As Boulder has become a vibrant tech hub, the world’s largest tech companies have opened outposts here, and so are smaller companies.
MojoTech, a custom web and mobile app software development and design firm, expanded to Boulder from Providence, Rhode Island, in 2015.
Having built a strong reputation in Rhode Island, Mojo had become a medium fish in a relatively small pond. A second market made sense, but Mojo did not jump to Boulder until it tried to woo a talented designer to Rhode Island and failed. Boulder’s allure drew the hire, and Mojo decided to open its second office here.
“At that time, the tech scene perception was that it was Silicon Valley and ‘everywhere else,'” says Bing Chou, who leads Mojo’s Boulder operations. “Colorado represented that ‘everywhere else.'”
The 12-year-old company currently has 13 people at its Boulder office, roughly a quarter of its total headcount. Its new office, located at 1711 15th Street can accommodate twice that amount.
Boulder network
One early-stage Boulder startup, TapKat, which helps nonprofits with the often legally tricky task of running online sweepstakes fundraisers, came to MojoTech to create its online platform. Through the platform Mojo designed, TapKat helps nonprofits run fundraisers with minimal effort and people donate to a cause while potentially winning a prize.
In addition to Boulder’s TapKat, SendGrid, and multi-national personal finance company Credit Karma, Mojo has also built software for Denver-based daydream apartments, a high-end apartment building whose founders specialize in buying and investing in properties. As many of daydream’s permanent residents frequently travel for work, daydream had the idea to bake short-term rentals into its residency model.
MojoTech designed an app that allows users to flag the days they’re out of town and let daydream know to find bookings for those days.
Daydream links those to Airbnb and handles all inquiries , including any questions temporary residents have from logistics to toiletry essentials. With the booking calendar platform Mojo built, daydream has made it super easy and accessible for its long-term residents to offset their rent.
How they mojo
“Companies [like daydream] may know how to run investments and are experts at the brick and mortar aspect, but they’re not experts in software,” says Bing. “That’s why they come to Mojo. They have some sketches, an idea of the sales process, and then Mojo wraps its brain around what the software needs to accommodate.”
Looking at the designs, Mojo determines what the company needs and builds a custom design team. This team could include a product manager half-time, a designer full-time, and two full-time engineers. Based on the necessary team, they discuss what that looks like from a cost standpoint and make a project plan and recommendations.
Header Image: MojoTech’s Boulder team at Eldora for team ski day. They have a team event each month, including at least one volunteer day. Image: MojoTech.
