Manseen Logan
Click. Drag. Drop. Repeat. Most people can execute these four easy actions with no problem, and Skuid can handle the rest. Who or what is Skuid?
At the forefront of the user experience evolution are business-to-business tech companies like Skuid. Born of the brilliant idea to create a scalable way to customize user experiences, SKUID started as an internal program for a separate business called Skoodat and has quickly evolved into a major company on its own.
Known for its beautiful and functional Salesforce application and appealing company culture, Skuid is growing faster than giant kelp.
“We took Skuid to the 2012 Dreamforce Convention in San Francisco and companies started reaching out to us to use the program,” says Skuid founder and CEO Ken McElrath. “Within two months the program was selling what our company Skoodat took four years to accomplish. We knew we had something big.”
Skuid allows users to create and expand data applications with ease. No code. No hassle. The company boasts a user interface that helps business leaders make sense of meaningful data through an attractive and customizable interface.
And the world is taking notice. Since its March 2013 company launch, Skuid has drawn clients in 24 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. With offices in Chattanooga and San Francisco, Skuid plans to establish global offices in Europe and Asia within the next year.
Skuid’s culture promotes both happy employees and innovative products. A quick glance at its Facebook page shows solid best business practices in action. Posts focus on customer satisfaction, technology trends and a workplace reflective of the values that Skuid promotes.
Glassdoor.com, a site that allows employees to review a company they’ve worked for, displays several anonymous employee reviews that reveal Skuid's culture at work.
“Skuid is genuinely concerned for my future − they go the extra mile to make sure I am taken care of, which makes me want to go the extra mile for them. The team is great; we're a close-knit group, but we're growing fast,” one Skuid employee wrote.
McElrath says he intentionally created a company where he would want to work.
“We hire hard and manage light,” McElrath says. “Not only do we look for people with the capacity to do the job, they also need the character to support the capacity.”
While employees at the loft-style Chattanooga Skuid office might appear to be hard at work in front of oversized computer screens, an atmosphere of playfulness underscores company culture. Employees’ toddlers and families visit the Skuid office space and staff consistently collaborate across departments.
Company band members entertain their coworkers at a local pub on St. Patrick’s Day as Skuid employees and their families enjoy each other’s company. This is all a piece of McElrath’s dream fulfilled. But Skuid’s culture breeds trust and respect deeper than office ping pong tables, unlimited vacation time and the human-sized stuffed squid mascot in each Skuid office.
Skuid simultaneously pays close attention to what their customers want, collaborating with partners all over the world and staying ahead of business trends with product updates such as Banzai, which allows users to create, update and delete data from multiple platforms and web services.
As Skuid dives deeper into the user interface experience, McElrath looks forward to further growth and collaboration with other Chattanooga businesses.
Learn more about Skuid here.
