While speaking, Michael Mauerer continuously repeats his company's goal — making retail frictionless — chuckling each time after.
"Have I said that already?" the CEO of Teamwork Commerce joked. "It does seem like a lofty thing, but part of having such a general purpose (in the company) is because tech is evolving, structural changes happen, and new generations of people do commerce activities in different ways. We take advantage of the innovations to meet the new demand for making commerce frictionless."
Teamwork Commerce is a Clearwater-based retail technology company that offers an omnichannel system, allowing retailers and sports teams such as the Washington Nationals to streamline its retail platforms to one easy-to-use space.
Its latest software version is currently being rolled out overseas. It is also testing using AI to translate customer feedback into easy-to-consume reports, specifically diving into topics such as why specific customers did not end up making a purchase.
Founded in 2013, it is currently in nine offices across three continents. But despite the global presence, the company has been largely unknown locally.
"I often say we’re the world’s best-kept secret, even in our industry," Mauerer said. "We've been wanting to perfect our tools, but we've reached a point where we're extremely proud of what we have and what we're doing, so we want to make ourselves known both to the prospective customer and general public."
The company is nearing 300 employees worldwide, potentially adding more soon after seeing a boom during the coronavirus pandemic.
It is currently entirely bootstrapped and not seeking outside funding. It's been buoyed with the help of a partnership with Apple through its Mobility Partner program. The partnership began in Brazil and eventually expanded to the U.S.
With its presence in Ukraine, China, the U.K., and Brazil, Mauerer wants to take a break from expanding internationally and focus more on the nearly-finished technology he's fleshing out.
"At this point we want to catch our breath," he said. "I think we’ll pause on the expansion and really strengthen (the current offices). Growth for growth’s sake and causing some collateral damage to clients is not something we want to be part of. We want to make sure our offerings are good and ready, but we don't sell beyond what we can deliver."
The customer-comes-first mindset will apply to future company milestones, Mauerer said, namely when it comes to the possibility of going public.
"It sounds horrible from a business perspective, but it's not for our business; it's about our clients," he said. "If we filed an IPO, and it would give financial security in order to serve clients better ... if that's the move, we would do that. It's not out of the question."
