Defining Who We Are

The Beginning

In a recent post, we discussed our first year as a company. That, however, was not the whole story. Like many beginnings, we stumbled (and continue to stumble) from time to time as we strive to find our path. Common discussions we’ve had are:

• What is our vision?

• Who are our clients?

• What is our elevator pitch?

Now it’s time to reflect on these points with the “wisdom” of a whole year behind us. Please note that there is some sarcasm involved in this post, keep your eyes peeled.

What's Our Vision?

While we haven’t realized a true vision for Calico, it’s definitely in the making. As we see it, there are two things which we have come to know about ourselves:

1. We are technologists. We love explore new technology and we love to use technology to solve real world problems.

2. We are pretty good at conveying and teaching our love of the craft. This keeps us motivated and has allowed us to bring on new team members and brainwash them to love what we love….we’re mostly kidding about that

Although we are a small company, individually each of us has spent a fair amount of time in the industry and we have confidence in our knowledge and abilities. That being said, technology is a fickle mistress, she is ever changing; as a result, we are constantly learning from the community, from each other, and from our mistakes. It’s a lot more fun to learn when you are not doing it alone. Plus, what’s the fun in finding something new and cool if you can’t talk about it?

So back to the point of this section: what’s our vision? Well, it’s complicated! The good news is that we know it’s focused on technology and sharing knowledge. We’re still working on the details, we’ll make sure to keep you posted. We know that we are on our way to truly understanding how we can change the face of our industry; maybe that’s ambitious, but hey, dream big, right?!

Next!

We wouldn’t be able to make any of this possible without money so let’s talk about the people who make it happen … our clients.

Who are Our Clients?

This is both a very easy question to answer, and a really difficult one. At a minimum, our clients are those organizations or individuals that would like to trade currency for the services we provide (thanks English dictionary). Within our first year of operation, this is precisely the clients we have worked with and continue to work with, but that’s not very interesting, is it? Let's talk specifics then.

To create our foundation we have taken on a large variety of clients in a swathe of industries with the goal of providing excellent service. The more challenging question is: who do we want our clients to be? The answer to this question may lead to a goal and a long term strategy, something we are working towards.

At a bare minimum, our clients are those that help us keeps the lights on. We have yet to hone in on a specific client profile but the focus for our first year was to get our name out there and show that we are a reliable and hard-working company who provides excellent quality of work. Over the last year, we’ve been fortunate enough to have a fairly wide variety of clients, and have had our share of pitfalls and successes. That means that we now have a bit of an understanding about who we think make good clients. In the end, it turns out that experience lets us refine which clients fits us.

So what does all of this mean? It’s remarkably simple, our ideal clients are those clients to whom we can provide an excellent level of service. It’s less about who the clients are and more about how we can help them. This brings us to the conclusion of all this.

What is Our Elevator Pitch?

How does this sound: “We learn how your business works and determine how we can leverage technology to solve any problems you might have, be it growth, optimization, or something new and interesting; we help you solve that.”

Whatever solution you are looking for, we can do it. We’ve probably done it before too. Are you looking for a mobile app? We do that and have processes that can help you manage that information. Are you looking for a simple website? Absolutely. Are you looking for a custom web application? We can make that happen. We are a group of technologists looking to solve real business problems and build a culture that fosters learning and sharing.

HIT. US. UP.