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Converted from paper version of the Broad Ripple Gazette (v15n04)
Innovatemap - Digital ideas on College - by Mario Morone
by Mario Morone
posted: Feb. 16, 2018

Innovatemap CEO Mike Reynolds recently described his company. "Innovatemap is the innovation and design side behind technology. I'll give you this analogy: if you're building your dream home, you don't start pouring concrete or putting up the framework before starting with a vision. Someone needs to help you create a concept, envision the idea, and then design the blueprint. We bring digital ideas to life. If someone has a tech idea, they need to bake in product design and product marketing. We help define and design the right features, polish their pitch with the right messaging, and help promote the product in market. We also stay engaged with the client's idea as it's built," he explained.

Some of Innovatemap's staff at their Broad Ripple office.
Some of Innovatemap's staff at their Broad Ripple office.
image courtesy of Innovatemap


His work with a successful Indianapolis technology firm was a primer for Innovatemap. "My background is 20 years of creating digital products, working with company founders and tech executives to help them with their ideas. My first role out of Purdue University was in software consulting, and I did programming for about a year. I have always been passionate about tech, but my passion is on the utility of tech. In other words, 'Are we building the right thing?' I moved to a small start-up company called Aprimo, which ended up having an exit value of half a billion dollars. As head of product design for one of Indy's best success stories, I've always been passionate about bringing things to life," he emphasized.
Reynolds' entrepreneurial vision began to flourish. "I always had the vision of starting a company and there was a tremendous market demand and opportunity. For four years now, our team has delivered product talent for over 80 Indianapolis tech companies. Tech products need to be well-built, but great digital design is what differentiates an idea. A company's technology team focuses on product stability, while we partner with them to focus on a product that resonates with both users and buyers in the software world."
He mentioned their work with clients. "We focus on three audiences. For tech start-ups, we bring their product vision to life. For tech scale-ups, we take their existing idea to another level. For larger corporations, we think through how a digital play can complement their business. Our approach is always to figure out how products resonate with users. We're primarily Indy-focused for now, with opportunity to expand in the future."
"When deciding on a name for Innovatemap, I wanted something simple. We are the navigators for companies and their ideas, the 'innovative map.' If you need guidance or methodology, that's where we come in. When someone has an innovative idea, we know exactly where to start and how to get where they want to go," Reynolds said.
Innovatemap's location at 6053 N. College Avenue is much more than a destination. "We originally chose Broad Ripple because it complemented our culture and client needs. From a logistical standpoint, Broad Ripple is central to everything - Fishers, Carmel, and downtown. The client services we offer are extremely collaborative, so the fact that we are centrally located in Broad Ripple provides the opportunity to host clients in our office. One nice benefit for the community is that when clients come to our office, there is a lot of additional daytime traffic to local Broad Ripple businesses, especially restaurants. If you consider our 19 team members and at least three or four groups of clients coming to Broad Ripple, each day, there's a nice impact. We like to think of ourselves as great staple to the Village in terms of daytime traffic," he noted.
Innovatemap's clients may come from different areas of Central Indiana, but they all share a passion for digital product. Whether it be an entrepreneur at a local start-up, scale-up or an intrapreneur at a large corporation, Innovatemap helps support a broad spectrum of digital product needs. "From a pitch deck to secure initial funding to brainstorming an industry-shifting digital disruption, Innovatemap helps bring ideas to life. Our team does an excellent job of turning a vision into a product that is marketable, valuable, and usable," Reynolds added.
The Purdue University graduate and his staff are helping bridge the gap between technology and the consumer. In the July/August 2017 issue of Indiana Chamber of Commerce's Bizvoice Magazine, he articulated, "Innovatemap is taking a different approach, one that helps companies create, design and market digital products by starting with users. They get to the heart of what people want - from the most basic tasks to needs and desires they may not even be aware of - before bringing these digital products to life. When that human element became overshadowed by technology, something got lost. To bring that element back, we should embrace the humanities. The humanities are a strength that can be forgotten. They're about people and why we do (at Innovatemap) what we do. Engineers are good at asking, 'Am I building the thing right?' The humanities ask, 'Am I building the right thing?' He doesn't suggest abandoning our drive to improve education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), but that we strike a better balance between (STEM) and the humanities. Innovatemap has made this ideology part of their mission with their customers. "
As Mike reflected on the rewards of working in technology, he noted, "It is so rewarding to see the clients' reactions when we successfully bring their idea to life. What was originally a vision in someone's mind becomes a revenue-generating digital product that solves a problem for our clients' customers. It is very rewarding to see our clients succeed and grow great companies here in Indianapolis. There are companies in town with 40 people in size, and they started with the founders brainstorming an idea in our office."
Innovatemap's journey as a growing company has only just begun. "We're proud of where we've grown from our founding team to what is now 19 people, and nearly half the team chooses to live in Broad Ripple. We love the community." You can connect with them on several social media platforms, such as www.facebook.com/Innovatemap, www.twitter.com/Innovatemap, and find samples of their work on www.dribbble.com/innovatemap.
Innovatemap CEO Mike Reynolds and his staff have created economic goodwill that can't be easily quantified on a balance sheet. With their creative ideas and collective skill sets, they are bringing their clients' ideas to life from their office in Broad Ripple.

Innovatemap
image courtesy of Innovatemap





mario@broadripplegazette.com
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