eROI Days Email Agency

I’m an entrepreneur and I’ve failed in the past. I left Intel and started my first company on March 21, 2000 (the week that the dot com bubble showed its first major signs of bursting). Unfortunately, we had a product that was before its time and the generally techno-phobic, construction industry undervalued our ultra-niche software, so the company failed. Our failure was due to our inability to adapt our business model. It was our fault, not the economy.

As an entrepreneur, I think one of my strengths is that I’m naïve. By definition, no entrepreneur in his right mind would start his first business if he truly knew how brutally challenging it would be to build something out of nothing (knowing that anything that can go wrong will go wrong). Six years ago, I founded eROI, an email and web marketing company. We’ve been fortunate to grow from an idea in late 2002 to where we are today, a multi-million dollar company with 47 employees. I know I’m supposed to be writing about how the economy is going to continue to tank and that you should buy a year’s worth of rations to store in your basement, but instead, I’m going to tell you about the audacity of growth in uncertain times ahead.

A couple of weeks ago, I led an all-company meeting on our fourth floor. The message was clear: be aware of the global economic situation, but it is imperative for all of us to focus on what we can control – to truly go above and beyond in our own jobs. We should collaborate productively with our fellow employees, delight our customers on a personal level, practice frugality, and exude positivity and optimism.

Believe in the Future
When eROI began, we leveraged a good product and built a great service company around it. Now, we are investing in research and development to build powerful software on top of an already strong framework. Many would argue that we made a bad decision to invest precious cash into software that will not generate revenue (and profit) for at least 9 months. However, we strongly believe in growth opportunities in the near future, and there is no better time than now to inspire your team to create a product or service that will have a hugely positive impact on the world. (more…)