Announcing AlertMedia’s New HQ

Written by AlertMedia Founder & CEO Brian Cruver

Like many companies, AlertMedia started in a garage — specifically, the one directly behind my house. Our second location wasn’t much bigger — an executive suite in a shared office space with one desk for all six employees. But I could argue even that was better than our third office, which had enough desks for each employee but also came infested with bees. I developed an unusual but handy skill that year — the ability to type while strategically avoiding bees as they crawled across my keyboard.

We’ve grown up so much since those early days. Looking back at each of our office spaces now, including our current headquarters at Barton Oaks Plaza, which seems as if we’ve only just made our own, it’s a bit surreal to announce AlertMedia will once again be moving.

Come Spring 2022, I’m thrilled to announce we’ll be settling into our new global headquarters at RiverSouth, a newly designed high-rise in downtown Austin located at 401 South 1st Street. AlertMedia will occupy the top two floors of the building, overlooking Lady Bird Lake and downtown, for what I hope will be many years to come.

How We Got Here

Before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, we looked forward to coming into the office every day. We didn’t work from home or remotely very often, and I enjoyed being able to walk the halls and talk to the team knowing we were all together.

Like many companies, when we were forced to go fully remote due to COVID, the transition was difficult — at first. But we soon realized the numerous benefits that come with it. First, we started enjoying the newfound time and freedom to focus on individual tasks without as many distractions. Then we all got used to the extra productivity and efficiency from lack of a morning or evening commute (not to mention a reduction in our carbon footprint).

But we also missed being together and the perks that come with being in the office: collaboration, creative and brainstorming sessions, connecting more personally with colleagues and candidates, celebrating wins, and more.

RiverSouth enables us to have our cake and eat it too.

By prioritizing features and amenities that meet the demands of a hybrid work model, we’ll now have a space that fosters collaboration and idea-sharing while preserving the ability to work from home when doing focused, independent work.

A Space For Our Next Chapter

Over the last year, AlertMedia has grown to more than 250 employees, and we’re on track to hire another 40 before year’s end. At the same time, we’ve seen demand for our emergency communication software skyrocket. Our new offices at RiverSouth will give us more space to house our current and future team while also allowing us to build a space designed for new ways of working together — a place to congregate and collaborate with colleagues in the office and working remotely.

RiverSouth is one of the greenest buildings in Austin. As a company with a mission to positively impact the world, finding a new headquarters also afforded us the opportunity to further reduce our carbon footprint and advance our sustainability efforts. For example, RiverSouth’s various “smart” features, such as tenant submetering, will allow us to monitor and reduce our impact on the electrical grid. Other features, such as a mobile app for all employees, will enable us to more easily adhere to health & safety best practices (e.g., contact tracing, max occupancy, etc.). The building also offers multiple outdoor spaces to inspire creativity and give employees an outlet from in-office distractions. Access to a 15th-floor sky lounge, fitness studio, and lower-level restaurants and shops isn’t such a bad deal either.

I’m grateful for our long-time real estate partner, Stream Realty, who helped us find RiverSouth and worked closely with our team throughout the process. They understood our vision and did an incredible job finding the perfect space to accommodate our growing team and what we want from an office moving forward.

“We are excited to welcome AlertMedia as our newest tenant at RiverSouth. A company with a stellar reputation, tremendous growth trajectory, and an employee base that will enjoy all the amenities RiverSouth and the surrounding area has to offer,” said David Blackbird, Executive Managing Director & Partner at Stream Realty.

Most importantly, we believe RiverSouth will allow us to achieve our vision for a different type of workplace — a space to serve as home base for meeting and connecting with colleagues who may never have met before as we continue our hiring efforts both in Austin and nationwide. Put simply, we want our headquarters to be a destination where people can come together, gather insights, and feel connected to what’s happening across the company.

While we won’t relocate to our new offices for a few more months, I couldn’t be more excited about AlertMedia’s future home and trajectory. Over the last year alone, we’ve added nearly 1,000 new customers and now support critical communication for almost 3,000 organizations spanning 130 countries. Now, thanks to this new office space, we’ll have a long-term home to continue our work helping organizations communicate and stay connected during emergencies.

There’s work to do yet, but we’re already well on our way there! Check out more of our new office below. And if you are interested in being part of our journey, we’re looking for talented individuals to join us.