Unfunded spire outlasts tech's early high fliers.

• Author: Taylor, Mike
• Position: Money matters - Michael Gellman and SpireMedia

SPIREMEDIA IS A NEW-AGE TECHNOLOGY FIRM that stuck to old-economy values to become one of Colorado's successes of the Internet age.

Michael Gellman launched SpireMedia in 1998 with a couple computers, a fax machine and one big client that was also in its infancy--eBags. What stands out about SpireMedia is that the company never sought outside financing even in the late '90s when venture capital flowed like Monopoly money, the race for market share superceded the quest for profits, and any business plan looked good to investors as long as the startup's name ended with "dot-com."

While hundreds of high-flying companies from the Internet's boom years have been grounded, SpireMedia has emerged as Colorado's largest Web development/design agency a status Gellman says the company might never have achieved if it hadn't been allowed to grow at its own pace and without the interference of outside investors.

"We always had to make more money than we spent," says Gellman. "It was a built-in incentive to be profitable. We started growing based on word of mouth and the quality of our work, but never glew too quickly. Big competitors went under, and we were able to take on their big clients, which allowed us to grow into what we are today."

Last year the company generated revenues of $2.4 million while keeping the same number of employees--25--that it has had for several years. It projects revenues of $3 million this year.

The job that put SpireMedia on the map five years ago was building the first Web site for eBags, the Greenwood Village based online seller of luggage, backpacks, handbags and business cases. What Gellman's company lacked in experience and past clients, he made up with salesmanship.

"From what I'm aware, Mike is an incredible salesman," says Chris Seahorn, eBags' director of business development. "He pretty much just said, 'Let me show you how I can do this, and I will do this.' He was so excited and had so much energy that I pretty much just think he sold all of our founders on the idea. And he did an awesome job." It's easy to see the ebullient Gellman as a salesman. Though he's the founder and CEO of a tech firm, he is no tech herd. tie majored in English at the University of Florida; he published a novel...