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📅 September 2003 – Incorporated
🏡 February 2004 – Closed first residential transaction
🏢 June 2004 – Moved from basement to first office in West Chicago (1,000 SF)
🏠 August 2005 – Took on first two Property Management clients
🏭 September 2005 – Closed first industrial sale
🚗 January 2006 – Original Founder, John Chiariello, tragically killed in a car accident
🤝 July 2006 – Mark & Bryan took over 100% ownership
🚜 September 2006 – Bought first plow-truck (Green Monster) to make money in the off-season plowing/salting
🏗 January 2007 – Closed on office condo shell and completed build-out in 60 days
📍 March 2007 – Moved to new Bartlett office (2,369 SF)
📉 June 2008 – Realized the economy was about to collapse
🏢 October 2008 – Completed sale-leaseback with Bartlett office
🔨 February 2009 – Started doing property preservation for banks to keep money coming in
🏚 May 2009 – Started buying and rehabbing properties in Chicago
💰 December 2010 – Broke $1MM in gross revenue
📍 June 2011 – Opened first of several Chicago office locations (Bronzeville)
🌍 February 2012 – Hired first remote worker from the Philippines
📍 January 2013 – Opened new office in Lisle
🚪 February 2014 – Closed office in Lisle
🎙 May 2014 – GC made first podcast appearance on Bigger Pockets Podcast w/ Brandon Turner
👥 April 2015 – Hired first remote team member from Mexico (who didn’t speak Spanish!)
🤝 July 2016 – Third partner Cliff joined the team
📺 April 2017 – Our episode on CNBC's reality TV show The Deed aired
🎓 May 2017 – Launched rehab online course
📍 August 2017 – Closed last Chicago location and moved all operations to Bartlett
🚧 January 2018 – Ended Chicago rehabs (482 completed) to focus on Property Management
🏆 March 2018 – First of four consecutive years on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies
🏢 December 2018 – Purchased Roselle office and started $400K rehab
📦 July 2019 – Moved into new office (6,500 SF)
🏢 September 2020 – Exceeded 1,000 doors under management
🎙 May 2020 – First episodes of Straight Up Chicago Investor launched
🚀 September 2021 – Surpassed 60 team members (not including brokers)
🏢 July 2021 – Expanded Roselle space to 9,500 SF after vacating tenants
🎉 September 2023 – Celebrated 20 years in business!
🎙 May 2025 – Celebrated 5-Year Anniversary of Straight Up Chicago Investor Podcast