J415 Business Story: Absorbent Ink.

When Billy Pilgrim dreamt up his printing business he didn't expect it grow as rapidly as it has in the past few years. From just two young men designing promotional products for bands in a small studio on Massachusetts street, Billy and his friend Lee Eldridge combined their skills and intelligence to create what they now call Absorbent Inc.
"See that key ring?" Eldridge questioned, pointing to the small rubber Jayhawk. "That's just one thing we print for companies."
Selling products from a Website in the late 1990s, Pilgrim and Eldridge were producing about 100 promotional items such as custom printed pens and coffee mugs. The two of them both swore that they wouldn't hire more than eight people when they were running their small business just above Francis Sporting Goods on Massachusetts Street, but Eldridge said working through the Web has been an extreme advantage for the growth of their business.

"Most people don't know where to go to buy promotional products and corporate gifts so we created a Web presence that people could find online," Eldridge said.
When Eldridge and Pilgrim began to add more products to their Website, they found that they received more sales as well. Now, they have access to a million products, and 150 suppliers. They also print for businesses all over the U.S. including Budweiser and Coca-Cola.
Because of this major growth, business was up 40 percent this year, and the magazine Inc. 500 named Absorbent Ink. one of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S. in August 2007.
As the sales started to increase throughout the 1990s, Pilgrim and Eldridge found that space was an essential element for their business to grow. The studio apartment they were working in was not an adequate place for Absorbent Ink. to develop.
Moving to 1310 Wakarusa Dr. in 2000 supplied Absorbent Ink. with 4,400 square feet of workspace, but office cubicles, along with the number of employees, have been multiplying within the past year, filling up the previously available space.
Eldridge says for every employee lost, he hires two more.

"In the past year and a half we've gone from 27 employees to 50," Pilgrim said. "I'm sure if we hire more we could take up the extra corners of this place."
The lack of space will not put Absorbent Ink.'s progress on hold. Pilgrim said he wouldn't restrict anything and would extend work hours if needed. Eldridge plans to hire no more than 80 employees because he wants to keep the working community of Absorbent Ink. close knit and affable.
"We're starting to run out of desks here," said Christy Douglass who works in the advertising department. "But we all know each other on personal levels, so the space we work in doesn't seem too bad."
Ten thousand square feet is the amount of space Eldridge would like to see Absorbent Ink. occupy after their lease ends at its current location. Chris Dickinson, a senior at KU who helps design Absorbent Ink.'s Website, said he would gladly move with the company to its new local.
"I've quadrupled my knowledge of computer science working here," Dickinson said. "I could probably quit school and be relatively happy here...well, very happy."
Although Absorbent Ink. prints for companies all over the U.S. and continues to grow, Pilgrim does not foresee his company moving away from Lawrence.
"We won't stifle our growth," Pilgrim said. "But our community has been good to us, and we will keep being good to them."