Mark Brandon
Fayetteville startup Qbox has some new digs. The company, a cloud-based, search database for businesses, recently moved into a suite at 320 N. Rollston Drive, in the 3 Sisters complex just off Dickson Street in downtown Fayetteville. Qbox moved into the suite formerly occupied by Oh Baby Foods, which moved into an adjoining suite.
“We were office-less for a year,” said Qbox CEO and co-founder Mark Brandon. “It was hard to do business around the coffee table at Common Grounds.”
VentureBeat reported that Qbox received $2.4 million in funding in September, but Brandon said it was actually $2.5 million. The money has come in handy because Qbox is hiring; Brandon said the company has added five people recently and he wants to hire one or two more right away and as many as 15 in the next year.
Don’t think the new office space is a ploy to attract some high-class software engineers. Brandon said those candidates aren’t worried about fancy baubles such as desks and nameplates because they are more interested in the work.
And, at Qbox, Brandon said the work involves designers designing tools for other designers to use. The company’s business has tripled in 2015 — “since the ball dropped,” Brandon said — and Qbox recently added NBC Universal as a client.
“If you are a software engineer and have talent, come see our office; come see me in particular,” Brandon said.
Don’t worry about Common Grounds, either. Brandon said the company’s six local employees still go there for coffee.
“We have a good meeting place,” Brandon said. “We were probably the most successful coffee shop business in northwest Arkansas.”
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