June 29, 2021
Contact: Claire Martin
(816) 381-2600 | claire.martin@cruxkc.com
‘Un-agency’ taps key investor following KC Chamber Top 10, Women Who Mean Business wins
Kansas City, Mo. — Former mobank CEO Grant Burcham has made an investment in local marketing firm Crux KC, a development which follows the company doubling its square footage in January and growing its headcount 118% since June 2020.
The investment comes at the midpoint of an explosive year of success for Crux KC (Crux). Most recently, those wins include being named a KC Chamber Top 10 Small Business and the addition of Melea McRae, Crux’s founder and CEO, to Kansas City Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business 2021 class. McRae also won the Enterprising Women of the Year Award in May.
“Coming off these recent accomplishments, I couldn’t be more thrilled about Crux’s new partnership with Grant,” McRae said. “I’ve long valued Grant’s business acumen and insight as a leader, which makes it all the more meaningful that he’s invested in the future growth of Crux.”
Crux’s rapid growth trajectory, as well as Burcham’s belief in the importance of marketing, were both factors that compelled him to invest. Following another recent investment in the IT solutions company CyTek, Burcham plans to focus exclusively on helping these two local businesses grow for the foreseeable future.
“Crux has a dynamic leader, a differentiated business model and a talented team; that’s the triple threat of success,” Burcham said. “The brand differentiation at mobank prompted me to take a great interest in understanding the power of good marketing. The minute Melea and I started working together, I could see the energy, passion and success of the company — validated by the numbers — and I immediately saw the value in investing.”
Burcham’s investment enables the company to continue its growth trajectory, which has already hit a 50% revenue increase for the first half of 2021. With the investment, Crux’s top priorities are to hire new team members, offer additional employee perks and expand to a larger office space, all necessities to accommodate its growth strategy.
The company has already added 12 employees to its roster since January in anticipation of 60% revenue growth by the end of 2021. After upgrading to a 2,500-square-foot office earlier this year, Crux recently re-leased a separate space in the same building to accommodate its rapidly expanding team. The company is currently on the hunt for its new permanent home in the downtown Kansas City area.
Crux combines executive-level marketing and business strategy to provide a simple, smart and affordable outsourced marketing solution. Despite the pandemic, the company increased its topline revenue by 40% in 2020. The company’s culture remained as strong as its business development efforts in 2020 securing new local clients, including Hoefer Welker, Morgan Hunter, Pipeline Entrepreneurs, the City of Mission, Kansas, CrossFirst Bank and SourceLink®, as well as several in the Dallas market.
Wanting to give back to the community in a meaningful way, Crux also launched its pro-bono marketing services program last year, devoting $30,000 of marketing services gratis to one worthy nonprofit annually. The 2020 recipient was People of All Colors Succeed (POAC), a courageous conversation starter working to build diverse communities grounded in understanding, acceptance and inclusion, and a future free from bullying. This year’s recipient is KC Shepherd’s Center (KCSC), a unique, peer-led platform of services aimed at helping senior Kansas Citians stay active, involved and independent.
“We’re approaching our five-year anniversary in July, fueled by the recent successes and all the momentum,” McRae said. “Because of this partnership, we can move forward sooner than expected with several strategic investments that we planned to make in 2022, thereby better serving our clients. We’re just getting started.”
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About Crux KC
Founded in 2016, Crux KC is Kansas City’s “un-agency,” combining executive-level marketing and business strategy to provide a simple, smart and affordable marketing solution for our clients. Because when you’re a business leader looking for growth, you’d rather just get to the point. Crux is your in-house marketing department—outsourced. Everything you need, nothing you don’t. Learn more at cruxkc.com.
