The Kansas City Business Journal recently named the fastest-growing companies in Kansas City, and Crema is delighted and humbled to have made the cut. Sharing the list with big hitters such as MMGY Global, Native Digital, Rx Savings Solutions, and WellSky, our team is taking a moment to step back and reflect on the last decade’s growth.
Over the last 10 years, Crema went from a couple of young professionals passionate about UX and operations to a team of almost 40 full-time employees building web and mobile apps for disruptive companies and industry leaders. George Brooks (CEO and Co-Founder) and Daniel Linhart (COO and Co-Founder) set out to create a company they both wanted to work for.
Crema’s growth has been fueled by saying “yes” to new opportunities – finding different ways to help clients achieve their product development and design goals. As more potential clients knocked on their door, Brooks and Linhart slowly began hiring craft team experts across a wide variety of skillsets, including product management, product strategy, web development, mobile development, product design, test engineering, sales, marketing, and operations. These disciplines collaborate closely with clients to realize their digital product dreams and come together internally to support the needs of the agency.
As one client put it, “With their breadth of skill sets, talents and great diversity, Crema was able to significantly impact our company's development throughput, with great ease! It is such a pleasure coming to work every day knowing that Crema is highly reliable, transparent, and simply a great group of folks to work with.” Over time, Crema’s had the immense pleasure to work with and retain a high percentage of clients year over year.
The measured, intentional growth since 2009 is also due to a commitment to our values, which have paved the way for an incredible culture of humble confidence to emerge. These values are closely knit into the fabric of the agency. They’re frequently used as a framework to measure performance, client and employee satisfaction, and hiring. Specifically, they take the form of:
- Results-based: We desire to build product experiences that move people, solve problems for our clients, and ultimately create measurable value for the customers they serve.
- Collaboration: We believe that a truly great product experience is only as good as the team that creates it. We become an extension of your team, and you become an extension of ours.
- Generosity: We desire to be generous with our time, talents, and efforts to get the right things done for the good of others.
- Trust: Our team works to earn the trust of our clients and vendors. We don’t take it lightly. At the end of the day, we want to lead our clients to the best possible outcome for their business.
- Constant Improvement: We constantly work to improve ourselves, our product experiences, and our company.
When asked what the KCBJ Fast 50 Award meant, Brooks responded, “While it’s crazy to think that we are still growing after a decade in business, there is this sense that we are at the tipping point of something even greater! The next amazing season in Crema’s story is just ahead of us.”
As Crema continues to grow and take on exciting new challenges, we’re looking for passionate, talented product experts to join our team. Check out our careers page to see current openings, and tune in to our YouTube channel for a look inside the agency.
Cheers to the next 10 years!
