Podium opens large headquarters in Lehi, posts significant growth
Podium co-founders Eric Rea, far right, and Dennis Steele, second from right, cut the ribbon on the new Podium headquarters Aug. 15, 2018. They were joined from right by Gov. Gary Herbert, Clint Betts of Silicon Slopes, Sid Krommenhoek of Peak Ventures and Adam Edmunds, Podium president.
Podium's co-founders, Eric Rea, left, and Dennis Steele, pose for a portrait at their new 125,000 square-foot Lehi headquarters Aug. 15, 2018.
Podium employees play pickleball at their new headquarters in Lehi Aug. 15, 2018.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert compliments Eric Rea, seated, and his fellow co-founder Dennis Steele on their efforts to grow Podium, Aug. 15, 2018.
Podium co-founder Eric Rea shows off the company's bike shop at its new headquarters in Lehi Aug. 15, 2018.
On the same day that Podium hit the highest Utah spot on the national Inc. 500 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Companies, the company celebrated opening its new Lehi headquarters.
Podium executives held a ribbon cutting Wednesday for its new 125,000-square-foot office building in northeast Lehi along the Silicon Slopes corridor. Co-founders Eric Rea and Dennis Steele started Podium in 2014 and only four years later, employ 350 workers, with plans to hire about 400 more by the end of 2020.
Podium is a software as a service customer interaction platform that enables local businesses and consumers to interact through messaging tools and online reviews. Podium’s platform allows even businesses not based online to manage and interact with their customers through the internet. This must be something the business world needs, as Podium posted a 13,645 percent revenue growth rate over the last three years,according to Inc. 500.
Rea, Podium’s CEO, and Steele, Podium’s chief strategy officer, said despite their success, they believe in remembering where they were only a few short years ago. Rea said the duo initially shared a desk — a desk Rea built himself — in his apartment when they first started out.
“We eventually got two desks,” he said, laughing.
During Wednesday’s event, Steele talked of the company’s first official office over a bike shop in a 100-year-old Provo building. He told of wearing a coat in the office due to the lack of reliable heat, even seeing his own breath as he worked at his desk there.
“I remember sitting there, thinking, ‘Podium’s going to be something great someday,'” he said.
To honor their history, the new headquarters houses an honorary bike shop. One of the company mottos is “Always above the bike shop,” reminding executives and employees to maintain the scrappy entrepreneur mindset.
“We got really, really lucky early on,” Rea said of the company’s phenomenal growth. “But as our company grew, less of our success was due to luck, and was determined more by our team, our innovation and our product. This building is about everyone in this room and the cumulative effort.”
Gov. Gary Herbert attended Podium’s ribbon cutting and attributed its success to Rea and Steele’s drive and willingness to take risks and to roll up their sleeves and put in the hard work.
“Any time you see a successful business, someone has made a courageous decision,” Herbert said. “I appreciate that along the way, Eric and Dennis made some hard decisions.”
Adam Edmunds, Podium president, also credited a small group that is often overlooked, but is an important part of any company’s success: the parents, spouse and family members who support the entrepreneurs during those somewhat unstable early years.
“We’re benefiting today from the work of a lot of other people,” he said.
The new Podium headquarters offers employees multiple competitive workspace perks, including a soft-serve vending station, a 2,000 square-foot gym, a pickleball court, multiple spikeball courts, various collaborative spaces and communal gathering places.
“We want the whole company to feel together as a company,” Rea said.
Clint Betts, Silicon Slopes CEO, touted that he was the most excited about the ribbon cutting because he’d pledged to grow and maintain a mustache until Podium opened.
“This is a great day. Now I get to shave this thing. It’s disgusting,” he said jokingly.
