Thirteen Colorado-based tech companies can take a bow after earning a spot on Outside Magazine’s Best Places to Work List. Of course, the celebration might have to wait until after their employees get back from mountain biking, rock climbing, or hiking.
The tech companies are among the slew of Colorado firms that earned coveted spots on the magazine’s annual list. Being honored is a big deal locally, with the award prominently displayed in lobbies and mentioned in recruitment materials. Plus, it gives them good old-fashioned bragging rights.
Access to Colorado’s mountains, trails, and ski slopes is a part of the vaunted “Colorado lifestyle” tech companies and entrepreneurs so often talk about when promoting the region. It also comes up when they try to lure talent to their companies, especially from the sprawling Silicon Valley.
The list of companies includes nationally prominent names from Colorado’s startup scene, like Sphero, SolidFire, and Datalogix, each of which is backed with serious venture capital. Also on the list are companies like Ready Talk and Namaste Solar, which don’t get quite as much national exposure but are local trendsetters in their industries.
Leading the Colorado contingent is Sphero, formerly known as Orbotix. The four-year old company ranked third on the overall list. Outside noted the Boulder-based company’s snowboarding sessions, benefits packages, and the chance to play with the robotic toys the company makes, Sphero and Ollie. Sphero is a Techstars graduate, has raised $32.6 million from investors, and has 58 employees.
Zen Planner, a software company, ranked sixth overall. The company makes cloud-based software that fitness industry companies like yoga studios and gyms can use to manage payments, schedules, and membership rolls, and to run their websites. The company has raised $10 million, employs 45, and is based in Highlands Ranch, which is in Denver’s south suburbs.
ReadyTalk, which makes audio- and web-conferencing software, was the top-rated Denver company, earning 11th place overall. Outside noted the in-office yoga and massages it offers its 170 employees. Not mentioned, but hinted at by the picture, are the sweeping views of downtown Denver and the Rockies that can be seen from ReadyTalk’s office in a high-rise tower.
Oh, and for those keeping track of such things: Boulder is home to eight honorees compared to Denver’s three. Boulder might have a bit of an advantage, though—Outside Magazine recently ranked the city 10th on its list of “Best Towns Ever.”
Here’s the list of Colorado tech companies, with links to their entries.
3. Orbotix (Boulder)
6. Zen Planner (Highlands Ranch)
11. ReadyTalk (Denver)
15. RoundPegg (Boulder)
26. TrackVia (Denver)
36. SolidFire (Boulder)
38. Pellucid Analytics (Boulder)
41. Training Peaks (Boulder)
42. Datalogix (Westminster)
55. Slice of Lime (Boulder)
61. FullContact (Denver)
70. ShipCompliant (Boulder)
73. Namaste Solar (Boulder)
