In 2011, Nebraska football players Adi Kunalic and Blake Lawrence were talking with their teammate – Prince Amukamara.
Prince had just been drafted in the first round of the NFL draft, but he had a problem. He needed help pushing quality content to his rapidly growing social media audience and wanted to capitalize on his new status in one of the United States’ largest markets, New York City.
So, Opendorse was born. Opendorse is a social publishing platform that helps athletes access and share content from trusted partners – their teams, leagues, colleges, and brand partners – to their personal social channels. Since its inception in 2011, Opendorse has grown to currently help more than 4,700 athletes share content on social media platforms. The Lincoln-based company currently works with more than 150 partners at brands and sports properties including the PGA Tour, LPGA, WTA, NHL teams, and more than 30 college athletic departments.
The company continues to grow rapidly, expanding to over twenty-five employees in Lincoln, Nebraska. Two months ago, they moved into new office space that includes multiple homages to their birth and the sports industry. The office space is built to handle the addition of dozens of employees – with ten new jobs expected in 2019.
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In a recent interview, Derek Peterson, Senior Vice President of Account Services, discussed how the culture and industry make a difference in his personal happiness. “I work in a place where even if it’s a tough day, it’s not really a bad day because I am doing something so enjoyable. I am working in an industry that I love with a great team around me.”
The company culture is unique, as Opendorse places an emphasis on empowering employees and stressing accountability at every level. The company is also brimming with young people who are building their own roles. Peterson gave the example of interns who worked on challenges upon entering, and ultimately were hired full-time and became managers. He said, “Our founders are still in their twenties.” This dynamic makes the workplace a little different than the traditional workplace. There are numerous young, aspiring technologists and account managers with key roles who are relatively recent graduates.
This youth does not make the company any less professional from Peterson’s perspective. Instead, the company is extremely focused on helping clients succeed on social media, and does it in a way that is not what one might think of as a traditional Nebraska business environment.
For example, when asked about which client was his favorite, Peterson said, ”Odell Beckham Jr, Draymond Green, and David Ortiz all use Opendorse, but we try not to get too excited about that. We like to position ourselves as being on the sidelines WITH the athletes – supporting them – rather than cheering from the stands. You are not desensitized to athletes, but your job is to help these athletes succeed on social.” In other words, the company is not full of fanboys – fans who enjoy sports, yes. But, the organization understands that they have a job to do well.
Peterson is particularly proud of the work that Opendorse had done with the NHL. In addition to professional teams and players, many of Opendorse’s clients are actually university athletic departments. Thus, not only does the Opendorse team think about success for individuals and leagues, the overall university brand and experience is another area in which Peterson said the company excels. Finding a way to “help a soccer player at a small university win on social is just as important to the company as helping an All-Pro NFL player.”
Despite having an incredible client base in an exciting space, Sam Weber, Marketing Direct at Opendorse, described the place as “an exciting and agile place” to work.
Weber was one of Opendorse’s first employees, and he described the company’s ethos and how it has evolved. During the company’s first year, the company took a now-annual company trip.
Blake (the CEO) came into the office and told the team that they were taking a trip…tomorrow. Each person should pack a bag for the beach and for skiing. Weber said, “everyone doubted we were going skiing because we were a startup in Nebraska and the cost would have been crazy.” But, the next day everyone showed up with two bags and were taken as a team to ski in South Dakota. Company trips have continued, including one to Scottsdale, Arizona last summer. Weber’s point was that while the company’s trips may not be as spontaneous or bootstrapped as it was in the early years, they still provide a fun time for the team to build relationships that strengthen the company’s culture and bottom line.
Peterson and Weber are proud of Opendorse’s expansion, but both emphasized that they believe the company is primed for a new phase of rapid growth.
This new phase will require a number of new people with additional skills. They know that they need more talent – particularly software engineering talent. In fact, they currently have two positions available on their development team – a .NET software engineer and a Frontend Software Engineer who excels in React JS.
For more information about these jobs and about the company, visit the Opendorse website at www.opendorse.com and click on careers.
