PROFILE SNAPSHOT
Founded: 1997
Founders: Caryn Marooney and Margit Wennmachers
Headquarters: San Francisco, California (offices in New York and the United Kingdom)
Parent: Next 15 Communications Group (acquired 2005)
Category: Strategic Communications / Technology PR / Corporate Reputation
Employees: ~100 across U.S. and U.K.
OutCast Agency is one of the most consequential agencies in the history of Silicon Valley public relations — not because of its current size, but because of what its founders built and where they went next.
Founded in 1997 by Caryn Marooney and Margit Wennmachers, OutCast was acquired by U.K.-listed Next 15 Communications Group in June 2005 in a deal valued at $13 million — $6 million upfront plus $7 million in performance earnouts over five years. At the time, it was one of the largest technology PR acquisitions since the dot-com era.
The firm continues to operate under the Outcast brand within the Next 15 portfolio in 2026. The bigger story is what its founders did next.
The Founders Who Shaped Modern Tech PR
Marooney and Wennmachers started OutCast in 1997 with a focused mandate: serve the best technology companies in the Bay Area with a senior, journalist-trained team. Within eight years they had built a client roster that included Dell, EMC, Macromedia, Mercury Interactive, Salesforce.com, and Yahoo — the last of which OutCast won from Fleishman-Hillard in 2005.
After the Next 15 acquisition, both founders eventually exited the agency world and became defining figures inside the companies they had previously represented:
Caryn Marooney joined Facebook as Vice President of Global Communications, where she ran communications during the company's most consequential growth years and the IPO. She later became a general partner at GV (Google Ventures), and now serves on boards including Coinbase and Elastic.
Margit Wennmachers joined Andreessen Horowitz as Operating Partner running Marketing — building what is arguably the most influential VC content and brand operation in venture capital. The a16z editorial operation, podcast network, and Future publication all run through her organization.
Two PR founders. Two of the most influential operating roles in tech communications. That is the OutCast legacy.
Inside Next 15 Communications Group
Next 15 Communications Group plc is a U.K.-listed digital communications holding company. It owns more than a dozen agency brands across PR, digital marketing, and data analytics — including M Booth, Archetype, Beyond, and others. The Next 15 portfolio has been one of the more acquisitive in the industry, building a roll-up of specialist agencies under a single public-company structure.
Within that portfolio, Outcast remains the San Francisco-headquartered strategic communications brand. It serves clients in technology, consumer brands, and corporate reputation across the U.S. and U.K.
The Client Roster
OutCast's client history reads like a register of consequential consumer and enterprise technology brands. Historic and current clients include:
Enterprise and tech infrastructure: Dell, EMC, Salesforce.com, Macromedia, Mercury Interactive, Autodesk, Box.
Consumer technology and platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Amazon, Etsy, Yahoo.
Consumer brands: Patagonia, West Elm, Rent the Runway, Minted.
Leadership Through the Years
After the founders' departures, the agency was led by Alex Constantinople, who became CEO in 2010 after joining as a partner and COO. Constantinople brought experience from NBC, GE, and other tier-one corporate communications roles.
Under the current Next 15 structure, Outcast operates with leadership embedded in both the agency and the parent group — coordinating digital marketing, communications, and corporate reputation services across the broader Next 15 portfolio of brands.
Industry Significance
The reason OutCast matters in any serious history of tech communications is not the agency's revenue or headcount — it is the trajectory of its founders. Most PR agency founders build firms. Marooney and Wennmachers built a firm and then went on to shape how the most influential technology and venture-capital companies communicate with the world.
Facebook's communications operation during the IPO years. Andreessen Horowitz's content and brand engine. Both traceable to OutCast. That is a structural footprint that very few independent PR agencies in any era can claim.
