After distinguishing itself as one of Oregon’s fastest-growing private companies in 2007, the 46-employee Portland-based e-marketing firm eROI saw its growth slow through 2008 and 2009. But don’t blame the recession.
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CEO Ryan Buchanan led a $1.5 million effort to upgrade eROI’s online platform.PHOTO COURTESY OF EROI |
PORTLAND After distinguishing itself as one of Oregon’s fastest-growing private companies in 2007, the 46-employee Portland-based e-marketing firm eROI saw its growth slow through 2008 and 2009. But don’t blame the recession.
What actually happened was more carefully orchestrated, CEO Ryan Buchanan explains. Beginning in January of 2008, Buchanan assembled a team of nine employees to build an online communications platform for email campaigns that can be tracked through mobile marketing channels and social media.
eROI plans to launch the $1.5 million platform in late June. Not only will the platform enable eROI to control its own destiny rather than being chained to licensed software, it will also vastly expand the company’s offerings, Buchanan says. “We need to come out of the chute with a solid application to leapfrog our competition,” he says.
eROI’s creative and technical staffers will also need to oversee a massive migration of 500 clients from the current system to the new one.
Buchanan, a big fan of the Oregon “indie spirit” and the chairman of the Software Association of Oregon, has gotten this far without outside investors. But he says he may consider new financial backing to take eROI to the next level. “We’ll want to make sure we’re in a position of strength before we bring in a new investor,” he says.
BEN JACKLET
