Blue Box Group helps accelerate Web company growth

What: Blue Box Group, Seattle

Who: Jesse Proudman, 24, CEO

Mission: Help clients build systems to accommodate rapid growth in e-commerce businesses.

Host with the most: The tools the company has developed are designed to help handle growth in a small company that is suddenly successful. "A lot of hosting companies will just set up server space and tell the client they are on their own," Proudman said. "We want to be their partner."

One chance: If a business generates attention and its site doesn't work, visitors may not return. "You have one shot to get their attention or they won't come back unless they have a special need," Proudman said.

Employees: 11

Financials: The private company says it is profitable. It claims 500 customers, sustaining, it says, 80 to 100 percent growth in each of the last three years.

Young man blues: Proudman, who has been working with computers since he was 13, says sometimes potential customers are skeptical because of his young age. This has become less of an obstacle as most of business relationships begin online. "The beauty of the Internet is that it is anonymous," he said. "Since I don't meet a lot of my customers face to face, it doesn't become an issue. They already know my experience level so they can't make a snap judgment about age."

Movin' on: Proudman was born in Seattle and schooled in Tacoma. He started the company in Tacoma in better economic times, when landlords to the south were making more aggressive rent deals. This has now flipped and the company has moved to Seattle. "Tacoma was a good place to start based on cost," Proudman said. "But in Seattle, we can take advantage of the talent pool, access to employees and vendors."

— Charles Bermant