Most company presidents prefer to hold conference calls in their office or a board room; some settle with working out of a 2005 Volvo S5.
That’s how UNCOMN (then Aegis Strategies) got its start—an ex-Navy comms officer who used to direct global communications between US Navy aircraft carriers and satellites, struggling to make three-way calls from the driver’s seat of his car with just a laptop and a blackberry—but you have to start somewhere, right?
UNCOMN conference calls no longer happen in cars—at least not regularly. Just 8 short years after its founding, UNCOMN has grown to over 110 employees and is ranked as one of the fastest growing small businesses in the entire nation, as recognized by their appearance the last three years on the Inc 5000 “Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies in America”. From its inception, UNCOMN has had an eye on the future. As a startup, UNCOMN provided business and technology support to the federal government and now, UNCOMN is realizing opportunities to weave its skills honed from delivering federal solutions into a rapidly-growing commercial practice. With two feet firmly planted in St. Louis, UNCOMN unveiled its new satellite office January 30th, on the ground floor at the downtown innovation incubator, T-REX. Check out the video below showcasing our new space!
How has this growth been possible?
In early December of 2012, UNCOMN had an unexpected occasion to demonstrate the value they placed on their people. In an attempt to box UNCOMN out of an upcoming federal bid, one of their prime contractors gave the company a no-notice dismissal from a contract employing over half of the company. Faced with a situation in which a fledgling company had only two of its seven employees earning revenue, the partners discussed closing down. Employees offered to resign in order to keep the company afloat. Instead, the company kept paying their staff, promised them a speedy recovery, and ultimately demonstrated that “Prioritizing People” is not just a buzzword—it’s the primary value that makes UNCOMN uncommon. The entire culture is oriented towards the belief that when you treat team members as the main force driving your strategy, everything seems to fall together; that the collective genius of individual consultants, when combined in teams and given the freedom to experiment and innovate, grows and solidifies the capabilities needed to serve today’s clients and prepare for tomorrow’s opportunities.
This culture plays itself out in practical ways, including building new capabilities around the interests of their staff. UNCOMN has proven expertise in delivering cloud technology today, but if it wasn’t for an innovative and forward-thinking staff member, it would never have become one of UNCOMN’s strategic capabilities. At a time when the company focused its talents primarily on IT portfolio management, strategy, and process improvement, one enterprising consultant decided to learn the ins and outs of cloud technology, identified the training needed for building the competency, and a few short years later, Amazon Web Services Cloud Migration is one of UNCOMN’s strongest capabilities. The company was recently recognized by CIOReview magazine as one of the 20 Most Promising AWS Providers 2018.
The company is now ready to unleash its people’s knowledge, skills, and propensity to experiment and learn right in the Arch’s backyard. Both the company and many of its people have grown up in St. Louis.
They’ve made St. Louis their home. They’ve invested in the innovation ecosystem for several years through their involvement with St. Louis Regional Freightway, the Midwest Cyber Center, and SixThirty Cyber. Now they are going “all in” by opening an office in the heart of the city, at downtown T-REX. The UNCOMN partners are committed to helping catapult St. Louis into being a world class hub for technology innovation. Fundamentally, they agree with former St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay when he wrote,
With a strong History of Innovation, St. Louis has been a leader in implementing new transportation ideas for more than 250 years. We have recently been recognized as a leading start‐up friendly city by both Popular Mechanics and the Business Insider. The ranking demonstrates our ability to lead in the new tech revolution.
With a strong commitment from current city leadership to make St. Louis a hub of technology incubation, it’s no wonder that technology companies have increased their commitment to St. Louis. UNCOMN is no exception. As a business process and digital transformation innovator with a strong and established commitment to the area, UNCOMN is investing to help St. Louis innovate, grow, and develop as a technology leader. Come visit UNCOMN at its new office at T-REX, suite 160, 911 Washington Ave.
