I graduated from Mizzou in 1999 with a degree in elementary education and student taught in the second grade, which was a blast. Since then I have been having fun running a few businesses with my brother. We keep things interesting by continually trying new things.

 

In 1997, we started a ticket brokerage, ShowMe Tickets, while attending Mizzou. With that company, we developed a site called buyselltix.com that allowed individuals to buy and sell tickets easily online. This innovation, led by Mangseh Bhamkar and Deepak Kaushik, received a variety of press coverage including a write-up in the Wall Street Journal. The company received the Inc 500 Award for being one of the fastest growing private companies in the US. That same year we sold the company (2005) to TicketsNow, which was later acquired by TicketMaster.

 

While running ShowMe Tickets, we started a mortgage company and continue to grow that company with a great team of people. Behind the leadership of Nathan Long, this company received the Inc 500 award, achieving the rank of 96th fastest growing private company in the US, which made us one of the few people to have ever received the award for more than one company.

 

In 2009 we received the Inc 500 award for a third company, Plus1-Media.

 

In 2005, we started a vacation rental company which included a few sites such as LakeRentals.com and CoastRentals.com. That company grew 50% each quarter until it was acquired by The Weather Channel in 2007. Nathaniel Broughton was the brains behind this venture and is also the CMO of the mortgage company.

 

All of the companies generate business primarily from online marketing, which I have specialized in since 1999 (when Google was barely a company). I consider the team I work with to be one of the best online marketing teams in the country and include Bryan Rahn, Kris Farmer, Brandon Laughbridge, and Josh Kayser. We have been getting more into Angel Investing while still focusing our efforts on online marketing.

 

Without question, the primary reason for any amount of success from any of these companies is a direct result of the amazing team of people we work with. I feel honored to be able to work on a daily basis with a group of people with so much integrity and a dedication to do big things.