“…SoCal has a bustling internet entrepreneur community and I wanted to plug into it on a weekly/monthly basis as opposed to something I could just visit once or twice a year.”

Brandon Laughridge is a social media marketing expert and President of Branded Interactive.  He has directed the marketing efforts of 2 Inc 500 winning companies and contributed to 2 successful exits.

MO:
How did you get into online marketing?

Brandon:
I got into online marketing in high school after seeing some scammy thing like “The Rich Jerk” on eBay and buying it.  Obviously, it was a piece of junk but it was enough to pique my interest and I dug into online marketing deeper.  I ended up finding a small online custom wedding dress company that was for sale and I convinced the owner to let me “take it off her hands” for a share of the profits (no money down :)).  That was OK for 6 months or so but she decided to keep the business and gave me the boot once my marketing started generating a nice return.  I was under 18 and didn’t have a contract with her so there wasn’t much action I could take.

The next year when I headed to college I ended up getting a job doing link building for my current partner, Nathaniel Broughton.  Over the years I’ve worked for three or four companies that Nathaniel and Brant Bukowsky (my other mentor/partner) founded and we created Growth Partner as a vehicle to start businesses together.

MO:
Have you always wanted to be an entrepreneur?

Brandon:
Without a doubt.  I’m a really impatient person on most fronts and I hate the idea of putting in my dues for 20 years before having a cool career.  For a few years I thought of being a filmmaker but I was interested in the entrepreneurial side of it (producing movies…not writing them).

MO:
Why did you decide to move to San Diego?

Brandon:
I moved to San Diego because I’ve lived in the Midwest for my whole life and I didn’t want to look back someday down the road with kids, a big mortgage, and all that jazz that roots you somewhere and regret not trying something new.  On a professional level, SoCal has a bustling internet entrepreneur community and I wanted to plug into it on a weekly/monthly basis as opposed to something I could just visit once or twice a year.

MO: What is Branded Interactive and how does it fit into Growth Partner Captial?

Brandon:
Branded Interactive is a full service internet marketing agency we founded in 2011.  We’ve don’t bits of consulting along the way in the past 5+ years, but with the creation of Branded Interactive we have a “real” business offering enterprise level online marketing consulting.  Our growth prospects are looking great and I think that we will be a multimillion dollar business pretty quickly.

MO:
For newbies out there, what tip can you offer for a good conference to attend in the space?

Brandon:
Business gets done over beers in my experience (Scotch if you ask some of my partners…gross).  Depending on your situation, I’d say just crash the parties at a conference that looks cool or perhaps buy a “meet market” ticket to cruise the exhibitor floor.  Don’t go to sessions…95% chance they’ll stink.  Some of my favorite events have been Elite Retreat and Big Omaha (don’t hate on it just because it’s not in the sexiest location ever).

MO:
Where will you be in 10 years?  Retired?

Brandon:
Hopefully I will have sold a few companies and be able to spend some of my time angel investing and investing in real estate.  I’ll still be starting and growing companies.  I’ll be living in San Diego or Kansas City and probably have some kiddos, puppies, and a yard.  I won’t own a minivan.