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Check out how 3STEPS4WARD is collaborating with DOCO Al Fresco and the Sacramento Kings to help small businesses succeed.

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CEO

Douglas Younger III

Founder and CEO

Doug Younger is the Founder and CEO of 3STEPS4WARD, a technology savvy marketing company that helps startups and entrepreneurs succeed with digital marketing. Doug and his team are a full service minority owned small business marketing consulting and creative agency driven by the beliefs of positive social responsibility, mutually beneficial business, and personal reinvention. Doug brings 19 years of international marketing, commercialization, and technology experience as an executive previously leading enterprises, startups, and nonprofits such as Siemens Healthcare, GE Healthcare, Baxter Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare, and Ekso Bionics.
Doug is an accomplished technologist in cutting-edge industries such as software as a servicer (SaaS), artificial intelligence, virtual reality, powered-exoskeletons, implantable medical devices, and advanced medical imaging. He specializes in innovative marketing approaches to lead generation, social media, personal brand management, customer relationship management, economic argumentation, web development, fact-based value proposition, geofencing, native advertising, podcasting, public relations, investor relations, and more. He earned an MBA in marketing and bioscience entrepreneurship from Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management in 2006.

California State University, East Bay

Doug and CSU: East Bay

Our CEO, Douglas Younger III, will be teaching marketing at CSU: East Bay this Spring. He will be teaching a Seminar in Selected Marketing Topics (focusing on social media and digital marketing) in the MBA for Global Innovators program and the One-Year MBA program.

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ORIGINS

Our company was founded by Douglas Younger, III in January 2020; however, the true origins of 3STEPS4WARD lie with Doug’s father. Douglas Younger, II was a middle-class entrepreneur and financial advisor who raised a family in Cleveland, Ohio. He instilled in his son the values of achievement and socially-responsible business: the belief that true success comes from taking pride in your work, conducting yourself and your business in an ethical way, and using the fruits of your labor to help others.

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VALUES

How does 3STEPS4WARD achieve its mission?

At 3STEPS4WARD, intellectual curiosity is baked into our DNA. New hires are onboarded with Doug’s top 20 book lists, and debates on everything from sci fi and video games to politics and literature are encouraged! Members of our family have post-graduate degrees in disciplines such as business, public health, finance, art history, and healthcare administration. Regardless of our formal education, we all share a commitment to continuous learning and professional development.

We believe that technological innovation should benefit local communities, not just Silicon Valley startups or the elite. We make technology-forward marketing accessible to small businesses and entrepreneurs from all walks of life. 3STEPS4WARD uses leading-edge tools:

“Just do it” isn’t just Nike’s slogan—it’s one of Doug’s many motivational catchphrases! We share his drive and take pride in producing excellent work for our clients. We’ve overcome adversity to get 3STEPS4WARD where it is today, and we’re ready to face whatever challenges may come tomorrow.

We are an “Avengers” team of professionals from diverse backgrounds, experiences, ages, and perspectives. We are not just marketers: we are military veterans, leaders, strategists, and creatives. We have worked in industries ranging from healthcare to higher education, finance to fundraising, the arts to AI, and beyond. We look different from one another. But rather than let such differences divide us, they are our strength. 3STEPS4WARD is one family united by one mission.

3STEPS4WARD helps local communities, one entrepreneur, small business, or nonprofit at a time. We are especially passionate about supporting minority-, women-, and LGBTQ-owned businesses. We are called to educate future generations of marketing professionals through classes, mentorship, internships, webinars, and more.

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Approach

How does 3STEPS4WARD achieve its mission?

A Unique
Business Model

We primarily work with pre-Series A startups and entrepreneur-owned small businesses that can’t afford their own in-house marketing departments. We partner local organizations and chambers of commerce in the cities where we live. This is how we give back to our communities.

Long-Term Partnerships

When you work with 3STEPS4WARD, you gain a true business partner. We are invested in our clients’ long-term success, especially startups in their infancy. We become an extension of your team and your own marketing department.

A Core Team Approach

Our family is large and growing; to offer our clients the most personal and customer-oriented service possible, we are divided into client-centered core teams. Each client is assigned a small group with one or more experts from each of 3STEPS4WARD’s “factions”: client leads, marketing strategists, program managers, designers, developers, and writers.

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SERVICES

How can 3STEPS4WARD help you achieve your vision?

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FAMILY

3STEPS4WARD is a family that’s also a marketing company. We are young marketers, strategists, creatives, and business professionals from diverse backgrounds. What unites us? Our belief in each other, in Doug, and in the mission of 3STEPS4WARD.

3STEPS4WARD is a family that’s also a marketing company.
We are young marketers, strategists, creatives, and business professionals from diverse backgrounds.
What unites us? Our belief in each other, in Doug, and in the mission of 3STEPS4WARD.

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CLIENTS

How can 3STEPS4WARD help you achieve your vision?

Testimonials

Jordan Engbers, PhD Chief Executive Officer of Cohesic

Gaurang Mehta President of ProtecSpine

Neil Ray CEO of Raydiant Oximetry

We truly feel like 3STESP4WARD is apart of the Cohesic team. We are growing our organization from a startup to a global company and 3Steps4ward took the time to understand our business and advise on what the best marketing and sales approach for our needs, scoped to our resources and stage of company. They have a fantastic group of professionals and, since bringing on 3STEPS4WARD, our marketing has been transformed and we are seeing great-KPI driven results. As a scale-up company, it is comforting to have the equivalent of an entire full-service marketing department guiding our activities.
Learn more at: https://cohesic.com/

Dr. Pranav Patel and I are both principals with ProtecSpine of North America and have been working with the 3Steps4ward team for roughly eight months now. One of our main goals was to establish a marketing strategy for our company while increasing sales opportunities.
Learn more at: https://protecspine.net/

Working with 3Steps4ward never felt "transactional" as it felt like the entire team acted as "advocates" for our company and mission. As a startup CEO, when I contemplate the characterictics of employees that I would eventually like to hire for my sales and marketing teams, I think of the 3steps4ward team members that I have been working with.
Learn more at: https://www.raydiantoximetry.com/