11 Online launched in 2014 as a small web development shop between Josh Garcia and Eric Debelak. Over the past three years we’ve gone from strength to strength, expanded service offerings, and worked with a wide range of clients on local, national, and international projects.
Three Years of Engineering
July 15 marks our third anniversary at 11 Online. As we look back to just three years ago, it’s pretty amazing to see the growth that’s taken place in such a short amount of time. I remember when Josh approached me and said, “I think we’re going to do this. We can make it. What do you think?” Only months out of the coding bootcamp, he and Eric had an intense six months of hustling for work and learning new technologies. You know, doing all the stuff it takes to build a company. With low overhead [read: your office is your garage], they started seeing revenue come in. I remember that so well. Money! People will actually pay money for this stuff! I’m proud to say that once things got going for them, they never seemed to slow down. Josh and Eric built an amazing reputation for the company in our community, and only continued to improve in their skills. Things were looking up for 11 Online.
The Merge
Last year about this time, things were still booming. I had come on full time as the marketing manager, but also to help out with any administrative, sales, content…anywhere I could take some pressure off the guys. It was great that business was so good, but we had encountered a huge problem. There was too much work for just two developers. Things were starting to fall through the cracks because the team was just too leveraged. We had hired an intern, but still, we were at a crossroads – either hire more developers to support the work or drop some clients. We didn’t have the money to support another full time employee, so dropping clients was our only option. This is where Hermes came in. We offered to sell them our book, but instead of taking us up on our offer, they had something different in mind. Six months later, we merged with Hermes, and I think it’s safe to say that was the right choice. The merge upscaled our resources, diversified the talent on our team, and launched us into a new level of business we couldn’t have gotten to on our own.
National and International Clients
Our passion and enthusiasm for what we do has allowed us to work with some pretty cool clients. Over the years we’ve worked with companies based in Canada, the Czech Republic, and even clients with branches in Africa and Australia. A little closer to home, we’ve been fortunate enough to partner with companies out of Washington DC, New York, Seattle, and more, many with a social reach upwards of 100,000 users.
Local Work
While we love the challenge and excitement of working with large scale clients, it’s still our number one goal to give back to our own state. We got our start here, and if it wasn’t for the generosity and respect we first received from those in our local business community, 11 Online wouldn’t exist. I’ve said this before, but our main drive is to do good work for those in our local area, continue to develop and attract talent to the state, and aid in the growth of the tech scene in New Mexico.
What’s Next
We’re still scaling up. We’re so fortunate. Our team now consists of 12 people, we’re constantly in a state of learning and growth, and we’re brainstorming ways we can make a bigger impact. Right now, we’re looking to extend our reach with online courses, we’re continuing to grow our digital marketing business, and doing our best to enjoy the ride. It’s been a crazy three years, and we can’t wait to see what the next 30 will bring.
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