Matter Vice President, Maria Brown, guest starred on Episode #13 of the Boulder Tech Podcast.
In the podcast Maria gives her take on a number of matters, such as:
Click the play button below to listen!
This podcast originally appeared on Boulder Tech Podcast.
With mountains at your doorstep, a booming market breeding innovation, and a culture that attracts an active and healthy lifestyle, it’s no wonder that Boulder was recently named the happiest city in the United States by National Geographic. And while the city continues to grow into the tech mecca that it’s becoming known for, it still somehow remains to keep its unique, hippy happy charm.
So, what is it that makes so many people move here? And what triggered the rapid business growth? The index explored in National Geographic’s piece covered both people’s satisfaction with Boulder’s career and lifestyle opportunities, investigating 15 different metrics which included healthy eating, civic engagement, financial security and vacation time. The findings suggest Boulderites felt fulfilled across the board, and our staff in the Matter Boulder office can’t argue with that!
Boulder probably inspires images of Rocky Mountains and hikes through the wildflowers, but what you may not know, is it has also nurtured a thriving start-up scene. More and more companies are moving to Boulder because of the very assets that have made it the happiest city in country. In addition to a myriad of startups, forward thinking tech giants like Google and Twitter call Boulder home because they understand the value a city like ours can provide to employees.
This burgeoning growth has also created a need for external resources to help these businesses prosper – a trend Matter quickly recognized. Upon opening our Boulder office nearly two and a half years ago, it was clear that the combination of “tech hub” + “high happiness index” would be a winning combination for a PR company like ours. As a result, our Boulder employees have become adept at balancing the fast paced demands of our many tech/startup clients with taking time to kick back with a local beer or hitting the slopes.
While moving here definitely isn’t the only key to happiness, Boulder acts as an important reminder to us all that a balanced lifestyle beyond the walls of an office is integral in doing your best work and living a happy and fulfilled life.
Want to learn more about our Boulder office? Check out the video below, our Trend Spotting: Boulder City Guide and learn about Matter + Boulder Startup Week 2017.
Our Boulder Colorado office on the vibrant Pearl Street Mall is Matter’s fourth satellite office. We chose Boulder for its strategic location (Denver, the fastest growing large city in the nation, is just 45 minutes away), renowned livability, and for the amazing opportunities within its open and collaborative startup ecosystem. While the big players in tech have a strong presence here (Google, Twitter, IBM), it’s undeniable that the startup scene, fostered in part by incubators like TechStars and Galvanize, are at the root of Boulder’s dynamite economy. Boulder’s startup mentality can be traced back to it’s founding days as a town for intrepid gold seekers and later as a bastion of progressive and independent thinking. Our slogan – “Be Boulder” – is apt because it reflects the town’s values – free thinking, audacity, and care for the community, both local and global.
This ethos is celebrated most prominently during Boulder Startup Week which over five days hosts 200 free and open events, ranging from a VR Happy Hour to a Hike With Foodie Founders. Not only is it a free crash course in how to build and run a startup the right way, but it’s also a great opportunity to mingle, network, find collaborators, co-founders, and engineers. Matter is proud to sponsor this amazing annual event, you’ll get a sense of the festivities from this promo we produced for BSW 2017.
One frontier with incredible potential that many local startups are beginning to unlock is legal marijuana. The combination of legalization (five years ago now) and Colorado’s strong entrepreneurial streak has led to a booming marijuana industry, valued at over a billion dollars. No matter your personal feelings about legalization, the reality is that it’s a massive and largely unsettled market that will only continue to grow. Matter feels it’s important to support the companies in this arena that are driven by principled care. We’re proud to be working with start-ups like NanoSphere Health, who are on the cutting edge of therapeutic nanoparticle delivery systems for cannabis.
Boulder is a great home for Matter because it’s a hot spot for countless entrepreneurs and creatives; just the kind of people we love to help. We’re pleased to now offer video production out of our Boulder location, so if you’re a budding (or established) entrepreneur or startup we’d love to grab a coffee and learn about why you too choose Boulder as your place to launch something special.
See our recent work and learn about our video capabilities.
Matter is a proud sponsor of Boulder Startup Week, an independent, five day event that celebrates the unique community in Boulder, Colorado from May 15-19. Learn more about us and where we will be this week from the blog post below. Don’t forget to follow our Boulder Twitter handle for real-time updates. Attending BSW? Keep an eye out for our Snapchat filter at select events!
A version of this blog post originally appeared on the Boulder Startup Week Blog.
Cut Through the Buzzword Bull$h!t on Tuesday, May 16, 3:00pm – 4:00pm and at Rayback for Adtech gets Creative on Wednesday, May 17, 4:00pm – 4:50pm.
Matter is ingrained in the Boulder Startup Week Family. Thank you for your loyalty, we look forward to partnering for years to come!
“Wow, this place was awarded among ‘Best Places to Work’ five times in a row, TOO!?” I thought to myself as I applied for a position at Matter a little over three months ago. Could I really begin my Public Relations career at my dream agency? Coming out as a college graduate, it’s hard to be too picky when it comes to your first real job – but if I could have picked a place to start, it was Matter Communications.
Lo and behold – three months later, I can now reflect back on my amazing time here at Matter and all that I have experienced in a short amount of time. Here are a few things that I believe set Matter apart from the pack:
The People
I never knew it was possible to feel like you know someone without ever having met them – especially in an agency that has five separate offices across three different time zones. While it’s different when it comes to coordinating schedules, it’s awesome to be able to have such a large company, yet feel so close to your teams. Our new Boulder office has already had many visitors come through from other offices – something that’s encouraged and practiced throughout the year among all the offices.
The Culture
While the Boulder office is still brand new and people who moved here from our main office in Newburyport are still adjusting to new life, we still make it a point to have fun and relieve stress whenever we can. Grabbing dinner and drinks after a long work day? Yep! Going to a Broncos game? You bet! Skydiving?? Okay, not skydiving. But, maybe one day…
The Knowledge
The amount of experience and pure skill that everyone possesses at Matter, whether having 15 years of experience or 1, is remarkable. Everyone just has those special qualities you need to be successful not only in a public relations, but in an agency. You can rest easy knowing that everyone around you is great at what they do, and can count on the expertise of your colleagues to be dependable and rock-solid – things I think that’s that makes Matter stand out.
Can you ever truly be ready for life in the real world? Maybe. But being a part of a company that genuinely cares for its clients and employees in ways that I didn’t think were possible before I started working here, as well as being around great people, definitely helps to adjust. It’s been awesome seeing this company grow just in the short time I’ve been here, and I’m excited to be on this ride to see where it goes.
On May 6, Matter Communications announced that it would open a new office in Boulder, Colorado. The tech, the startups, the passion for entrepreneurialism – what wasn’t to love? There is certainly a kinship between the People’s Republic and Matter’s headquarters in Massachusetts, so the announcement was met with excitement about what was to come.
But wait, that was just a little over three months ago. What exactly has happened in that time? The short version: a lot. The long (and much more interesting) version:
1. We socialized.
When we said we wanted to be part of the community, we meant it. Less than a week after Matter shared the news of the soon-to-be Rocky Mountain office, we went to Boulder Startup Week, an event that celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit and provides resources to people looking to get into the startup scene. Our CEO, Scott Signore, spoke at Startup Stories about what inspired him to start his own company; we chatted with people at the job fair about who we are, what we do and how they could be a part of it; and we came away with one clear observation: Boulder is a place of enthusiastic, welcoming people.
We also took our socializing to the digital world! We’ve had fun sharing the daily happenings of our office and spreading the word about local events on Twitter and Instagram – whether it’s in person or online, we love to connect!
2. We moved.
By June, a couple of members from the Newburyport team (myself included) relocated to Boulder, and we brought on a few more folks as well. And with that, the office was up and running and we had made downtown Boulder our home (1135 Pearl Street, Suite 203 to be exact). Before long, the larger culture of Matter began seeding its way into the Boulder office: team bonding activities, summer Fridays, and all the other perks Matter is known for.
3. We worked.
But of course, we came out here with a purpose: to work with local startups and support their PR goals. And we’re proud to say that even in our short time here, we’ve done just that. A few of the local companies – and stellar brands in the high tech space – that we’ve started working with include:
Needless to say, it’s been an exciting first few months here in Boulder, and the city is living up to those initial impressions we gathered following Startup Week. We work with companies that are passionate about what they do, and that combined with the energy of Pearl Street (and not to mention the incredible food), are sure to make the next few months just as interesting.