Sitemasher, a Vancouver startup company, has just moved into its new office to accommodate a growing “Masher” team. Since Sitemasher moved into its first office on West 5th Avenue and Burrard Street, Sitemasher’s staff has more than doubled, increasing from ten employees in December 2007 to twenty-six employees in December 2008. “It was definitely time to move from our 1,900-square-foot office into a more suitable space. We were practically sitting on top of each other!” says Ron Moravek, Sitemasher’s Chief Executive Officer. This led Ron and Curtis Terry, Sitemasher’s Chief Financial Officer, on an exhaustive hunt throughout Downtown and Westside Vancouver. They were on a mission to find an ideal spot for the Mashers.
After lots of searching, Ron and Curtis found and secured Sitemasher’s new 6,000-square-foot office, located at 326 West 5th Avenue (near Cambie Street). “We have ample room to stretch out while working hard and also have some extra room to have fun. We plan to set up Sitemasher’s Xbox game room, a yoga area, and other fun stuff,” says Courtney Inman, Sitemasher’s Miss Everything (who, by the way, always does a great job getting the Mashers excited about company events).
Here are a few Masher memories of the old office: - “At least I can lean back in my chair now that I am not in the hallway.” Josh, Project Manager
- “I’ll miss being in the scrum pit. Now I have to act like a real manager with my own office. Maybe I should move back in?” Eric Dorgelo, VP, Product Development
- “I will not miss the expensive parking. It’s way better here at our new office.” Curtis Terry, Chief Financial Officer
- “I loved the plastic fold-up tables – it gave a true startup feeling. Also, it was nice being so close to each other. I believe the learning environment was great (via osmosis).” Shannon Yelland, Online Marketing Manager
- “I’ll miss the fantastic coffee at Elysian. But the new location means I can get a lift to work – you can’t beat being chauffeured right to the front door first thing in the morning!” Caragh Smyth, Technical Writer
- I’ll miss dropping mice on Arash and hearing woman-like screams!” Ron Moravek, Chief Executive Officer
- “I’ll miss the smell of popcorn from the Fifth Avenue Cinema.” David Weavers, Web Developer
- “I’ll miss the boarding shops on West 4th Avenue. But I guess that is a good thing, because I’ll save some money now.” Pat Alec, Web Developer
- “I'm really missing the Elysian Cafe since our move. I'm in serious good-coffee-at-work withdrawal.” Sean Calder, Senior UI Developer
- “The old office was better for sharing knowledge, because we sat so close to each other, and it was good for peer review and extreme programming. The good thing about the new place is that it gives me room to breathe and some silence. I like the new place because there are some things yet to be discovered!” Tanzim Saqib, Programmer
- “The old place seemed like a family environment – like one big family in a very small apartment.” Jeff Sani, Network Guy
About Sitemasher A complete website solution. One online platform. Sitemasher provides a fully managed, hosted website solution that seamlessly integrates a website building and publishing environment, a content management system (CMS), analytics, and search engine optimization (SEO)…all within a single platform.