RevUnit Grows By Putting People First

RevUnit co-founders Michael Paladino (left) and Joe Saumweber

There is more to technology than the tech itself; the people behind it matter, and they drive growth. That’s what Michael Paladino, co-founder and chief technology officer of RevUnit in Bentonville, said he believes and puts into practice at the northwest Arkansas business.

RevUnit, founded in 2012, is a digital product development “studio.” It produces learning, communication, productivity and engagement tools that make work life better for its clients’ employees. Those clients include Wal-Mart, Virgin Hotels and Purina.

Many of RevUnit’s products are mobile applications that help employees track assignments, access training materials, talk to each other and more, Paladino said. The company’s mantra is “Build Small. Learn Fast. Iterate Often.”

RevUnit also distinguishes itself with cross-functional teams, rather than siloed teams, Paladino said. And that plays into what he calls “developer happiness,” a term he used when he led a panel at the Northwest Arkansas Tech Summit a few years ago.

At RevUnit, co-workers don’t sit in sections with people who perform the same task they do. Designers don’t sit with designers; marketers don’t sit with marketers. Instead, they sit with people who are working as a team on the same product but performing different tasks having to do with the development of that product.

“Developer happiness,” Paladino said, is simply this: It’s going against the grain, fighting the stereotype that developers want to sit in some dark room writing code and interacting as little as possible with other people.

“That is so rarely the case,” he said. “In many, many cases, they really care about what they do, and they really care about getting to see the results of that. They want to be part of a team. They want to interact with end users. … You’re letting people be tied to the purpose of what you get to create, and just about any employee is going to be excited about that.”

Paladino joked that he’s been “evangelizing” that developers do more than write code.

Another way RevUnit puts the “developer happiness” concept into practice is by having developers who want to work there interview with people from every facet of the business.

Engaged employees are more productive, and the company has grown as a result, Paladino said.

Last week, RevUnit announced its acquisition of Teamvvork LLC of Las Vegas, a software/product developer and marketing services provider.

And earlier this year, RevUnit moved its Bentonville headquarters from Main Street to the former Farmers Exchange building at 409 S.W. A St., quadrupling its space to about 9,200 SF.

CEO Joe Saumweber said in a news release that the acquisition of Teamvvork is part of the company’s “smart, effective growth strategy.” And Teamvvork co-founder and CEO Josh Stanley said the businesses are “united by a common culture based on putting people first, and working alongside talented teams that push us to be better every day” and “come from a place of caring deeply about making work better — environment, process, how you work, and who you work with.”

So it all comes back to people for RevUnit.

Paladino said that to continue growing, the company must develop talent within its ranks. That approach is especially noteworthy because demand outstrips supply when it comes to technology professionals in the region, according to Paladino.

RevUnit has partnered with several programs seeking to address the shortage, including the governor’s Computer Science Initiative, Bentonville Ignite, the University of Arkansas’ Global Campus IT Readiness and AR Girls Code.

Paladino said all of these programs are helping fight the perception that the state is exclusionary rather than inclusive. He said that is crucial to attracting tech talent.

Paladino said RevUnit helped UA formulate a curriculum for its continuing education students.

But he spoke more specifically about Bentonville Ignite. That is the Bentonville School District program that allows students to intern at local companies. Paladino said RevUnit is hiring two of its interns as junior developers when they graduate.

RevUnit has 51 employees — 28 in Bentonville, 16 in Las Vegas and seven in other locations. It has offices in Bentonville, Las Vegas and St. Louis.

The company was also named a Best Place to Work by Arkansas Business in 2016.