Last Thursday, January 17th, we opened our new headquarters on the 2nd floor of the beautiful Theater Amsterdam. After 4 months of non-stop planning, designing, building and organizing, it was time to celebrate together with everyone who helped to make it possible.
In 2018, our company witnessed a huge growth. Even more amazing clients chose to work with us as their digital partner. We got to create even more great products to transform businesses and help people live better lives. We added new people to the team, and outgrew our old office. It was time for a big move.
Theater Amsterdam is part of the Houthavens, an up-and-coming area of Amsterdam buzzing with creative and ambitious businesses. This very much represents the company we aim to be, and we immediately felt right at home.
Our new HQ offers us a stunning live panorama view of the harbour and the IJ. With a surface of 1000+ m2, it’s a space built for working and relaxing, for teamplay and collaboration. And: it’s a space built for growth. With dedicated team areas, private pods, lounge spaces, a table tennis area, a private kitchen/bar, many meeting rooms and plenty of space to host events and meetups, it’s our dream office in every sense of the word.
So, what happened in 2018 that made this possible? Time for a short recap.
We, the people
First and foremost, The Mobile Company is the sum of its parts: the people that make it all happen.
As mentioned, we grew rapidly in 2018 – and we added many talented people to reinforce our team. Matthijs, Maxime, Peter, Xavi, Maria, Daan, Fulya, Zoë, Maiko, Nienke, Maik, Nima, Marwan, Guus and Gary all joined and helped us turn our ambitions into results (and even bigger dreams).
After implementing Holacracy and self-steering in 2017, 2018 was the year that we settled into this new way of working and really got to experience the benefits. Our people now work as a team – together and with clients – to provide the best service possible to our customers.
Our productivity almost doubled last year. I am certain that our company will continue to grow this year. Numerically, but also in knowledge as we put great value in personal growth. In 2019, all of my colleagues will obtain at least one certification. As will I.
Data, data, data
These days, we measure almost everything. For example: every week, we measure our employee satisfaction. In the past year, our colleagues scored an average of 4 (out of 5) – an improvement of 60% over the course of just two years.
In 2018, we started to move from feature based to result driven development. Agile in every aspect is increasingly becoming part of our DNA every day.
We also started practicing growth hacking for our company, and for our customers. Running experiments rather than having discussions. Experiment (or test), measure, learn and then build!
The work we’ve done
Speaking of building, in 2018 we worked with truly amazing customers in a wide range of markets: banking, finance, healthcare, insurance, mobility, logistics, travel, e-commerce, food, non-profit and more.
We helped Van Oord transform their international supply chain. We went worldwide with McCain US & Canada with a new B2B app for their sales team. We worked with BVA Auctions, Europe’s largest auction house, to further develop their mission on mobile. We obtained and continued to develop Waterkaarten, the most popular app on Dutch waters.
We’ve also worked with V&VN, OHRA, ReumaNederland, de Lijn, House of Apps – and more clients I can’t tell much about yet, so keep an eye on our portfolio in 2019 to find out first.
New office & what’s next
In conclusion, 2018 truly was a fantastic year. We were thrilled to celebrate it in the new HQ together with our customers, partners, team – and anyone else who helped us get where we are.
The opening night was a big success. We welcomed about 100 clients who came to celebrate along with us. I gave a short speech after which Joost and Mattijs, two of our founders and managing partners, joined me. We pressed the red button and officially opened the office. Ferdinand Koelewijn, Global Commercial Director of Growth Tribe, inspired us on the topic of growth hacking. There were snacks, drinks, live music – and opportunities to check out the entire space inside out.
We look back on a night to remember, and we want to thank all of our guests for being there with us.
Our new office is an open invitation. Period. An invitation for new and ambitious, fast learning colleagues and an invitation to (new) clients. We are a sharing company and we like to share our knowledge and experience with you. Feel welcome and join our growth!
Theater Amsterdam (2nd floor)
Danzigerkade 5
1013 AP Amsterdam
