you cannot be involved in everything anymore, even when you want to be.
Benji and I both like to jump in and fix things. We like being close to the clients and the action. But if every decision has to go through us, we become the bottleneck. So the real work now is building leaders, getting the process out of our heads, giving people room to own decisions, and trusting them to do great work.
We are fully remote, which means culture does not happen by accident. We have to be intentional about it. Our virtual office looks a little like an 80s Zelda game with Zoom on top, but it works. People can see each other, pop into conversations, solve problems quickly, and still feel like part of a real team. We have been named a Best Place to Work in our industry for five straight years, and I am proud of that because it says we are building something people actually want to be part of.
Our goal is $20 million, for now. But I do not think the goal is just getting bigger. It is figuring out how to keep getting better as we grow. That means better leaders, better systems, better tools, and new ideas.
I am always looking at AI, automation, and technology through that lens. Not, “How can we replace people?” More like, “How can we make the work less painful and give our team more time to do the things that actually matter?”
The biggest obstacle is probably the same thing that got us here: the owners’ willingness to do everything. At some point, you have to stop being the answer to every problem and start building a company full of people who can create the answers with you.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Liquid Screen Design?
Liquid Screen Design is physical marketing company. We help organizations create real-world brand experiences through apparel, swag, gifts, company stores, event merchandise, welcome kits, and promotional campaigns. The products are physical, but the goal is emotional: help employees feel valued, clients feel appreciated, teams feel connected, and brands become more memorable.
Sometimes a client asks us to put their logo on something specific and we can do that, but where we really make the difference is when we become an extension of their marketing team. We help clients think through what they are trying to accomplish, then bring the right idea to life in a way that is creative, on-brand, and easy to execute. Whether it is a growing company onboarding new employees, a nonprofit thanking supporters, a school building spirit, or a business trying to stand out with clients, we use physical marketing to turn everyday interactions into stronger relationships.
We are also developing technology solutions that will help move the promotional marketing industry forward. Drawing on years of experience managing company stores, order workflows, fulfillment, inventory, and client communication, we are creating tools that address the real operational challenges our clients face. Our goal is to pair the power of physical marketing with smarter ecommerce, automation, and AI-enabled workflows—giving clients greater visibility, less administrative friction, and more time to focus on the experiences and relationships that matter mos
One of the accomplishments I’m most proud of is the culture we’ve built at Liquid Screen Design while continuing to deliver exceptional work for our clients. For the past four years, we have been recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in our industry. This year, we were especially honored to rank as the 5th Best Place to Work among approximately 45,000 companies in the promotional products industry.
That recognition reflects far more than a workplace award. It speaks to the commitment, creativity, and care our team brings to the business every day. Liquid Screen Design is great because of the people behind it—their willingness to support one another, take initiative, and continually raise the bar for our clients and for each other. I’m equally proud of the individual recognition our people have earned throughout the industry. Members of our team have been named All-Stars, Rising or Up-and-Coming Stars, industry mentorships, and a Salesperson of the Year. Those honors are well deserved and reflect the talent, ambition, and leadership that exist throughout our organization.
Our philosophy is likely rooted in our nonprofit background: give people meaningful freedom, encourage them to pursue work that energizes and fulfills them, and trust them to make a difference. When people have the space to do what they do best—and genuinely enjoy doing it—they can excel in ways that exceed even the highest expectations.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Right now I am reading Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick for myself and Ready Player One with my kids. One is about figuring out how humans can work with AI without becoming robots. The other is about video games, adventure, 1980s nostalgia, and what happens when technology gets wonderfully weird. Co-Intelligence frames AI as a collaborative tool for creativity, productivity, and decision-making, which is exactly how I am thinking about it at Liquid Screen Design.
Honestly, that is also a pretty good description of our company right now: we are trying to use AI to make work smarter, while our fully remote team works in a virtual office that already looks a little like an ’80s video game with Zoom on top.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.liquidscreendesign.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liquidscreendesign/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiquidScreenDesign/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-goltzman/
- Twitter: https://x.com/liquidscreen
