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G5 Search Marketing Chief Operating Officer Greg Meier, left, and CEO Dan Hobin lead the kind of company that Central Oregon would like to get more of, according to Clark Jackson, the region’s business development officer for the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department.
Rob Kerr / The Bulletin
Things are clicking at Bend tech startup
G5 Search Marketing has grown from 14 employees to 52
By Andrew Moore / The Bulletin
Published: May 21. 2009 4:00AM PSTThe recession has left many businesses awash in red ink, to the point that the stock market gets excited when a company’s losses are less than expected.
Bend’s G5 Search Marketing is not publicly traded, but if it were, its shares would likely be a hit on Wall Street. The privately held company announced earlier this week that its first-quarter revenue grew 132 percent from the same quarter a year ago and that it’s on track to record its fourth year of more than 100 percent growth on a year-to-year basis.
The company, which specializes in Internet advertising, has grown from 14 employees at the beginning of 2008 to 52 as of Wednesday. It ran out of space in its downtown Bend office two months ago and started leasing an adjacent building. Last week, it filled up the space there, too.
“That’s been the biggest challenge — managing all this growth,” said CEO Dan Hobin.
It’s a rare bright spot for Central Oregon, which is gripped by a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 14.7 percent, largely as a result of the loss of construction and real estate jobs. But G5, which Hobin founded roughly five years ago with business partner Greg Meier, is an information technology company mostly immune from the housing bubble fallout.
It’s also the type of company on which Oregon wants to base its future.
“They’re innovative, they pay family wages, they’re very clean. We’d like to keep them here and help them grow, and get more companies like them to locate to Central Oregon,” said Clark Jackson, the region’s business development officer for the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department.
A thriving information technology sector is key to establishing a high-tech economy, which is better insulated from the cyclical nature of other economies, such as real estate and commodities-based economies, said a 2008 report from the Washington, D.C.-based Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.
In its 2008 State New Economy Index, the foundation ranked Oregon 15th in terms of its ability to transition to a “new economy” that is based on information technology.
In a different report released this year by the Santa Monica, Calif.-based Milken Institute, Deschutes County was listed among the top areas in the Northwest best suited to grow its information technology sector. Thanks to the innovation and entrepreneurship that accompany the field, information technology is well-suited to create high-paying, clean jobs, Milken Institute economist Russ DeVol said in March at Economic Development for Central Oregon’s annual member luncheon in Bend.
G5 has hired the vast majority of its workers from the region, Hobin said. He said the company plans to hire more workers if the company continues to grow, which he expects it will, but he’s unable to say how many more positions will be added.
His first concern is finding more office space. Hobin and a separate business partner own the company’s main office, at 906 N.W. Harriman St. They don’t want to sell the property but would like to rent it before they move out. However, thanks to the glut of office space for rent, it’s been on the market for close to a year. Hobin said the company will likely run out of room in three months.
The good news is there is plenty of office space to move into, Hobin said, adding that the company will remain in Bend.
“It’s geographic arbitrage,” explained Hobin. “We have competitors in Silicon Valley, but the cost of living there is so much higher you have to pay your workers more, so even though we’re probably one of the better-paying companies in Central Oregon, we don’t pay as much but can still be more competitive because the cost of living here is so much lower. Plus, employees are happier because it’s Bend. It’s that quality of life lots of us moved here for.”
G5 has been “lucky” enough to be in the right spot at the right time, Hobin said. Despite the down economy, smart companies are recognizing opportunities to grab market share from their competitors, which has dovetailed with the migration of advertising dollars from traditional mediums to the Internet, both to G5’s benefit. Last year, the company signed a deal with Google that has helped the company grow to approximately 1,500 subscribers, said Hobin.
“Our business is up, but did we project (the opportunities presented by the recession)? I wish I was that smart,” Hobin said. “Part of our success is being able to measure what’s working for our clients’ marketing and advertising and that’s what our platform does. In a down economy, there’s opportunity to take business away from your competitor if you spend wisely, and that’s where advertising gives the best return.”
Andrew Moore can be reached at 541-617-7820 or amoore@bendbulletin.com.
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