Podium (company)

Podium
Private
Industry Software
Founded 2014
Headquarters Lehi, Utah, United States
Key people
 Eric Rea, Co-Founder, Dennis Steele, Co-Founder
Products Online Reputation Management, Customer interaction management, Customer Relationship Management
Website https://www.podium.com

Podium is a privately held technology company headquartered in Lehi, Utah that develops cloud-based software to help businesses modernize customer interactions, such as messaging and customer feedback, and improve their online reputations.

History

Podium was founded in 2014 when Eric Rea got a call from his father about his tire shop's online reviews not being reflective of the verbal feedback he received from customers. His father was looking for a way to improve those reviews, but he didn’t know how to go about it. After some initial research, Rea found that existing solutions were largely antiquated, email-based tools.

Around the same time Dennis Steele was working for a PR firm focused on helping businesses improve their online reputation. Steele, familiar with the process, knew that many businesses and agencies were building online reputation strategies that were time-consuming and largely ineffective.

Determined to build a better solution, Rea and Steele teamed up to develop a tool that would help small businesses build their online reputation through online reviews.[1]

Podium was initially known as RepDrive[2] before rebranding as Podium in 2015. The company raised $500,000 in an initial round of funding led by Peak Ventures.[3]

In May 2017, Podium received a $32 million Series A investment from Accel, Summit Partners, and GV (formerly Google Ventures). The investment comes on the heels of a successful year that saw the company increase ARR by 600% in 2016.[4] The investment is slated to help further develop Podium’s Customer Interaction Platform.[5]

In October 2017, Podium broke ground on its new 125,000 square foot corporate headquarters in Lehi, Utah. The building is expected to be completed in August 2018.[6]

Y Combinator

Podium was selected to participate in the Winter 2016 class of Y Combinator, a startup incubator that has helped develop Airbnb, Dropbox, and Reddit.[7] The company presented on the second demo day for the Winter 2016 batch on March 23, 2016.[8]

Awards and recognition

  • Podium was named one of the 2016 Emerging Elite by Mountain West Capital Network in September 2016.[9]
  • Podium's CEO Eric Rea was interviewed for "The Top" podcast in December 2016.[10]
  • Podium's co-founders Eric Rea and Dennis Steele were named to The Peak 100 with Rea being named to the top-10.[11]
  • Podium was named the No. 3 Best Place to Work in Utah by the Deseret News in June 2017.
  • Eric Rea was named one of the highest rated CEOs by Glassdoor in June 2017.[12]
  • Podium won the DMN Best Places to Work (Mid-sized Companies) in July 2017.[13]
  • Podium was named the No. 1 Startup to Watch by Utah Valley Magazine in September 2017.[14]
  • Podium was named one of the 2017 Emerging Elite by Mountain West Capital Network in October 2017.[15]
  • Podium was named Utah Business Medium Companies Best Companies to Work for in December 2017.[16]
  • Podium ranked 16th on Glassdoor's Best Places to Work in 2018 list.[17]
  • Podium ranked 13th on the 2018 Inc. 5000.[18]

References

  1. ↑ "Podium helps businesses improve online reviews with a simple text : Silicon Slopes". siliconslopes.com. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  2. ↑ "Podium, Inc.: Private Company Information - Businessweek". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  3. ↑ "Podium | CrunchBase". www.crunchbase.com. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  4. ↑ Buhr, Sarah. "Online review startup Podium has raised a fat new $32 million round from Accel and GV". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
  5. ↑ "Term Sheet — Tuesday, May 9". Fortune. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
  6. ↑ Herald, Karissa Neely Daily. "Podium breaks ground in Lehi; Zero Waste awards nominations; Beaver Studios opens in Provo". Daily Herald. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  7. ↑ "The 10 Most Successful Y Combinator Startups". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  8. ↑ Constine, Josh; Dickey, Megan Rose; Buhr, Sarah. "Here are the 59 startups that demoed at Y Combinator Winter '16 Demo Day 2". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  9. ↑ "Latest News | MWCN". www.mwcn.org. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  10. ↑ "Podium Hits $1m MRR in 12 Months, $4m Raised with 6500 SMB Customers sub 1% Churn with CEO Eric Rea - Nathan Latka". Nathan Latka. 2016-12-30. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
  11. ↑ "Utah Entrepreneurs Are INSPIRING Individuals, Change, And Ideas". Silicon Slopes. 2017-04-07. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
  12. ↑ "Highest Rated CEOs at SMBs". Glassdoor. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  13. ↑ "Podium: Best Places to Work Winner (Mid-Sized Companies)". DMN. 2017-07-14. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  14. ↑ "UV50 Startups to Watch: No. 1 Podium - UtahValley360". UtahValley360. 2017-09-21. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  15. ↑ "MountainWest Capital Network Names FireFly Automatix the Fastest Growing Company in Utah for the Second Year in a Row". Mountain West Capital Network. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  16. ↑ "Medium Companies: Best Companies to Work For - Utah Business". utahbusiness.com. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
  17. ↑ "Best Places to Work". Glassdoor. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
  18. ↑ "The votes are in, and Podium is one of America's Best Workplaces of 2018!". Inc.com. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
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