While sky-high Colorado does have lower air pressure than the rest of the country, the tech companies here do not exist in a cultural vacuum. Coloradans carry their optimistic and community-minded spirits to work with them, infusing the state’s burgeoning tech industry with pride and concern for the cities and landscapes they call home. We spoke to leaders at five Colorado tech companies to learn why a sense of place is important to them, and what they do to support their local communities.
Healthgrades helps users connect with healthcare providers, and offers analytics applications and other tech-driven solutions for more than 1,500 hospitals. Headquartered in the heart of downtown Denver, the company started out as a hospital ratings site, and now helps more than 30 million users find and schedule appointments each month.
Executive Vice President of Human Resources and Chief People Officer Kate Hyatt currently chairs the Colorado Technology Recruiting Coalition, and described the many ways in which Healthgrades supports its community.
Tell us about why you love being part of the Colorado tech community. Why did you choose to grow your company here?
Healthgrades got its start about 20 years ago in Golden, Colorado. As Healthgrades has grown to acquire companies around the country, we chose to stay headquartered in Denver in order to find the best tech talent possible to build our engineering teams. Denver has a unique combination of traits — it’s a growing tech hub and offers a quality of life that our employees love. It truly is the best of both worlds, which helps Healthgrades to attract top talent for all of our teams.
As a company, we have a special focus on supporting education-based efforts.”
How does your team give back to the local community and support fellow tech professionals in your area?
Healthgrades takes great pride in supporting the Denver — and Colorado — community. All Healthgrades employees have an annual paid volunteer day that we encourage them to use. As a company, we have a special focus on supporting education-based efforts. Healthgrades has partnered with Godsman Elementary school to host school supply drives and employees have participated in in-school volunteer opportunities, like serving Thanksgiving dinner. Healthgrades’ talent acquisition team has also partnered with the Turing School of Software and Design to provide students with job shadowing opportunities, as well as interview preparation and resume reviews.
Zoom’s video communications, conferencing, collaboration, chat and webinar platform is a staple in mobile devices, desktops, telephones and meeting rooms at enterprises all over the world. Universities, tech companies, airlines, hospitals and media companies are just some of the clients currently using the software to communicate with peers in far-flung places.
Sales Manager Walter Pape highlighted his company’s involvement with a local nonprofit dedicated to eradicating child hunger in their community.
Tell us a bit about why you love being part of the Colorado tech community. Why did you choose to grow your company here?
The Colorado tech community is vibrant and growing, and people here are open to learning from each other and having fun along the way. A great example of this is the Denver Startup Games, where tech companies in the area compete on behalf of local charities. Winners get to donate to a nonprofit of their choice. We chose Food For Thought Denver, which strives to eliminate weekend hunger for children in the Denver area. We had a great time, and I felt honored to walk into their headquarters with some hardware and a donation.
We care for our community by empowering employees to go out and do good in them.”
How does your team give back to the local community and support fellow tech professionals in your area?
We care for our community by empowering employees to go out and do good in them, whether it’s organizing the companywide breast cancer awareness fundraiser or organizing employees across the company to go volunteering on a Friday morning. We also engage in professional development events like Built In Brews to collaborate with fellow tech professionals on what is and isn’t working in our profession.
Digital agency Booyah Advertising manages paid search, display media and other creative services for the likes of Discover Card, Backcountry and the National Wildlife Federation. Headquartered in Denver’s artsy RiNo district, the company has been adapting to seismic shifts in the advertising industry since its founding in 2001.
Account Director John Holland said Denver’s growth has helped the business make huge strides in recent years.
Tell us a bit about why you love being part of the Colorado tech community. Why did you choose to grow your company (or office) here?
Colorado, and Denver specifically, are experiencing an influx of growth and energy rarely seen anywhere else in the country. New people are bringing new ideas to the area every day. As a digital ad agency, we benefit in two ways. First, we get the opportunity to help new companies grow and find success in our hometown. And second, we get to take advantage of the expanding talent pool. Smart, energetic people are coming to Denver, and whether we’re hiring them or they’re hiring us, we’re achieving goals that we once thought outrageous.
Each year we hold a summit where we invite top talent to share their knowledge with current clients, prospects and friends of the agency.”
How does your team support fellow tech professionals in your area?
Each year we hold a summit where we invite top talent to share their knowledge with current clients, prospects and friends of the agency. This event has been growing every year, and we plan to continue expanding. Aside from this, we’re active in as many of the relevant local events in the tech and advertising industry as possible. We encourage all employees to attend any events that interest them, and have our best and brightest host their own sessions on different innovations in the digital ad world. We also have several local charities that we believe in on our client roster, and we’re active in their events, drives and fundraisers in addition to helping them with advertising.
Headquartered in Denver, Screen Pilot creates customized marketing solutions for travel and hospitality businesses all over the world. The team specializes in driving direct bookings, bypassing online travel agencies, and has extensive experience working with luxury resorts, boutique hotels and more.
Director of Content Marketing Rachel Anderson said the Colorado capital’s laidback lifestyle is perfect for the kind of culture Screen Pilot wants to foster.
Tell us a bit about why you love being part of the Colorado tech community. Why did you choose to grow your company here?
It’s still an exciting time to be a part of the growing agency and tech community in Colorado. Fourteen years ago this burgeoning tech scene was exactly what owners Tom and Rebecca Dibble were looking for when they moved Screen Pilot HQ to Denver.
Ample public transportation options, unique local businesses, a centralized hub for travel in Denver International Airport, a growing culinary and craft beverage scene and, of course, endless outdoor recreation options all attract the type of talent and “work-life balance” lifestyle the two want to foster.
Every Screen Pilot employee ... has volunteering paid time off as part of their benefits package.”
How does your team give back to the local community?
Each year, Screen Pilot volunteers within the community in many different ways. Together we have planted trees, provided backpacks and school supplies for Colorado children, built homes with Habitat for Humanity, spent time at animal shelters with animals in need and much more. Every Screen Pilot employee also has volunteering paid time off as part of their benefits package.
Through its enterprise agility framework, Scaled Agile helps businesses around the world improve their software development processes, boost employee engagement and create better business outcomes. Co-founder Dean Leffingwell literally wrote the book on how to apply Lean and Agile principles to various levels of a business.
Vice President of People Kristen Aldretti highlighted the company’s paid volunteer days and participation in the vaunted “Pledge 1%” campaign.
Tell us a bit about why you love being part of the Colorado tech community. Why did you choose to grow your company here?
Our founder Dean Leffingwell has launched several successful companies here, so it was natural that Scaled Agile would headquarter in Boulder. We really appreciate the amazing talent pool of professionals who reside in the greater Denver area. And because we’re lucky enough to have a big meeting room with a wall of windows overlooking the Flatirons, we’re getting to know the Colorado tech community through hosting Agile Meetups, user groups and executive forums.
Our charities include a wide range of organizations serving children, urban agriculture and disadvantaged populations.”
How does your team give back to the local community?
Scaled Agile Inc. is committed to supporting our local community through a robust volunteer time-off program, which provides all employees with the opportunity to devote two fully paid days per year to volunteer at organizations of their own choosing, along with both team-led and all-company initiatives. Our employees aren’t shy about saying that this is an important factor in working here and taking volunteer time off together is one of our favorite activities.
Our charities include a wide range of organizations serving children, urban agriculture and disadvantaged populations. In addition to supporting these organizations through volunteer efforts, Scaled Agile has made substantial financial donations through the Pledge 1% campaign, a growing global movement that encourages companies to contribute one percent of equity, product, profits or employees into their communities.
