Formstack’s new Colorado office not expected to slow Indy growth

Tech firm Formstack LLC is opening an office in Colorado that could soon rival the size of its local headquarters, but that doesn’t mean the company intends to quit growing in Indianapolis.

“We’re continuing to hire in Indianapolis,” said Formstack Chief Operating Officer Dustin Sapp, who is leading the new office. “We’re not poaching from one city for another.”

Formstack, a software-as-a-service company that helps clients create and manage online business forms, announced this week that it plans to open the 8,300-square-foot office in downtown Colorado Springs. It will serve as a hub for the company’s outbound sales, mid-market and enterprise team.  

The corporate headquarters will remain in Indianapolis.

The company has an agreement to receive up to $275,000 in state tax incentives if it hires 55 people in Colorado over the next five years as planned. The city of Colorado Springs is offering additional incentives.

Sapp co-founded and led several tech companies in Indianapolis—Octiv Inc. (originally TinderBox), Vontoo Inc.  and NoInk Communications—before joining Formstack in May. The company gave him the opportunity to work remotely from Colorado, where he moved his family in June partly for reasons related to his health.

Sapp last year was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called Birt-Hogg-Dube  syndrome. Colorado’s temperate climate and higher altitude are more suitable to managing his condition.

Formstack, which has been on a fast growth track since its founding in 2006, has grown from 75 to 125 employees company-wide over the past year. About a third of that workforce is in Indiana.

Sapp said the company has employees in 75 cities and in seven countries, from as far away as Argentina, Poland and Africa.

But a cluster of seven Formstack employees, including Sapp, work from Colorado, so it made sense to put a second office in that location, he said.

The seven now use a temporary office space, but expect to move to a renovated office in the 108-year-old U.S. Bank Building in downtown Colorado Springs in April.

Compared with Indianapolis, a larger percentage of the employees hired in Colorado are likely to work at least part of the time in the office because many of the positions will be in sales and customer support.

Meanwhile, back in Indiana, growth is expected to continue at a rapid clip in the 6,400-square-foot headquarters at 8604 Allisonville Road.

Formstack has averaged 36 percent workforce growth annually since its founding. Revenue increased 33 percent from 2015 to 2016, to $9.7 million. Sapp said that rate of growth is likely to continue or be even better.

The company this year acquired the Fast Forms business unit from Toronto-based software company Visual Antidote, gaining eight employees and a foothold on the Salesforce AppExchange. Sales at the unit have already risen 15 percent since the October acquisition.

Most of Formstack’s growth, however, has been organic, not from acquisitions. The company’s products have 500,000 users in 112 countries.

Sapp said its notable that company has continued to expand without accumulating debt or relying on equity investors.