Happy First Birthday, SHIFT Austin!

Over the past 5 years, I was asked on a monthly basis whether I was aware of what a great, promising market Austin, Texas would be for SHIFT.

“Austin is growing like crazy!”
“SXSW!”
“Breakfast tacos!”
“When are we gonna do this?”

My reply until a year ago? “Show me a sustainable business plan and we’ll do it.”

I didn’t believe. I wasn’t sure whether we would find the right combination of employees, clients, and culture.

I should have believed.

A year ago, we took a leap of faith and opened our office on Austin’s storied 6th Street, right near the iconic Driskill Hotel.

Did we find the clients?

Below are the compounded growth rates of total non-farm employment for each of the cities where SHIFT has a full office.

Austin’s overall 5-year compound growth rate is neck and neck with San Francisco. Think about that for a second. Austin’s compound growth rate is on par with Silicon Valley.

Austin’s high-growth environment is ripe for finding the kinds of innovative, exciting clients SHIFT loves to work with. We met our business goals inside of a year.

Did we find the people?

Our Austin office is spearheaded by 10+ year SHIFT veteran Matt Trocchio… who quickly demonstrated that we’d picked the right time to seize the throne. Matt is the consummate SHIFTer, starting at Account Coordinator and working his way up the ranks to Vice President.

Few people embody SHIFT more than Matt, and few people could attract the right people better than him — and we have. In just a year, we’ve expanded the Austin team by 400%.

Did we find the culture?

Breakfast tacos and SXSW aside, we found a significant cultural benefit to an Austin office. Austin is a magnet for our younger staff. Team members from our Boston, New York City, and San Francisco offices raised their hands in the past year to make a move, attracted by Austin’s youthful vibe, great culture, and lower costs of living.

Our Austin office feels like reuniting with a cool part of the family we never knew we had; I personally love that fact that we got to keep those awesome SHIFTers “in the family.”

I was wrong about Austin, and I’m thrilled to admit it. Yeehaw!

Are you in the Austin area? SHIFT is always looking for the best and brightest people to join our team. Check out our current openings page!

Todd Defren
CEO

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