Help Local Company hatch I.T. Support DC’s Startup Community

The new coronavirus has changed life for all of us. Local businesses have taken a huge economic hit, but communities are finding creative ways to support the establishments they know and love.

In an effort to help local businesses in our communities stay connected and succeed, Patch will shine a light on some of them through a series of Q&A articles during this time.

Vienna's hatch I.T. is one of the businesses in the DC area facing struggles during the coronavirus. You can lend your support by reading more about the company, below, and by contacting them here.

Tell us about your business and its history in your town.

We started with two people out of a garage in Leesburg, Virginia a few years ago with a vision that the DC area was going to become a major East Coast hub for tech startups. We expanded rapidly and just opened our second office.

When we started, we knew that the two biggest challenges for startups are funding and hiring, but that the standard models of recruiting that work for big businesses don’t work for small businesses and startups. We came up with a new recruiting model that’s really focused on giving startups and small businesses the runway to grow. It’s been a really popular model and we’ve gotten to work with some of the biggest startup brands in DC.

How has the new coronavirus impacted your business and its employees?

We had just opened our second office had decided to really focus on growth and customer acquisition this year. We organize a lot of local Meetup events and we also just launched a new community platform called the hatchpad, built around connecting DC area startups and software engineers.

We’ve been fortunate that our cost-saving recruiting model has resonated with small businesses and startups during this time. The recruiting and startup spaces have both been hit hard, so we’ve had to put a lot of our planned expansion on hold, and we’re working hard to make sure we’re able to support the community we’ve been building. We’re hosting events online for software engineers and modified our business model to be even more flexible for current and new clients.

How can local customers support you now and in the future?

I think there’s a tendency to default to well-known, big companies when you’re looking for suppliers or products. Like when we need supplies, we go on Amazon. But I want to ask everyone to take a moment to see if there’s a small business that you can support instead. Your support doesn’t have to be financial. Giving someone a recommendation or a good review can be helpful too.

You’d be doing us a favor if you checked out the community platform we’ve built at dmv.myhatchpad.com and shared it with your network. If you’re a startup founder of software engineer, get in touch because we can potentially feature your startup with our community for free.

Do you have any words of encouragement for your community?

I want to reiterate that we will get through this if we support each other. The first step is going to be for us to commit to taking a few minutes every time we shop for a product or service to see whether a small, local business can help.

Are you offering any special services, promotions or hours during this time?

Yes! Our Scale recruiting model already saves customers around 30 percent, but we’ve added a free trial and the ability to cancel any time. I don’t think there’s a better deal out there if your engineering or product team is expanding. We also offer a technical recruiting and product road-mapping service called Stride, and our signature community engagement platform, hatchpad.

Are there any other outstanding businesses in town you think deserve some community support?

Shout out to the Do Not Cancel movement created by some local technical leaders to encourage people not to cancel subscriptions to the small businesses and services they love.

Do you own a local business in need of a feature on Patch? Fill out the questions in this form for consideration. Or, check out Patch's full list of resources for small businesses during the coronavirus crisis.

Thank you, and stay safe!