Sierra Bravo Number 23 on Biz Journal's Fast 50

Web Developers Among Fastest Growing Private Companies in Twin Cities

Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal announced today that Sierra Bravo is #23 on the Fast 50 — the newspaper’s annual list of the fastest growing private companies in Twin Cities. From 2005 to 2007, the web development company’s revenue jumped from $1.9 million to nearly $4 million — an increase of 107%.

Sierra Bravo began with room to grow. “I started Sierra Bravo with partners Mike Schmidt and Mike Derheim in 2003 with less than $200 between the three of us,” said Sierra Bravo president Luke Bucklin. “We had lined up a few projects prior to starting the business and we’ve been self-funded ever since. Our first project paid our first month’s rent. Our second project paid our salaries. Today, we continue to invest the company’s profits back into its growth.”

Driving Sierra Bravo’s continuing growth is its Partner Program through which Sierra Bravo creates websites for the end clients of ad, design and marketing agencies in the Twin Cities and nationwide, including agencies in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Atlanta — with all development done by nearly 70 programmers in Bloomington.

“The creative process of web development works best when the programmers are all under the same roof, feeding off each others” creative energy,” said Bucklin. “This is exactly the environment we cultivate in our Nerdery — from here we can work with anyone, anywhere.”

Bucklin believes it won’t be long before Sierra Bravo is the most equipped single-source provider of interactive web development talent. “Business use of interactive media is increasing at an accelerating rate. In five years we expect to have over 300 full-time developers working to meet the demand for quality interactive web applications. In Sierra Bravo’s highly collaborative community, these developers will be able to deliver many more projects as a group than as an array of smaller providers. Sierra Bravo serves as an incubator that allows professionals to acquire the necessary ever-evolving skills at a rapid pace,” said Bucklin.

Sierra Bravo’s founders continue to cultivate a workplace where talented web developers want to be, and a professional environment that blends work with play. “My father often said, ‘Follow your bliss.’ I believe that we all have our God-given talents, and I have learned that I find much more enjoyment in doing the things that I am naturally equipped to do,” said Bucklin.

“This mentality has helped us to spread leadership and responsibility across the organization, exercising the strengths and passions of the individuals that are best equipped to serve the needs of the company,” said Bucklin. “This mentality also spurred us to create the F1 Overnight Website Challenge — web nerds like us already pull weekend all-nighters building websites, so we channel our passion to help nonprofits.”

Sierra Bravo has steadily increased its staff and revenue by nearly 50 percent each year since it began 2003. The company recently moved into larger office space to accommodate continued growth, and have made recruiting a top priority by launching a separate website dedicated to attracting web developers.

Privately held companies based within the Twin Cities seven county metro area apply to Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal’s Fast 50 by submitting revenue figures from the past three years.

As one of America’s fastest growing private companies, Sierra Bravo is #556 on the 2008 Inc. 5000 and seventh on Inc.’s list of fastest growing private companies in Minnesota — with a four-year revenue growth rate of 585%.

Media Contact

Mark Malmberg
Communications Manager
Office: (952) 948.1211 x1069
Cell: (612) 850.3178