When a company enters a period of explosive growth, it’s often the case that culture is the last thing on anyone’s mind. Hiring slowly and intentionally is sometimes shoved aside in favor of driving profit and breakneck scaling.
But at Smokeball, a fast-growing company that provides productivity and case management software for small law firms, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“Culture is number one for us,” said Smokeball President Jane Oxley. “You have times when it's tough and say, ‘Should it really be number one for us, or should we be egomaniacs?’ But we’ve realized in the last six months that by building the best culture you can…things pays off in the end big time.”
The company, which has headquarters in both Chicago and Sydney, has tripled its headcount to over 30 in the past year alone and is gearing up to just about double that number in the foreseeable future.
“It’s been kind of crazy,” Oxley said. “In the last few months, we’ve hit a vein and sales have grown a ton.”
Though a lot of companies say that culture counts, Smokeball’s a company that really lives and breathes their core values: caring about work, colleagues, and clients; supporting one another during success; and checking any egos at the door.
“We have core values like everyone,” Oxley said, “but we really live and die by them. We hire and fire by them.”
Solid core values are just one element of the company’s culture. They’ve also got a suite of pretty impressive perks that helps keep employees smiling. From a generous benefits and PTO package rooted in Smokeball’s Australian origins to company-wide lunches, happy hours, outings, and massages, Smokeball aims to invest in the happiness and well-being of all its employees.
But it’s not just their hiring efforts that maintain a razor-sharp focus. Chelsey Lambert, Smokeball’s VP of Marketing and Communication, said they’ve also fueled their growth with marketing efforts that have intentionally eschewed what’s popular and focused instead on what their customers will find the most value in.
“We’re not doing half of what half of what everyone else is doing,” Lambert said. “That’s because we’re only speaking to our very niche customer as opposed to trying to be everything to everyone.”
Smokeball, which just started selling in Illinois two years ago, recently began marketing their product nationwide.
“There’s a huge need for our product out there,” Oxley said. “There are hundreds of thousands of law firms who are literally using nothing to manage their files right now and desperately need something.”
Oxley said small law firms — who often help ordinary people with “life’s messes” like divorce, buying and selling houses, healthcare, and death — get a bad rap.
And Smokeball, reflecting the culture it was built upon, is there to help.
“Our product can makes such a difference in their lives,” Lambert said. “It can reduce their stress levels. We look for that drive in our employees to provide our clients with a product that will actually make a difference and help them succeed.”
