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.

In a tight economy, all of us should be much more motivated to make our projects and goals a success. Our basic primal need is to survive (paycheck), but our true aspiration is to thrive as individuals and as a team. This quarter and next year present a formidable challenge to survive and create a platform to thrive. To do that, we need to continue to establish our primary competitive differentiator – our expertise in email marketing and the web. Additionally, within the company, we all need to be aligned on why we are working so hard.

Long-Term Approach

We started out with a goal of building at least a 25-year brand and a vibrant member of the local community. From a cultural standpoint, our employees have a huge voice in the company – they drive all process improvements, collaborate on project teams, email all employees with lavish praise for their peers on a daily basis, and share their addiction of Twitter, blogs, and social networking sites and tools with each other and with our customers. We live and breathe email marketing and web knowledge, but our culture is far more than that. The company’s values map to all aspects of an employee’s life: Purpose + Accomplishment, Family + Friends, Health, Community, and Life Experiences. To quote from our Values Statement, “If you remember one thing, it is that we believe in the motto ‘Work Hard, Play Harder.’ It’s critical to be passionate about what you do and get the most out of life. Balance is a lifelong challenge and opportunity, but clearly we can all strive to be fulfilled in work, play, family, friendships, health, community, and life experiences.”

eROI is a hybrid business model with a mix of online marketing agency work and software tools. In the marketing/advertising industry, Portland has a brilliant example in Wieden + Kennedy of one of the most talented and largest independent advertising agency worldwide. Wieden + Kennedy has said “No” to offers of selling to agency conglomerates time and time again, retaining its ability to build its brand for the long-term, and that dedication has allowed the company to control its own destiny and build an iconic brand. We believe this organic approach to business growth and brand-building is the right path for us. It meshes well with the core of eROI culture.

In Portland’s software industry, many of the companies we aspire to emulate have taken a different path by taking on venture capital or angel investment to fuel high growth. This path can yield a huge payoff in a 5-7 year time horizon, but most often takes away the possibility of building a long-term brand in a sustainable way.

The Portland entrepreneurial community often prods high-growth companies down an investment path (which makes sense for some business models), but it is possible to grow the old-fashioned way – organically through sales and by cautiously using debt. I don’t know if it’ll work, but I’m naïve enough to try.