eROI Days Email Agency

Chris – you have insane skills video editing. I had to share this video you did on CrossPixelNYC blog on to eROIdays (in the spirit of re-tweeting). Again – great stuff!

The Freakout from Christopher Masagatani on Vimeo.

You’d swear these guys were rockstars with all the attention they’ve been getting for moving their software company from Tulsa to Portland. But, the reality is that it truly is something special with their company, Vidoop, which makes secure password manager software used by banks, financial institutions, and millions of users.  The first thing that makes them cool is that they’ve opened up shop in the heart of Portland’s Social Media center in Old Town – the Technology + Arts Building – between Couch St and Davis St on NW 5th Ave (full disclosure: they are right downstairs from us at eROI. The second cool thing about Vidoop is that there are 45 fully geeky geeks who have embraced their inner-geekdom and absolutely love what they do – I’ve only hung out w/ the 6 or 7 Vidoopians who’ve been in the Portland office the past couple months, but Luke, Joel, Scott, Kevin, Mitch, and Matt are pretty sharp and already involved in Portland software scene.

Third, Vidoop documented their journey to P’town with a blog, dozens of videos, pictures, and incessant tweeting – check it out – Follow their Oregon Trail.

Lastly, Harvey Matthews, friend and President of the Software Association of Oregon, informed me that there is a party this evening at 5pm at the parking lot in front of Backspace.

Time: September 7, 2008 at 5pm
Location: BackSpace Parking Lot
Street: 115 NW 5th Ave
City/Town: Portland
Website or Map: http://maps.google.com/maps…
Contact Info: 503-999-5849

If I can convince my wife and 2 daughters to hang out with 45 smelly software engineers after 5 days on the road w/ no showers, I’ll see you there tonight.  Don’t forget to check out their journey on the Oregon Trail>>

The pictures / slideshow below of the eROI camping trip at Timothy Lake on the back side of Mt. Hood is good, but it’s a bit biased towards the family fun side of things. Kelsey will need to reveal the late night photos and video of some of the drinking games and intriguing conversations. All in all – a great time was had by all 25 folks who joined for a great overnight trip. The link to the slideshow is here if you want to see the full size of the pictures – http://picasaweb.google.com/ryanbuch99/EROICampingJuly08AtTimothyLakeMtHood.

If you didn’t catch our email yesterday and you attended or participated in the big eROI fashion party called FIVE a couple weeks ago, here it is below. Also, we have new video to show you.

The new eROI party video – check it out to see if you are in the video:

1500 people. Quadruple-decker Ice luge. 60 models. 80 amazing fashion designs. Snoop Doggy Dogg’s posse makes a guest visit. The pictures and video really paint the picture better. Hope you enjoy:

Here are a few other people’s slideshows:
eROI Flickr pics: http://www.flickr.com/groups/753070@N25/pool/show/

Scott Kveton Flickr pics: http://flickr.com/photos/kveton/sets/72157605740710205/show/

(more…)

eROI made the Portland Business Journal’s Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in Portland list for the second consecutive year.

Our ranking dropped from #15 to #36, even though we grew absolute revenue by an equal number. From a % perspective, it’s hard to maintain a high % of growth on a much larger number from ‘05 to ‘07.

The management team all attended the event and we were excited to be included in this prestigious group of companies.

Reunite on Ice (ROI) – you inspired me last night. I yelled my heart out for you. I sang off-key in the shower this morning. I can’t stop thinking about how awesome your performance was last night at PAF’s Battle of the Bands.

Everyone was amazing – Mike on the drums, Mitch on keyboards, Sam in his acid-washed jeans on the bass, Alex w/ some insane guitar solos and even better facial expressions, James for belting it out then ripping off his shirt at the appropriate time, Chris for some mad freestyle rapping to “Another One Bites the Dust”, but the MVP goes to the mustache-wearing, hip-gyrating Victor Nakada with special moves like the fake tear streaming down his face, high intensity – AMAZING.

I’ve had proud moments of my teams in the past, but this one was one of the proudest.

Thanks for bringing home the trophy yet again! And, thanks to all the eROI band supporters – I hope you all show up to Band Camp this summer. Because, that one time…at band camp…

To see more videos, check out the eROI YouTube Channel >>

I had some time to write in my Creative Journal this past Memorial Day and have finally gotten around to going through a great branding exercise – a gushing love letter to my company, eROI. Another great branding exercise is writing an epitath for what it would read on the tombstone for your company. But, that is for another day. Today, it’s about love, so here’s what I’ve got:

My Love Letter to eROI

I love that we actually have some true customer evangelists who love eROI and take pictures of themselves wearing red eROI T-shirts all over the world and send them to us with pride.

I love when employees grow, mature, innovate, create, and design things I never thought possible, and far beyond anything they could do before joining eROI.

I love the camraderie at eROI. It’s a very open, candid, transparent atmosphere where people colloborate, encourage one another and tell it like it is, instead of tip-toeing on eggshells as I’ve experienced working at other companies.

I love that the folks at eROI and the brand of eROI has fun and pushes the envelope (examples include the insanely creative and fun Annual party, annual retreats in the Great Northwest outdoors, karaoke, potlucks, insanely talented musicians and break-dancers in the company).

I love that eROI feels like a healthy, young family (albeit, a large family now), where we work hard and play harder, but we have a similar set of values of putting family first, have lives outside of work, and have ambition in the company to make a profoundly positive impact on the world through design and online communication and commerce software.

I love that eROI maps to the life I want to lead – I can take week-long vacations in the backcountry (and 4 weeks off per year because of a really strong management team that keeps things running smoothly).

I love that we are growing organically, relatively fast and smart. We’ve been recognized as an Inc. 500 company and the 8th most admired company in Oregon across all industries. That means a lot to be recognized both nationally and on the state level by 2,000 other CEOs – only made possible by an awesome team of employees and solid customers.

I love that I am happy with my life and happy with eROI despite a twisted entrepreneurial desire to always push harder and never be satisfied with where we are as a company.

I love Portland and that eROI is emblematic of all the good things in Portland culture.

I love the little things that spark conversations or make people smile and laugh, like our business cards, viral micro-sites, or our company gifts to top clients and partners. I really love how our brand and brand elements have evolved into a strong precense locally and getting there nationally.

I love the creative space we occupy in our building – exposed brick, tall ceilings with old wood beams, and overall cool, non-traditional atmosphere.

I love doing yoga with employees, led by an instructor, on Friday mornings.

I love the creative inspiration I get from artistic conference tables and inviting spaces in our office. I love natural light and clear thinking.

I love eROI’s present state and try to live in the moment, but love even more how far we’ve come from our founding and how amazing the future looks if we hit our goals and milestones.

Most of all, I love the people at eROI and our collective power to have a positive impact on one another and the community as a whole.

Cool pictures from our move below:

More pictures to follow. Please come visit us!

Yoga instructor by day, amazing Tom Jones singer by night. Way to knock it out of the park with an uplifting finale, Tanya.

This is a little known fact about Gary from Casey Casum – he visited Folsom Prison in 1994. Surprisingly, Gary does an amazing Johnny Cash. Gary – keep those feet a movin’ – you own the stage.

Jocelyn is my hero. She really focused on her dance routine and choreography – never mind the vocals. The judges keyed in on the legs. We salute you Jocelyn.

Straight up now tell me, do you really want to love me forever. Paula Abdul ain’t got nothin’ on this eROI Idol superstar.

Sam is no Snoop Doggy Dogg, but he kicks it on back w/ his G Thang. Craziest rapper I’ve ever seen.

Tough crowd singing Pearl Jam in the Northwest. But give Brett some credit for pouring some heart and soul into his song.