Couple’s relationship grows in Cadence

BOULDER — Some say successful relationships are built on having a lot in common, but that may not be the secret to creating a successful business together.

“I do think you need to know you work together well before you start a business together,” said Gillian Owen, co-founder of Cadence Labs. “But I think it’s better if you have a variety of skill sets. Alan (Barber, her husband and co-owner) is good at what he does and I’m good at what I do, but it’s not really the same thing.”

Owen and Barber may know a great combination when they see it, having created the Boulder Valley’s fastest-growing web-design business. The bulk of Cadence Labs’ work is in e-commerce site building with Shopify and Magento, allowing them to customize for a range of clients.

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“Shopify I like for a small company,” said Owen about the hosted solution. “If you need to customize, then Magento becomes a very good alternative, or if you have international storefront that requires a multi-site setup, it’s really good.”

Both Owen and Barber had fairly extensive experience before going their own way. Owen was a molecular biology student before turning to design and e-commerce at the University of Colorado Boulder.

“Basically, we both worked for a number of other agencies and e-commerce providers,” she said, “but I never felt like I was working with the best of the best, and I feel that way now.”

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Cadence Labs LLC

1320 Pearl St., Suite 300

Boulder, CO 80302

719-286-0751

cadence-labs.com

Alan Barber and Gillian Owen, co-owners

Founded: 2014

Employees: 15-25

Primary service: Digital agency specializing in e-commerce website development on the Magento and Shopify platforms

Growth: 65%

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Owen was first to fly the agency coop, freelancing with friends doing website design and development. When Barber came on board, there seemed to be no question that development would be the key.

Barber’s resume is one of a hard-core programmer, with 14 years experience in more than a dozen programming languages.

Today, the company has about 15 people on staff, although sometimes that rises to 30 with contractors.

“Our growth has been pretty stable,” Owen said. “Every year we add a couple new people to the team and it works out. If you can’t add people to the team, you can’t really grow that much.”

But the couple is very selective about the programmers they choose to work with.

Owen also has some rather strong feelings about women in software development.

“I don’t see enough women getting to that position where I would want to hire them,” she said. “Galvanize (and other web-coding boot camps) are doing the best they can, but they are not pulling in enough diversity.”

Being the face of the business, Owen often runs into people who think of her “as being the front desk girl,” she said. “Sometimes that’s to my benefit. I have the luxury of being a business owner. When I run into people who are being sexist or unfair, I run. I won’t work with them.”

Obviously that does not include her co-founder and husband.

“Alan and I worked together for years before we got married,” she said, “and technically, we didn’t get married until after the first year of us doing our own thing.”

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