Penrod finds organic business growth in the cloud

As soon as Chris Widmayer met Joseph Taylor, he knew they would start a business together. 

Widmayer was a resident assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Taylor was one of his freshman residents in Sandburg Hall's north tower.

A decade later, the college friends are growing a cloud consulting agency, Penrod, based in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward. And growing it fast. 

Revenue topped $5 million in 2016, doubling the $2.5 million in revenue from 2015. The company says it's on track to double again this year. It expects to take in $10 million in revenue by the end of 2017. The firm keeps a friendly startup feel with a young staff, an office game room and bar, and perks such as unlimited paid time off. 

Taylor, the CEO, says his goal in one word — growth. 

Penrod customizes Salesforce, a software system that tracks how companies engage with customers. The basic platform gives a foundation for how a company can track actions such as phone calls to customers. Penrod further develops the program specifically so it tracks how its clients interact with customers. Penrod is the multibillion-dollar company's second-fastest growing partner in North America.

Penrod ranked No. 442 on Inc. magazine's list of the 5,000 fastest-growing companies in the United States, announced Wednesday. In 2016, Penrod was No. 550 on the list. 

In the beginning

A string of ideas led Widmayer and Taylor to launch the consulting firm.

Taylor was working for a startup company in California, while Widmayer worked at Kohl's. Widmayer first started consulting on his own. He quickly realized the opportunity and asked Taylor, who was living in California, to join. They built Penrod over Skype watching "Friday Night Lights" and "Jersey Shore." They consulted as a pair for six months on the side.

Then, the same week Widmayer got married, they quit their jobs and started to devote all their energies to Penrod in 2012. 

Not all was easy. 

After steady growth and hiring a small team, Penrod had about 30 days of cash left in December 2013. 

"We had one more payroll we could make," Taylor said. "We had to make some hard decisions. We had to let people go that I didn't necessarily want to let go." 

They decided to cut two of Penrod's nine employees. 

"We looked at the six people we had left, and we really believed in them," Taylor said. "We had a really good group of people here. We had to make this work. There's no reason we shouldn't make this work."

They focused the business on Salesforce and stopped consulting on Microsoft's Dynamics system. After four months of aggressive sales to sign on new clients they started to make money again.

At the end of 2014, Penrod had brought in $800,000 in revenue. Its revenue doubled the next year. And the next.

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The firm has grown organically, rather than by raising venture capital.

For Widmayer, persevering through that challenging time was worth it when the company moved into a new office last year.

The 13,000-square-foot office on the second floor of the Phoenix Building was the reward. The open design with matching furniture and art was vastly different from the previous office on the building's third floor filled with scraps from previous tenants.

On Fridays, the team grills out on the deck for lunch, weather permitting. Just like at home, the kitchen is the main gathering space.

New growth

The focus on growth extends beyond revenue. The company has more than 60 employees in four offices. Penrod projects it will have 75 employees by the end of the year. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Penrod has offices in Chicago, Minneapolis and Dallas. It plans to open an office in Atlanta and one on the West Coast soon. 

Tony Bone, a vice president at Salesforce, said Penrod's investment in its team, especially its strong technical staff, keeps it from falling into a growth trap of "filling seats."

Jordan Ehrhardt said Widmayer, the chief operating officer, pushed him to continue learning and gaining certifications in Salesforce systems since he joined the staff about two years ago. It's the 26-year-old's first full-time job since graduating from UWM. 

Nearly everyone at Penrod, is age 35 or younger. The staff is eager and motivated to grow. 

Katrina Stiebs started as an office manager four years ago. She left her job at the Milwaukee Art Museum in the visitor services department because she didn't feel like there was an opportunity for growth. Now, at 28 years old, she's Penrod's chief people officer. 

The technology consulting firm stands out in other ways, too: Close to 40% of the staff is female. Lacey Van Syckle found Penrod when searching for a new job after working at Rockwell Automation. The 27-year-old is now the vice president of delivery after starting as a project manager.

"When you grow a services company, the trick is maintaining the reputation of your work. Your business is only as good as your people," Bone said. "To grow at such a phenomenal rate is tricky, dangerous."