HISTORY OF BONSAI

• 2008
  
  Jason LaBaw launched Bonsai Media Group with a couple of other gritty entrepreneurs, co-founders Gus Zadra and Elliott Omlin. We specialized in web design at a time when, hey, let’s face it, there wasn’t a lot of great web design going on. But our real secret weapon… the sites were search engine optimized right outta the box!

• 2009

  We closed our laptops, threw the dogs in the back of the Subaru and high-tailed it to Bonsai’s new office space in Interbay, Seattle. The new digs didn’t have much of a view, but it did have a lotta room for our growing staff. And for the dogs to wrestle.

• 2011
  
  This was a big year. Why, you ask? Well, Bonsai built its first website utilizing the Umbraco. And if you don’t know what Umbraco is… well, that’s cool. In short, it’s just the most amazing content management platform out there. Honestly, we can go on and on and on about Umbraco. But hey, our work speaks for itself.

• 2013
  
  Bonsai moved to Belltown, Seattle. Because it had a dope view of Elliot Bay and our own private elevator. The penthouse, baby! Plus the dogs had demanded even more room. If you haven’t figured it out yet… we’re big on dogs, and totally down with iconic views of Seattle.

• 2016
  
  This is where Bonsai made a big turn. We expanded our services to offer a full suite of digital marketing solutions. So, not just awesome websites. We became a full-service Seattle marketing agency. We hired hordes of data geeks and strategists to trick out SEO, Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram advertising. A deep bench of creative professionals, too. So if you were a pixel in 2016, we were working you harder than Cambridge Analytica’s legal team.

• 2019
  
  Now the master of all things digital, Bonsai made one last move to our current address on the shores of Lake Union -- possibly the trendiest part of downtown Seattle. But please, don’t hold that against us. The place is sick. Dog-friendly. Smack dab in the middle of a high tech hub. And we’re weak for rip-snorting, high capacity internet speeds. But did we mention the view? Ah, the view.

• 2021

  Amidst a pandemic, we turned lemons into lemonade – or, more accurately, a virtual product tour and 3D configurator so buyers can buy in this "new normal". Leveraging our AR expertise, we created a technology allowing buyers to customize boats to scale, from their coffee tables to their docks. Winning awards felt pretty sweet. 

• 2023

  Bonsai made huge strides in our core products: Enterprise CMS, A.I., and 3D/AR/VR. We overhauled our custom CMS with lightning-fast React/NextJS SPAs, resulting in highly-custom, multi-lingual websites that load in under 500 milliseconds - yeah, we're that good. We launched our first generative AI product, SocialBee.AI, and enhanced our award-winning 3D product configurator by allowing buyers to learn about features, advantages, and benefits while configuring online.

• 2024 & BEYOND

  Bonsai's year of focus. We're honing in on our products (Enterprise CMS websites, 3D/AR/VR, and AI) and tailoring offerings for OEMs of high-ticket, highly configurable products. Stay tuned for our revamped demand and lead generation offering—more updates coming your way. Keep checking in.