How Our Belief In NYC Led To A Year Of Impact

When we announced our expansion into New York City in January 2021, people took notice. And while the news was big to us, we didn’t realize what it would mean to others. 

I was surprised at how New York noticed. The city was experiencing an exodus of talent and abandonment of corporate real estate. Yet here we were, a 20-person digital product agency based in the Midwest, packing our bags and moving on in. For New Yorkers, we were a signal that things would turn around.

But even more surprising was how our friends in the Indianapolis tech ecosystem reacted — with vehement excitement. “What’s going on in New York?” is a question Mike Reynolds and the team receive often. Our local ecosystem was excited for us in a way we never expected. 

Fast forward one year, and we’ve doubled our New York City revenue and client portfolio, doubled the New York City team, and doubled our office footprint. 

“For nearly half a dozen NYC tech companies we’ve refreshed their brand, redesigned their product, and helped them speak to their audiences. We couldn’t be more thankful for Parkday, Microblink and others for selecting us sight unseen,” says Mike Reynolds. 

Microblink is an AI solutions company based in New York City. We engaged with CEO Darren Bassman, who says “Innovatemap’s product expertise and commitment to a partnership immediately won us over. We trusted them to help us rebrand and launch our next phase of growth, and I couldn’t imagine doing it without them.”

One reason we expanded into New York City is to grow our expertise outside of B2B. The city has a concentration of DTC and B2C startups and scale-ups with product needs. By further advancing our skill set here, we can bring that expertise back to the Midwest to help the next generation of founders. 

“The advantage a founder has when working with us is that they get a team of product experts who have experience with hundreds of startups and scaleups. It’s experience that individual product hires won’t typically have. Our team can infuse that expertise into a founder’s product vision to reach product-market fit and scale as fast as possible,” says Innovatemap Executive Growth Partner, Christian Beck. “By working with more B2C and DTC startups, we can not only serve more founders in those markets but also grow Indy’s ecosystem beyond marketing tech.” 

“The way we serve New York clients when we live and work in the same zip code is different, in a good way” says Innovatemap Senior Product Marketer and Brand Strategist Meghan Pfeifer. Meghan leads the New York team and owns the strategy behind our in-person footprint. “By immersing ourselves in the local tech community through events and partnerships, we’re able to both connect with product leaders in New York and give back and invest in its future.” 

In addition to product expertise, we are excited to build a bridge connecting New York and the Northeast region’s tech ecosystem with Indy’s tech ecosystem. Many New York-based investors we meet want to invest outside of the northeast. By fostering those relationships we can create exponential growth for Indianapolis. 

2022 is proving to be another year of momentum for Innovatemap. We look forward to continuing our commitment to helping leaders we believe in build the product vision they believe in.

Innovatemap is a digital product agency with a headquarters in Indianapolis and a second office in New York City. The team are experts in digital product management, research, branding, marketing, and design. Founded in 2014, the agency is a four-time Inc 5000 winner, a two-time Indianapolis Business Journal Fast 25 winner, and a 2020 CIOReview Top Product Management Company of the Year.