Rise Interactive

Jon Morris started Rise Interactive in 2004 while getting his MBA at the University of Chicago. His plan was to teach traditional marketers how to manage their Internet campaigns, but so many of them asked him to manage them himself, Morris pivoted and shifted his focus to search engine marketing for small businesses. Now Rise is a full-service digital marketing agency for Fortune 1000 companies throughout the U.S. The company receives regular accolades from local and national press for being such a cool place to work, and with 160 employees, it plans to more than double its staff in the next two years.