Bukowsky Firms Make Inc. List

September 18,2009

Brant Bukowsky, center, helped Plus1 Marketing become Missouri's fastest growing company.

Brant and Brock Bukowsky first broke into Inc.'s list of 500 fast-growing companies with ShowMe Tickets, a company the brothers started in 1997 and sold in 2005 to TicketsNow.

Ticketmaster later gobbled up the enterprise, but the back story, and one of the reasons that the Bukowskys have two more companies high on the list, is what Ticketmaster didn't get.

The ShowMe Tickets relied heavily on online marketing, which was still in its infancy at the time. When the company was sold, the marketing team members decided they wanted to stay together, so they started Plus1 Marketing.

"When we sold out ShowMe Tickets, we knew that what they were buying was just our marketing infrastructure, and we knew that we had this awesome team," Plus1 Marketing CEO Nathaniel Broughton said. "We wanted to keep that core team of online marketers together because we knew we could dominate any industry we chose."

Plus1 Marketing ranks No. 1 in Missouri and No. 226 nationally on the Inc. 500/5000 list of the fastest growing companies. VA Mortgage Center.com, a Bukowsky company formerly called Mortgage Research Center, is No. 8 in Missouri and 780 nationally.

Plus1 Marketing's revenue has increased by 929 percent since the company was founded in 2002, according to Inc. From 2005 to 2008, the company's revenue has grown from less than $320,000 to $3.2 million. The company started with five employees and now has around 20.

Plus1 Marketing, also known as Plus1 Media, provides online marketing, pay-per-click services, pay-for-performance advertising, and conversion-rate optimization. It deals with many mortgage companies but has branched off into other areas such as education, travel and finance.

Plus1 Marketing's business model is built into its name. "Plus1" refers to the company's goal to do one thing daily to improve its position or to improve its overall performance, with an intense focus on staying ahead of the competition.

Broughton obtained a full-body photograph of the leader of the company's biggest competitor and got it printed larger than life-sized. He tacked it on the wall in the main office at Plus1 Marketing to remind everyone they need to remain competitive.

Josh Kayser, standing, and Kris Farmer go over projects at Plus1 Marketing.

Plus1's basic mission is to help companies grow online by investing capital and/or marketing expertise into the companies. This investment is often done in exchange for equity or for a profit-sharing option. Plus1 Marketing also participates in some angel investing.

"We have built one of the best online marketing teams in the country," Brant Bukowsky said. "One of our biggest strengths is in the area of search marketing. When people perform a search at an engine site, such as Google, we try to get our sites to be one of the first that people see. We also do other forms of online marketing, including social media and viral marketing."

For example, Plus1 Marketing acquired www.sbaloans.com this year. Plus1 marketed the site so that when "sba loans" or related key words are searched on Google, www.sbaloans.com shows up in the top five, Bukowsky said.

For the 2008 presidential election, Plus1 Marketing spent only $100 in advertising and relied on non-paid marketing to spread the word about a Web site that featured the Candidate Calculator, which allowed people to see which candidates matched up with their views. The site attracted millions of visitors and was featured on a number of prominent outlets such as CNN, The Glenn Beck Show and other sites and blogs.

The core team of Plus1 Marketing also buys sites and improves them, either for increased cash flow or to sell. In 2005, they acquired www.lakerentals.com, originally one man running a small, regional domain. The Bukowskys and their team bought the site and took it nationwide. They combined it with a few other sites, such as CoastRentals.com, and started a vacation rental company, which was sold to The Weather Channel in 2007.

Broughton analyzes the company's newest entrepreneur networking Website, www.growthpartner.com, to see how people are using it and how he can make it a better place to meet and exchange ideas.

Last month, Plus1 Marketing launched growthpartner.com. The idea came out of a partnership with Soccerpro, a local company, in which Plus1 invested in the company, took over its marketing and got equity in return. The purpose of growthpartner.com is for entrepreneurs to find resources to help their businesses grow, whether through investments or expertise in certain areas. As of now, there are no plans to monetize the site.

"We just wanted to create an online community that could help provide additional resources for growing companies," Bukowsky said. "However, we do plan to participate in this online community, and it may lead to some new partnerships."

The concept of growth partners is similar to angel investing in that it can involve money, but the focus is on sharing expertise. "You can be involved in some aspect financially, but we want to be more actively involved in the marketing of a company and control our own destiny," Broughton said.

Because, it operates in a wide range of industries, Plus1 Marketing has a variety of competitors from big names like Bank of America to smaller companies. "The main competitors are companies in the industries in which we compete who also dedicate a large amount of resources to online marketing," Bukowsky said.

Instead of focusing solely on consulting, the company’s internal team focuses a large portion of its attention on VA Mortgage Center.com, which was a big factor in the company's revenue growth, Broughton said.

VA Mortgage Center.com uses Plus1 Marketing for all of its marketing needs. VA Mortgage CEO Nate Long said he would choose Plus1 even if it wasn't affiliated with his company.

"They are wizards with search engine optimization and are one of the main factors in our company's success," Long said.

Nathaniel Broughton, 26, started Plus One Marketing in 2005 with five employees, whom he called the Goldenrod Five. He now operates the fastest-growing company in Missouri with 16 employees at his side. Although Plus1 Marketing's focus is more national than local, the company still mines talent from MU to contribute to its success. The company hires part-time workers, some of whom turn into full-time employees after graduation. In fact, Broughton was an MU student who started part-time under Brant Bukowsky. "Every fall we get a bunch of kids who come in, and we try to pick out kids that either have an entrepreneurial spirit or mind or who are really interested in online marketing," Broughton said. "One in ten turns out to be an all-star kid who we hire on full-time."

Broughton’s still not satisfied with the company's growth. "It's been good, but I think we could do a lot more," he said. "It's unique to be young and successful online, but there's a lot of other guys out there doing the same thing."

In the spirit of its name, Plus1 Marketing will continue innovating in the world of online marketing. One possible future plan is to start a networking site that will teach people how to start their own businesses online. Broughton and Bukowsky made it a goal to fully stock an idea folder.

"Brant and I have this huge excel file where we try to have a hundred different ideas of possible things, whether it's to start a bank or whatever else we come up with," Broughton said. "It's kind of ridiculous, but we've got to have enough ideas so that we can learn to pick out the right ones."

Broughton made wall art out of his biggest competitor, Bruce Reichstein, who runs a similar company in Texas. He hopes the poster will inspire his team to work harder and beat the competition.

Five Columbia companies were recognized in the 28th annual Inc. 500 list, which ranks the country's fastest-growing private companies. The 2009 list was unveiled in Inc. magazine's September issue. The companies on this year's lists have created more than 55,000 jobs since they were founded. Visit Inc.com to see more information about Columbia's companies, and all the companies, that made the list. The 2009 Inc. 500/5,000 measures revenue growth of private companies from 2005-2008.

Plus1 Marketing

Plus1 Marketing provides online marketing, search-engine marketing, conversion-rate optimization, and pay-per-click services, primarily to the financial and travel industries.

Industry: Advertising & Marketing

Founded: 2002

Growth: 928.6%

2005 Revenue: $315,516

2008 Revenue: $3.2 million

Employees: 9

Website: www.Plus1-Media.com

Principal: Nathaniel Broughton

VAMortgageCenter.com

VAMortgageCenter.com brokers and lends mortgages, specializing in procuring loans for veterans backed by the Federal Housing Authority and the Veterans Administration.

Industry: Financial Services

Founded: 2002

Growth: 374.1%

2005 Revenue: $5.3 million

2008 Revenue: $24.9 million

Employees: 180

Website: www.mrcloans.com

CEO: Nathan Long

Brock Bukowski

President: Brock Bukowsky

Photo-Kicks

Photo-Kicks provides photography, videography, graphics, and website design, primarily for martial arts schools and sports clubs.

Industry: Business Products & Services

Founded: 2002

Growth: 91.6%

2005 Revenue: $1.7 million

2008 Revenue: $3.3 million

Employees: 47

Website: www.Photo-Kicks.com

Adam Boster

Principal: Adam Boster

Socket

Socket offers telecommunications services for business and residential customers, including networking, Web hosting, e-mail hosting, high-speed Internet and dial-up Internet.

Industry: Telecommunications

Founded: 1994

Growth: 50.5%

2005 Revenue: $8.8 million

2008 Revenue: $13.3 million

Employees: 94

Website: www.socket.net

George Pfenenger

Principal: George Pfenenger

Environmental Dynamics

Environmental Dynamics specializes in the research, development, and application of aeration products and biological wastewater treatment equipment for industrial clients and municipalities.

Industry: Environmental Services

Founded: 1975

Growth: 32.4%

2005 Revenue: $18.4 million

2008 Revenue: $24.3 million

Employees: 105

Website: www.wastewater.com