Danny Maloney, Tailwind co-founder and CEO
More than one million people and 400,000 different brands use the app he co-created to help businesses manage digital platforms.
That’s a good chunk of growth for his company, Tailwind, he co-founded with partner Alex Topiler almost 10 years ago.
“We are optimizing for the very small business,” he said. “For Tailwind, the vast majority have less than 100 employees. Our goal is that someone that has literally never marketed anything before can get up and running in a matter of minutes.”
Maloney is a transplant to Oklahoma by way of a childhood in south Florida. He found his way to Oklahoma when his wife got a job here, and they’ve built a life – and a company with 60 employees dotting across the country from everywhere from New Jersey to Pennsylvania to Tennessee to California – for the last nine years.
“Honestly, we love it here,” he said. “People are really friendly, and the city has grown up a lot.”
And he’s looking for Tailwind to grow up a lot too.
“We want to be growing in terms of recognition and size of customers,” he said. “Our users measure in the millions. That is still relatively small considering Facebook alone has something like 200 million businesses marketing on it.”
He says his get-talent-wherever-they-live approach will help Oklahoma tech companies grow and find talent outside its borders.
“More Oklahomans will be working for out-of-state companies, which is already happening, and Oklahoma companies will be reaching out to outside talent too,” he said. “With our unemployment rate what it is in Oklahoma City, you kind of half to.”
He said this shift to remote working and employees with no need of a local address will allow for a shift in Oklahoma, both economically, politically and socially.
“Oklahoma City will be much more connected to the rest of the world with an increased use of technology for remote communication and collaboration,” he said. “We’ll see more diversity in terms of people who chose to move to Oklahoma, similarly to what I did. It won’t be as abstract a concept to them. And under-represented populations will begin to hold more and more prominence in OKC, and that’s good for everyone. Diversity will bring strength and new ideas, and that will be a welcome change. This will all make Oklahoma City a more fun, unique and ultimately more prosperous place to be.”
Twitter @danielpmaloney