OEN Member NewsTechnology company Carrot continues to grow in Roseburg (The News Review)
While many may scoff at the idea of growing a tech company in a predominantly rural area, Carrot CEO Trevor Mauch has shown that not only can one exist, but thrive. Located in downtown Roseburg is Carrot, a software company that designs websites and marketing strategies for real estate investors and agents to grow their business.
Last year Mauch was named one of the Portland Business Journal’s top CEO’s in Oregon under the age of 40 and was a top three finalist for the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network’s Entrepreneurial Achievement Award in 2016. He said that the company is one of the fastest growing in the state.
“With Carrot, most people have no clue that we’re here in Roseburg,” Mauch said. “This can happen, you don’t have to move somewhere else to grow a great company.”
Mauch said that with today’s technology, there isn’t much of a barrier to start a company outside of more populated areas like Portland or Bend. By selling to customers across the country online, Carrot has been able to grow rapidly and bring in out of state money into the local community. Of their thousands of customers located all across the United States, only four are from Roseburg.
“If you want to start a company here, you really have to look outside of just the market place here,” Mauch said. “Where someone might struggle selling something in Roseburg, when you open it up and try to sell it throughout the entire country, all of a sudden, the opportunities are much more massive.”
Growing up in Klamath Falls, Mauch moved to Roseburg from Portland in 2008 for his wife’s job. Three years later he started the Young Entrepreneurship Society of Umpqua Valley, which has helped many in Roseburg to get the support they need to start their own businesses.
Mauch said that with Carrot, he wanted to build a different kind of company. Their decisions are based off of a list of nine core values and have a non-traditional organizational structure.
“A website should not be a brochure,” Mauch said, “It should be a carrot that you’re dangling in front of your prospects.”
Since 2003, the company has grown to employing 21 people from all over the country. Currently eight of their employees live in Roseburg, two in Salem, one in Portland, three in Klamath Falls and the rest out of state. Mauch said they plan to hire an additional nine people by the year’s end. He hopes to attract his employees who live in Baltimore, Maryland, and many others like him to move to Roseburg.
“We’re hoping to get as many of them to Roseburg as we can and have a bunch of people walking around with the orange shirts and hats and stuff,” Mauch said, “but we’re gonna hire the best no matter where they are.”
In order to make room for these new hires, Mauch said the company is looking to buy a building downtown as they out grow their current building. They hope to find a place to renovate in order to help improve the atmosphere of the downtown area.
Carrot has started a giving program where they plan to donate $60,000 to local causes in Roseburg each year. Recently Carrot donated $7,500 to the Umpqua Valley Bicycle Outreach.
“If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna strive to be the best in the world in our industry,” Mauch said.
Source: www.nrtoday.com
