FreshWorks Studio
FreshWorks is a mobile app design and development studio delivering elegant mobile apps (iOS & Android), product strategies, responsive web applications, and delightful user experiences.
Recipient of: Employer of the Year
Finalist for: Scale-Up of the Year
Interviewee: Lisa Stappert
What’s your company’s story?
In 2014 Sam and Rohit immigrated to Canada to get their MBA at UVic. Within a couple of years they went from students and job seekers to job providers. It wasn’t always easy; having faced near-bankruptcy with only a couple hundred dollars in the bank, Sam and Rohit decided to give it one more shot and started FreshWorks Studio in 2016. Beginning as a mobile app design and development shop, we’ve since flexed on projects spanning web and mobile, UX research, digital product design, business analysis, and large scale solutions integration. As we continued to grow both the breadth and depth of our services the team now has 58 full time members, a dozen more contractors, 3 offices in Canada, 1 office in Seattle, and a diversified client base that includes start-ups, SMB’s, enterprises, and several different types of public sector organizations in 3 different provinces.
Who do you work with? What are some interesting projects you’re involved in?
We work with Fortune 500 companies, enterprises, non-profits, entrepreneurs and the public sector to design & develop elegant and highly functional mobile, web, blockchain and AI applications. Among those companies are such notables as BC Hydro, Harbour Air, Grouse Mountain, and the Cities of Victoria, Coquitlam, and West Vancouver. One of the most recent projects launched includes Anxiety Canada’s MindShift mobile application which helps manage and decrease anxiety for people of all ages, and is used across the world.
What are you most proud of in the work that you do?
While we are proud of all the work we do here at FreshWorks, there are certain projects that stand out and make us particularly proud. We feel inspired by the local support we’ve received, and work to pay it forward, believing in tech as a tool for social impact. Most recently these projects included: an app to help assist in the fight against the opioid crisis with the Fraser Health Authority, an app intended to help save lives of boaters across Canada called Sailing Plan, and a project (still under NDA) that is predicted to help save 3000 lives annually across Canada through increased access to medical information. Another project in the works aims to help people quit smoking, while yet another will help scientists study cognitive health, and combat its decline as people age.
If your team had a theme song, what would it be and why?
Don’t Stop Believing – Journey
Can’t go wrong with a classic right? Plus it goes well with the journey that our founders have been on, persevering through hard times because they believed not only in themselves but in the audacious vision they have for FreshWorks.
What are some hopes and dreams for your company?
Our hope is to continue to solve problems and create value through remarkable digital experiences. By focusing on the experience of users of the technology and software we create, we will continue to improve lives. We have an audacious goal to be the leading technology services partner in the world which we will achieve by looking for opportunities to solve real world problems at a bigger and bigger scale, hiring and retaining talented people from around the world to bring diversity to our team, and building trust and lasting relationships with every partner and client that we work with.
Why is Victoria a great spot for your organization?
Victoria has been a very welcoming community to our co-founders and they want to give back by providing the great tech community in this city with more job openings. Also, when’s the last time you heard someone complain about living in the tropics of Canada where flowers bloom year round and a traffic jam lasts 15 minutes? Our people love living here, and if you love where you are all we have to do is try and make sure you love what you do. Victoria creates the right energy for the innovation that drives our organization and island life promotes a work/life blend that powers our key ingredient – perseverance. Additionally, Victoria is a great location for us because we are able to provide great quality work at a better dollar value to our near-shoring clients south of the border.