We consider ourselves to be the marketing automation platform that’s just right — and we love our well-deserved reputation! Do you know what else we love?

A kickass origin story! And we bet you do too 😉

So today we’re doing something we’ve never done before:

We’re sharing the miraculous creation and history of Net-Results! How did we get here? Who originally kicked off the idea for Net-Results? How did all of this come to be?

We’re getting personal this week and sharing our story — in fun, Net-Results fashion, of course!

The Beginning:

Back in 2000, Michael Ward, our fab leader, founder, and CEO, was an IT guy for an industrial B2B company.

After some time, Mike realized he ultimately didn’t want to work for anyone — he wanted to go off on his own and make big things happen!

At the time, this company was running on spreadsheets and Mike knew if he saw one more spreadsheet land on his desk, he’d lose his ever-loving mind. 

Thankfully, a lightbulb went off — metaphorically speaking.

Mike realized they could use a new up-and-coming technological invention to replace their old, worn-out spreadsheets: apps!

Cool — what next?

So young Michael ventured off into the unknown and taught himself how to build DBs and web interfaces. And wouldn’t you know it — he was a natural-born builder!

Unfortunately, around this time, the company Mike worked for went under.

Known for his fantastic ability to pivot, Mike became an IT consultant and started building and hosting websites and creating custom applications for customers.

But this dream to create his own company persisted and he realized he still wasn’t happy at his new place of work.

Fittingly, around this same time, another lightbulb went off for young Mike — he realized he could charge a recurring fee to run Google Ads, build SEO, host sites, AND drive traffic.

And thus Net-Results was officially BORN!

And things went off without a hitch! Execs from old companies started contracting him out and the rest was history! Until…

What happened?! Give us the tea!

Mike started looking at log files and noticed that he could see if somebody had searched for a specific thing on Google. With this revelation, his brain began to race and the possibility of something new and exciting came to the forefront of his mind:

“If we can see who searched, can we tell who that was on a company level? Can we figure out how to tell which company searched, how many pages they viewed (and for how long!), and which search terms they used?”

The answer to all these questions? YES. And Mike figured out how to do it all. 

With this brand new software, 350 companies started paying a monthly fee at recurring costs. Job well done, right?

PLOT TWIST!

But in 2012/2013, Mike started to realize that he could do a lot more with the information his software collected so he decided to build and add more features: email alerts, segment builders, lead scoring, and more.

In 2014, a customer asked, “Can you combine my web tracking with emails sent?”

Of course, Mike said, “Hell yeah!” and Net-Results built email marketing into their platform.

And this is where the magic happens…

Soon after, Mike was chatting with a friend at a bar (or was it that one time at mini-golf?) and upon hearing about Mike’s company, the friend replied:

“Oh, so you’re like Marketo?”

It was right then and there that Mike realized he’d created a full-fledged marketing automation platform without even realizing it. 

Looking back on it all, you could say Mike made this platform, and Net-Results, by accident. In that case, Bob Ross, the great American painter, couldn’t have been more right.

Net-Results is, after all, “a happy little accident.”

And what’s better than making your lifelong dream come true and improving the lives of thousands…just by being yourself and doing what’s important to you?


It wasn’t always easy, but we sure are happy to be here! And even better…we’re happy you’re here!

P.S. Think you’ll get this level of transparency from the other guys? Likely not! That’s the sort of honesty you get when working with the best marketing automation platform in town!

Lexie Robbins

Content Strategist @ Net-Results

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Alexis Robbins

a seasoned copywriter, digital marketer, and social media connoisseur. Enjoys: anti-jokes, David Bowie, and mismatched socks.