Reston's Clarabridge Doubles in Size

Clarabridge will increase its 250-person workforce by 40% next year and has just doubled its Reston HQ. Naturally we wanted to hear more, so we stopped by the software firm right in the middle of moving day. (Yes, we're also those people who always call when dinner is starting.)

CEO Sid Banerjee, here with talent and culture SVP Emily Markmann, says Clarabridge’s growth is coming from large customers like DIRECTV, Walmart, and Best Buy that want to know what people are saying about their products and services. Clarabridge, launched by Sid over seven years ago, pulls customer feedback from social media and from surveys and call center data and turns it into recommendations. He says the company is on the road toward an IPO in the next few years. Recognize the binary code behind Sid and Emily? It spells Clarabridge. Duh!

Sid, trying out a treadmill desk, says revenue has grown 55% and head count has grown 50% this year. That's why the company took another floor in the Reston building where it’s been for several years. The company will occupy both floors, doubling to 42,000 SF. The new space allows the company, which also has offices in San Fran, London, and Spain, to hire roughly 80 more people in the next year.

Clarabridge’s Shane Axtell bikes to work and plans to stand to take in his multiple monitors. Emily says a Princeton study found that the brain is more creative as it moves, which is why the company brought in five new treadmills and adjustable desks for standing or sitting. Its new floor, which formerly housed a government contractor, was also redesigned with Silicon Valley in mind. Emily toured 28 startups and midsize companies, including Salesforce and Etsy, to get ideas. Those ideas included private and open collaborative spaces, private rooms, exposed floors and ceilings, and large colorful disks hanging from the ceiling that control noise.

The Silver Line’s Wiehle-Reston East stop (as seen from the Sid's old office) is a short walk to the company and already at least 20% of employees take the Metro to work. Sid, who lives downtown, says he takes Metro when he knows he has meetings in DC or Tysons. It’s become a major recruiting tool as it brings in more Millennials and recent college grads who live in Arlington and DC and don’t own cars.