Santa Cruz tech firm productOps began with an act of optimistic defiance. Launched in Santa Cruz at the height of the Great Recession, the team steadily grew from 4 employees to 50 and thrived for years by building big, scalable software platforms for clients like Alcatel-Lucent, Ithaka, New England Journal of Medicine, and the California Community Colleges. They even built the platform for one of Santa Cruz’s most beloved but short-lived startups, Inboard. 

Twelve years later, a pandemic knocked nearly everyone down again. Returning from a client visit on Friday, March 13, productOps CEO Bob Cagle sent an ominous Slack message right before takeoff: Until further notice, everyone should start working from home. “I looked over to Dean and Paul and said, ‘Strap in boys—bumpy ride ahead.’ Little did I know how bumpy.”

The Year That Shall Not Be Named

Almost overnight, the multimillion-dollar sales funnel dropped to the floor. Thanks to the company’s stellar reputation, in-person relationship building, and repeat clients, getting new business had never been a problem. But over a hundred Zoom calls proved fruitless; prospective clients were worried and risk-averse, unwilling to commit. In August, after many harrowing months, productOps resorted to a painful staff reduction – the only one in its history. A welcome PPP loan provided a bit of a lifeline, but something had to change.

With help and encouragement from Blair Enns and Shannyn Lee of Win without Pitching, the leadership team decided to focus on their love of Data Driven Decision Making. The new offering: data management services focused on quantitative decision support, along with critical custom software, and emphasizing reuse, best practices, and over a decade of credible data platform experience—a clear benefit for those suffering from big siloes of data full of empty promises. To complete the shift, the team engaged Cosmic, the renowned Santa Cruz design firm, to rebuild the website and support the new messaging.  

The pivot is paying off, and productOps has a number of new, socially-conscious clients. One is working toward more sustainable marine ecosystems by leveraging machine learning to support electronic monitoring of fishing fleets. Another is helping global energy companies reward manufacturers and distributors for installing more planet-friendly commercial equipment. Still others envision helping Wall Street firms consider sustainability impacts in portfolio management, or helping companies track and manage global supply chains. 

Hiring NOW!

After nearly 15 months of remote work, Santa Cruz tech workers are getting called back to their big firm offices in Silicon Valley. Given the exciting work going on in town, productOps is hoping to attract some of those talented people who would rather work closer to home. Today, productOps is recruiting full stack developers, business analysts, data engineers, visualization designers, senior AWS operations specialists, architects, and project managers—team players who will enjoy coding for good, and who will appreciate working in the coolest office space in town (as health protocols permit). 

The productOps team may get knocked down, but they always get back up again.