40 under 40 list, Mpls/St. Paul Business Journal

Luke Bucklin (38), President of Sierra Bravo Corp.

The way he tells it, Luke Bucklin and two other computer geeks had about $165 when they started Sierra Bravo in 2003 with the idea that they could provide the computer “nerdery” for advertising and marketing agencies that were trying to design Web sites for their clients.

“Those guys still owe me 80 bucks,” Bucklin said of his partners.

In 2004, they hired their first employee, a programmer. And there was no looking back.

“Last year, we doubled our headcount, starting the year with around 40 employees and finishing with 85,” Bucklin said, adding that 65 of his employees are programmers — and that they’re proud to be called nerds.

“We’re lucky to have them,” he said. “They love puzzles and the things that go on with Web development.”

The partnerships between Sierra Bravo and its clients involve a melding of talents — the tech experts at Sierra Bravo helping creative clients who have a vision of what they’d like to see on a Web site, but no idea about how to make it happen.

“People come to us because we know how to actually make things work,” Bucklin said. “It really doesn’t matter who takes credit for it. We like to work on stuff and do a good job, but we don’t do much chest-pounding.”

Sierra Bravo’s signature community outreach event is its annual “Overnight Website Challenge,” where a dozen 10-member teams of experts spend 24 hours building Web sites for 12 nonprofit organizations.

Put 120 volunteer programmers and at least that many laptops together in one room for 24 hours and what happens? “We have a blast,” Bucklin said. “It’s like another day at the office, only longer.”

— David Hawley  

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