By CASSIE MCKEE, Four Points News
Four Points-based Bigcommerce, an e-commerce platform company with nearly 200 employees, has one primary goal – to help small businesses succeed and, as its tagline says, to “sell more.”
Small business owners wanting to create their own online store once had few options and it was very expensive, said Cheri Winterberg, Bigcommerce vice president of communications. The company now has approximately 50,000 clients in more than 100 countries using its e-commerce platform.
“We get you up and running very quickly at a low price point,” Winterberg said. “In 30 minutes, by entering little information, you can start to form a store and get it up and running.”
Their small business clients range from automotive to health and beauty to bridal. Winterberg said there are some very unique stores, such as a man whose business is to sell protein bars made out of crickets and another woman who creates and sells designer dog poop bags.
“We have some crazy stuff people are selling,” she said.
Bigcommerce offers three different pricing plans for every size of business. She said one of their Austin-based clients and an example of a local success story is Tiny Pies, a locally-owned homemade pie shop, which started online and recently opened its own storefront on Burnet Road in Central Austin.
While there are competing e-commerce sites such as Amazon Marketplace that offer platforms at the low end and high end, Winterberg said Bigcommerce is unique in its ability to support both small and larger businesses.
“I feel like we’re at the sweet spot in the middle,” she said. “There’s no one that offers exactly what we offer.”
Bigcommerce was founded in Australia in 2009 by Eddie Machaalani and Mitchell Harper, who are still based in the company’s Sydney office. The pair opened a second office in Austin that same year. Cheri Winterberg, vice president of communications for Bigcommerce, said the company chose Four Points because of its proximity to high tech talent in north Austin.
“It’s a great area to find the type of talent they are looking for as the business grows,” Winterberg said.
The company has over 33,000 square-feet of space in Four Points.
A Bigcommerce staff meeting at their Four Points’ offices.
Bigcommerce has a third office in San Francisco, but the Austin office is the largest of the three, employing about 200 of the company’s 300 workers in positions ranging from sales, marketing and engineering. The Austin office is managed by Steve Power, who resides jointly in Austin and Dallas. The company plans to hire an additional 100 workers in Austin over the next few months.
Bigcommerce has been aggressively recruiting new employees in recent months, even handing out donuts outside some local high tech companies in downtown Austin. While she wouldn’t say there’s a shortage of high tech talent in Austin, Winterberg said it’s very competitive.
“There’s so many great companies and so many companies moving to Austin,” she said.
Winterberg said the company is actively recruiting talented workers in all positions. She said they offer a fun corporate culture, which includes free lunch on Tuesdays and happy hours on Fridays.
“For me, the opportunity to work on something that I feel passionate about and to feel like we’re helping small businesses to get online and thrive is really exciting,” she said.
For more information and to see available positions, visitwww.bigcommerce.com.