Focus helped firm find its groove

Growing up, Matt Meents wanted to be a rock star. But he never had the patience to learn how to play an instrument.

Meents has found his groove, however, as an entrepreneur with Reside, the Minneapolis-based Web services firm he co-founded in 2001. With Meents as CEO, Reside strives to bring harmony to online sales and marketing efforts of small- and medium-sized companies.

A basic website might have been enough in 2005, but today's Web 2.0 offers everything from blogs to Really Simple Syndication (RSS) content feeds to help companies engage users and measure their return on investment. Yet Web strategies of companies today often are an off-key jumble of outdated, disconnected elements.

"More tech companies and more software companies are coming out with all these amazing tools that are solving specific needs," Meents said. "We're trying to be the best at understanding what's the best for our clients."

Reside's strategy begins with an evaluation of a client's current Web presence, a summary of available options from a Google ad campaign or e-mail market program, and a timeline and budgets for phasing in the new work, Meents said.

As Reside completes each piece, the client uses site visits and other metrics to refine the project. One hope is that this approach will lead to greater repeat business.

So far, Reside is working on strategic Web plans for 15 clients, Meents said. Revenue, $1.7 million last year, is expected to reach $3.1 million this year. Besides sales- and marketing-related Web services, Reside has begun doing technical work for software vendors who develop Internet-based applications.

"We haven't marketed those capabilities," Meents said. "We're walking before we run a little bit with that."

Missing the tech bubble

In January 2001, Meents and cofounder Eric Scheel, Reside's senior application architect, opened the doors on what was then a virtual company, just before the dot-com bubble burst and tech spending collapsed.

That probably helped in the long run, Meents said, because Reside hadn't got caught up raising and spending loads of money the way other start-ups had. "We didn't know any different," Meents said. "We really self-grew based on just saving and keeping our overhead down. For a few years ... we just really bootstrapped it."

By 2005, the company was growing rapidly as the market's fortunes reversed. New business was stretching the company's resources thin, morale dipped and some long-term clients felt overlooked.

Reside took several steps to get back in tune, Meents said. One decision was that Reside would be a services company, not a software company or a software installer. It would focus solely on the Web and using it to solve problems and identify opportunities for clients.

Another solution was to hire a part-time chief financial officer. "That's just really helped keep us in line with budgets and decreasing our accounts receivable," Meents said. The CFO also brought in a board to predict when staff members could take on new projects and to tailor sales efforts accordingly.

Meents also unleashed his inner rock-'n'-roll animal on the company. Music-inspired elements now permeate Reside's workplace culture. Conference rooms in the two-story office building the company bought in 2004 bear names such as Main Stage and the Green Room.

Valuable contributions can earn the an employee the "Rock Star of the Quarter" award, which comes with a plaque resembling the ones bands get for bestselling albums. And concert tickets, front row if possible.

Employees gather quarterly for Rockin' Rallies, to improve communication about where the company is and where it wants to go. "As you grow you just have to keep everybody on the same page," Meents said.

Last year's holiday party featured a "Guitar Hero" competition. And the company has its own in-house band, albeit a virtual one. The band, known as the Residers, has its own website (theresiders.com) that is a focal point for fundraising efforts and charitable work.

Reside commissioned bobblehead dolls of the fictional band members, who represent departments within the company.

"I had a client ask me, so are you rockin' like 'I'm not going to be able to deal with you' or are you rockin' as in energy and you know what the heck you're talking about," said Meents, who has a picture of a backstage meeting with Motley Crue on an office shelf. He assured the client that the emphasis was very much on the latter approach.

A happy client

Joe Meixell, president and CEO of Brookdale Plastics, said he was very satisfied with the new website that Reside had developed for the custom manufacturer.

"They helped organize and format it in a useful, friendly format," Meixell said. "I'm getting good feedback from existing customers and tangible leads that we know came from it."

A business acquaintance recommended Reside and Meixell in turn said he has recommended the company to others.

"Their team came here and visited and got a feel for who we were," Meixell said. "We don't have a lot of marketing ability, and they brought that with them. That was one of the key factors when I was looking at somebody to do our Web pages."

The expert says: Jay Ebben, assistant professor in the entrepreneurship program at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business, said small companies typically reach a point, as Reside did, where growth causes challenges.

"In a small business, it's really easy to kind of do everything," Ebben said. "When they're growing rapidly, they realize they can't do everything, so coming back and deciding what to focus on is pretty important. Reside did a good job of that, figuring out what they do best and sticking with that."

The music-inspired culture Meents has cultivated is an authentic way Reside can differentiate itself, Ebben said.

"If you've met Matt, you'd see he's got just an incredible amount of energy, and this sort of culture fits with him and his personality," Ebben said. "It gives employees something to get excited about and it's also something unique from a customer aspect that helps them stand out."

Todd Nelson is a freelance writer in Woodbury. His e-mail address is todd_nelson@mac.com.