For a while, Youtech has been on a tear, landing on Inc.’s fastest Fastest-Growing Private Companies list for four consecutive years. Now, the company is growing physically with a presence in North Texas.
With plans to take on the Texas market, the digital marketing agency announced opening its third office DFW with a space near Plano’s Legacy West development, adding to its offices in the Chicago and Phoenix areas.
“We want to expand our national footprint. We have clients across the country and international clients, as well, and we do a lot of those clients remotely. But for smaller businesses, they like to be able to come in and work with a team ad have face-to-face interactions,” said Wilbur You, Youtech’s founder and CEO. “That’s really what it’s all about. It’s really being able to attract new talent in new areas, but also to be able to pop into our client’s office or for them to come into ours and work on a project.
Like many other companies planting roots here, he said the company was drawn to the region’s growing density of businesses. He added that the DFW market also provides a wealth of talent and that several of Youtech’s current clients already have business in the area.
Nationally, Youtech has worked with some big-name clients, like MillerCoors, 3M and Chick-fil-a. Locally, it has been working with places like Texadelphia, Fireside Pies and Dry Force.
“We did a competitive landscape survey. As far as our services and what we do, we feel… we would have a steep up above other competitors just because of our size and our capabilities,” You said. “Overall, we just love the growing culture of Dallas, and we feel as though there’s a lot of opportunities there.”
Officially opened in mid-March, Youtech’s 1,000 square-foot office already has five employees, including specialists, sales reps and strategists, to help attract more business. As it does, the company is hoping to get to a headcount of around 50, similar to its two other offices, over the next three years. To accommodate, he said the company would likely be scooping up more space locally shortly. Youtech currently has about 75 employees.
“Our business is really run on word-of-mouth and referrals, and we’ve already started to see great progress from that and were going to invest heavily into the community,” You said.
When You founded the college in 2012, he launched with $600 of his own money. Bootstrapped since then, he said the company has seen steady growth that has been accelerated by the pandemic, as many businesses look to digital tools and e-commerce to reach more customers. That uptick in business translated to Youtech doubling its revenue to $7 million last year. And this year, he said the company is projecting to hit between around $11 million and $12 million this year.
“During the pandemic, people started realizing that they wanted to control their own sales channels, You said. “I think more and more (business) is going to be digital and in the online space. You’ve seen across all kinds of different industries… most of the attention most, of the place where people are drawing content, is from their phones and their computers. It’s going to continue to trend that way.”
While You attributes part of the company’s growth to the pandemic, he also credits the way Youtech operates. He said the key is transparency and flexibility. Youtech does all of its work in-house, which helps to keep costs lower. It also doesn’t sign long-term contracts with clients, rather working on a month-to-month basis to prove its impact and ROI.
In the near term, he said the focus would be on growing out its Dallas hub. Looking ahead, he sees further expansion for Youtech, hinting at a fourth East Coast location over the next five years.
“We don’t have any debt, so, for us, everything that we do is based off of profit that we have,” You said. “I’ve been doubling down on profit for Youtech for years, and I’m going to continue to do so, just because I believe that we can continue to grow and grab market share.”
