SQUIRREL HILL -- GreenMarketplace.com Inc. has tried to distinguish itself on the Web by selling environmentally conscious products.
The online retailer has set itself apart in other ways, too.
While dot-coms struggle to keep their home pages open, avoid layoffs and attract sufficient investment to stay afloat, GreenMarketplace.com has been able to garner new funding, has moved into larger offices to accommodate growth, acquired a competitor and grown its business by making an investment in a similar venture.
CEO Josh Knauer said his success to this point comes from staying lean and keeping a tight grip on the firm, founded in mid-1998. He retains more than 75 percent ownership in the firm.
He let a little piece of the pie go this month when he took on another angel investor: Sandra Bernardi of Palo Alto, Calif., who is in charge of product launches for Mountain View, Calif.-based WebTV Networks Inc. and was a founder of Infoseek.
Mr. Knauer said he met Ms. Bernardi through a mutual friend. Though he wouldn't disclose the amount of the investment, he said she is a minority shareholder.
"We've been very lucky in that we've always found angel investors who were willing to buy into our vision when our vision wasn't a popular one -- steady long-term growth for the company," he said. "We're not interested in going public. This is not quick turnaround stuff."
Ms. Bernardi could not be reached for comment.
The funding will assist with growth for the firm, which is up to 10 employees now, with four hired in the past 12 months.
That growth prompted a move into a new 1,800-square-foot office at the corner of Forbes and Beacon in Squirrel Hill. The company had been located in an 800-square-foot space elsewhere in Squirrel Hill.
Mr. Knauer predicts considerable growth over the next few years.
"As daunting as starting up and bootstrapping over the past two and a half years and surviving the dot-com crash, it's even scarier to get through this next phase," he said. "It seems like a very big challenge managing growth."
In December, GreenMarketplace purchased Los Angeles-based EthicalShopper.com.
Mr. Knauer also recently purchased 5 percent of Manaca, a Washington, D.C.-based travel company and launched the service through the GreenMarketplace Web site.
"We hope to do for travel what we've done for products," Mr. Knauer said."We want to set high standards for the travel industry and offer true eco-travel and eco-tourism."
As for other acquisitions, Mr. Knauer said he eliminated his direct competition with the EthicalShopper purchase, but there are two much larger rivals, Gaiam.com and Whole Foods, which are not in his sights because of their size.
While Mr. Knauer declined to reveal current revenue, he said he's hoping to reach $3 million in sales this year, as more customers find his site.
"We see a core audience of 10 million Americans who are concerned about issues and willing to express their values with their pocketbooks," he said.
But he's not interested in growth for growth's sake.
"While we make sure we maintain profitability and the bottom line, we also have to maintain social values," he said. "The fiscal, social and environmental responsibilities are completely interlocked with each other."
The site, which sells products like organic cotton sweaters, recycled wine bottle bird feeders and biodegradable laundry products, is rooted in Mr. Knauer's personal interest in the environment.
As a Carnegie Mellon University freshman he started Envirolink in 1991, a nonprofit clearinghouse for environmental information, resources and issues. It started as an e-mail service and blossomed into a Web site in the early 1990s.
When he began hearing from Envirolink users that they were seeking a place to make environmentally friendly purchases, he started GreenMarketplace.
"We couldn't find sources, so we decided to do it ourselves," he said.