What Happens When People Actually Buy Into a Company Mission?

AlertMedia helps its customers keep their employees safe. The commitment to that mission has created a passionate team that chooses collaboration and innovation over egos.
Written by Adrienne Teeley
June 11, 2021Updated: June 11, 2021

When people actually believe in a company’s mission, something special happens. A strong company culture is built organically. Products are created and shipped with care. Employees work as a team, instead of in competition with each other. Big challenges no longer seem so daunting. 

This phenomenon is fully on display at AlertMedia, and it’s not hard to see why: in providing vital communication tools to customers during emergencies, the team at AlertMedia can trace their work directly to keeping people safe in dangerous situations. That makes their mission an easy one to rally behind, said Director of DevOps Hau Phan. 

“When I hear that our solution helped a customer avoid a potential emergency or enabled them to protect their employees during a critical event, that’s when I feel most proud to work at AlertMedia,” Phan said. “Knowing that we potentially helped save one or multiple lives is enough for me.”

While most companies have spent the last year strategizing on how to support team building and innovation in a remote environment, Vice President of Global Intelligence Sara Pratley said that AlertMedia has had it relatively easy. After all, the team is passionate about what they do — and why they’re doing it — which in turn facilitates collaboration, strong bonds, and the desire to see the company succeed. 

“Our commitment to our broader mission really anchors us to our culture,” Pratley said. “We understand there’s a greater purpose to what we’re doing, and we want to share in that as a team.”

This shared belief drives employees to focus on what really matters: saving lives and improving outcomes. To learn just how foundational AlertMedia’s mission is to the team, Built In Austin connected with Pratley, Phan, and Chief Marketing Officer Alex Vaccaro. They spoke to how AlertMedia kept its culture strong during the pandemic, why the company’s mission motivates them daily and how it’s helping propel the company forward. 

 

Keeping customers safe, worldwide

AlertMedia’s product is currently being used by global players across every industry, like Coca-Cola Bottling, Walmart, Greyhound, and JetBlue. But, according to Phan, that’s just the beginning for the Austin-based company. “We’ve already proved product market fit. Now we get to scale it as we work to get our product into the hands of every company on the planet,” Phan said.

 

When new hires join AlertMedia, how does the company underscore the importance of its mission? Why is that important for new hires to understand?

Vice President of Global Intelligence Sara Pratley: I can say with confidence that the way we onboard new people is the most streamlined and organized process I’ve ever experienced in my career. We make a point to start new hires off with an understanding of the genesis of the company, why our CEO was so passionate about starting the product, and the evolution of where we’ve been and where we want to go.

From the minute people log on their very first day, they are surrounded by stories of how we work toward our mission. That makes people feel really connected, not just to their teammates, but to the work they’re doing every day. 

Director of DevOps Hau Phan: As an engineer, having a common goal is really important. We don’t always directly interact with the customer, so understanding what we’re all working toward helps us connect our work to the impact we can have. We don’t create new features just for the sake of it — we want everything within our product to add value and help our customers keep their people safe. 

 

What’s rewarding about working at a mission-driven organization? How does that help inspire you?

Chief Marketing Officer Alex Vaccaro: I’m constantly inspired by the work our team does to expand how we help our customers keep their people safe during emergencies. For example, we recently launched our Global Threat Intelligence division. This dedicated team monitors critical events around the world and provides real-time, accurate information to our customers so they can make informed decisions and alert impacted employees. In addition to helping them communicate effectively during emergencies, now we’re able to proactively warn our customers and help them better anticipate events before they impact their people.

Pratley: The impact we have is exceptional, and we hear about it all the time from our customers. For instance, with the recent shooting in Boulder, Colorado, our Global Intelligence Team alerted local companies of the incident. An employee of one of our customers was across the street from the incident as it was happening and had no idea what was going on. We were able to help get information to them very quickly, which helped them stay out of harm’s way. That is just one example of many that remind us that what we do matters.

 

AlertMedia employees working around a table

 

What does a sense of purpose do for company culture? 

Vaccaro: When you have company-wide buy-in for a common mission, your job becomes less about your personal ambitions and more about how you can help advance the bigger objective. 

Everyone at AlertMedia gets to see the direct impact they are making on our customers and their employees. The work we do can help save a life and influence better outcomes during a crisis, so everyone here is committed to delivering the best possible solution we can. 

Phan: In previous roles at other companies, I didn’t always understand what I was working toward. But at AlertMedia, I understand how every single project I take on impacts the bigger picture. I know immediately what my role will be and how my work will have an effect. That knowledge motivates my team to work harder and keeps us working tighter together. 

 

AlertMedia employees meet in a conference room

 

How has the mission spurred on AlertMedia’s culture during the pandemic?

Vaccaro: When we moved to a remote-work environment, we were committed to working very hard to keep our culture intact. We put a lot of effort into mirroring in-office activities by connecting employees virtually for one-on-one coffee breaks and keeping our videos on during virtual meetings so that we could get that face-to-face interaction. Every Tuesday, we still meet as an entire company to discuss business updates, share exciting milestones, and laugh with each other over lunch. 

Pratley: Our commitment to our broader mission really anchors us to our culture. We understand there’s a greater purpose to what we’re doing, and we want to share in that as a team.  

Seeing people virtually in different casual environments was really helpful as a new hire. Even though I’ve never experienced the company culture in the office, I feel I fully understand it and I strive every day to make sure my team feels connected to it, too. 

Phan: The personal relationships I developed pre-pandemic have carried on and I’ve even been able to develop new relationships with our most recent hires. In the office, we used to talk about what we did on the weekends and what we like to do for fun. We’ve continued those discussions virtually. There are some people I’ve only met via Slack or Zoom, but I feel like I know them well. 

 

Photo of AlertMedia employees sitting near a sofa

 

What are you most excited about when it comes to helping further build toward AlertMedia’s mission?

Vaccaro: We’re now at the stage where we’re working with some of the biggest companies in the world, yet there are still countless organizations that can benefit from AlertMedia’s software. We’re excited to advance employee safety as a core value at every company and provide products that make it easier for businesses to keep their people safe, informed, and connected.

We’re growing at a rapid pace and are on track to hire 90 people before the end of the year. Even as we grow, I love that AlertMedia remains a place where you can make a huge impact on the business. As Austin continues to see an influx of large technology companies, we offer the opportunity to join an organization where everyone knows who you are, you regularly collaborate with the leadership team, and your work is both valued and directly tied to the goals of the business. 

Pratley: There’s so much more we can offer customers that will improve their safety initiatives. As Alex mentioned, we launched Global Threat Intelligence in January, and we’ve already recognized that there’s more we can give our clients in this space. We can go beyond alerting them of different events and threats, and we’re focused on providing a more comprehensive view of the world by leveraging even more data and our community. 

We’ve got a lot of exciting announcements coming down the road. 

Jobs at AlertMedia

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