A rising Birmingham startup has moved into a larger office space at a prominent downtown building to accommodate its expansion.
Linq, a tech startup that has crafted a digital business card application for smartphones and other tech devices as well as physical cards and bands, has moved into the former Coyote Logistics building, also previously known as the Saks Building, at 1904 First Ave. N. The company, which has seen substantial growth throughout 2021 and 2021, has relocated to the 6,200-square-foot space from 1721 Third Ave. N. Suite 202, where Redhawk Advisory resides.
The company got its start in a downtown apartment and has grown from three people to 17 employees, and co-founder and CEO Elliot Potter said it's expecting to employ 30 by the end of 2021. Potter said he is excited about the move to a prime corner downtown where startup activity is hot and to a space where the company has room to grow.
And the company is certainly growing with leaders aiming to hire across the board from engineers to marketing and sales professionals.
Potter said the company has sold hundreds of thousands of products as companies look for ways to digitize and have contactless approaches because of Covid, and Linq fits right into that conversation and that market.
"(Sales are) definitely accelerated now that the vaccines are everywhere, and the world's opening back up. We are running out of stock pretty much once a month, and we just keep having to order larger and larger quantities to keep up with demand," he said. “We want to capitalize on that opportunity. There has been a high amount of inbound interest, but we also see where the market is going. Linq is a digital business card most succinctly put, but what we really are is instant information sharing, and that's something that more and more people are interested in. So we're preparing for even bigger surges of growth in Q4 (2021) and Q1 of next year, and we want to be ready.”
Potter said the company is starting to focus intently on offering its services beyond individuals to companies like international banks and insurance companies, including Globe Life Insurance. He said that shift is occurring naturally as individuals wear the bracelet or use the application, making its way to a decision-maker within a company who then becomes interested in purchasing the product company-wide.
“As people use our tech, we're getting to know other companies better; we're getting to know other founders and other teams better. There's a lot of really interesting conversations happening about collaboration opportunities and partnership opportunities," he said. "It's (what) ... I've always loved about the Birmingham ecosystem. Everybody's willing to help each other out ... You have the Andy Griffith spirit here where everybody knows everybody; everybody's willing to lend a hand to someone else. But to see it in the context of high-growth, fast-paced technology companies is just really cool.”
