This lean and remote team is knee deep in building the future of software applications, and they use their website, Another.Biz, to communicate what sets them apart from other tech firms.
For Jeremy Billups, cofounder and chief design officer at Another, creating innovative applications that bring people and businesses together means jumping headfirst into building practical solutions to the most pressing issues for owners and managers. But it’s just as important to make sure he and his team are having fun during the building process.
One of their key projects is AnotherHire, a hiring platform that brings straightforward solutions to the recruitment process. It features tools like Custom Branded Job Boards and Advanced Job Matching. “It’s a great place to find or post a job. In the future we’ll provide Candidate Management and a Custom Careers Page for company websites,” says Billups.
While they’re building serious tools for new ventures, the Another team still believes in being very intentional about building company culture, brand voice, and online branding. The company’s website, Another.Biz, immediately conveys a value for humor and lightheartedness, all while taking the tools they are building very seriously. For example, its homepage describes the team as “Just Another Team. Except with more rock stars and less holograms than Coachella.” The Another team of six also includes Angus McMullen (Senior Dog), as well as Seamus McMullen (Junior Dog and Scrum Master).
This theme continues into the company’s FAQ section which reads: “We’re currently working from home. Three of us are in the Boise, Idaho area. One of us is in the heart of Washington’s apple country. And the other is in an undisclosed location–our best guess is that it’s a van down by the Chattahoochee river.”
These little details about the people behind the tech show that a little comedy might just be what software engineers and other remote workers need to stay creative and connected. Here Billups shares how a positive company culture as well as having an acute awareness of their unique value proposition helps Another stay focused on building incredible tools for businesses.
What motivated you to take the first step in launching your company?
Another was really born out of Covid and the lockdowns. The other Another Co-founder, Casey McMullen, and I were building software solutions for a company in the live events industry. And, the live events industry was hit extremely hard by Covid. The company we were working for laid off thousands of employees and was in pure survival mode. Neither of us lost our jobs. But, we were being overworked for 18 hour days. No days off. No light at the end of the tunnel.
We didn’t want to do that anymore. I left in August of 2020 and Casey in April of 2021. When Casey left, it was full steam ahead on Another.
What was one of the hardest or most unexpected obstacles you had to overcome to get your idea off the ground?
One of the most unexpected obstacles that we had to overcome was defining our minimal viable product (MVP). We came to realize pretty quickly that making a wrong decision on the MVP could have a lot of negative impacts. Our development time could take longer than expected. Our product could be received negatively by our users. Our product might not scale correctly to meet future demand.
I definitely don’t want to scare people away from getting started. But, for Another, spending that extra time and effort to thoroughly map out our MVP really helped us stay close to our time and dollar budgets while also building something that works now and in the future.
Tell us about a moment you are particularly proud of in your business journey?
When building something from the ground up, you have to celebrate even the smallest of victories. One that stands out right now is a company who has been posting their jobs on AnotherHire just hired their first AnotherHire applicant!
I know we only played a small role in making the connection happen, but it’s a good feeling knowing that someone was able to use our platform to find a job.
Any advice you can share for someone thinking of getting their own idea off the ground?
Take action. I’m a serious overthinker and have a tendency to get stuck thinking about all the things that need to be done and then never actually do them. By taking small, deliberate actions you can get past the thinking phase. Even little things like writing an email to a potential mentor, registering your business, or finding the right domain name, are quick and easy ways to help get an idea off the ground.
Why did you choose the .biz domain for your small business website?
We chose .biz for a couple reasons. The first was because we knew we wanted a second level domain name with just “Another.” We felt this was imperative to how we were going to approach our marketing of the company and our product offering. Going with .biz gave us that opportunity. The second reason was because of the way another.biz rolls off the tongue. It sounds great and is easy to remember.
When you’re not working on Another, what else do you do?
I live in Boise with my beautiful family and when I’m not helping out the team at Another, I’m working on personal projects like comics and children’s books.
What’s next for you?
We’re very focused on building out features for our AnotherHire application. Our goal is to become the single solution for companies to find and hire great team members. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us to get there, but we couldn’t be more excited about what the future holds.