The Neat Company: digital filing company grows to 100+ employees

From airport kiosks to “the personal cloud,” digital filing and scanning business The Neat Company has come a long way since it was founded a decade ago.

The company, which got its start scanning business cards through airport kiosks (that are now all closed), recently opened a second Center City office at 1801 Market St, two blocks away from its year-old 1601 Market St headquarters, to accommodate its growing staff, says Chief Marketing Officer Kevin Garton.

In April of 2011, when Neat Co. left West Philly for Center City, it employed 52 people. Today, it employs 110 and is “still in hiring mode,” Garton says. About 40 staffers work at the new 1801 Market St. location.

While Neat Co. wouldn’t disclose annual sales in 2011, it did say that last year, it experienced an 80 percent increase in revenue over 2010.

We caught up with Garton to learn about the other ways that Neat Co. is growing:

• New products. For the past few years, Neat Co. focused on selling its portable scanners and filing software. This summer, in response to customer feedback, it launched NeatMobile and NeatCloud in order to make customers’ filing systems secure and available on any device. NeatMobile also allows users to share documents with others.
• More print ads, as well as infomercials. Neat Co. is now spending “several million dollars” a year advertising in print, on television and online, Garton says. Previously, it only advertised in tech and travel publications, but Garton says the company is now going for more general interest publications, like Martha Stewart Living, Time and Real Simple. This shift is tied to the next way, detailed below, that Neat Co. is expanding.
• Broader target audience. In the past, Neat Co.’s target audience was primarily the small business owner, but now it’s looking to the heads of households, or what it calls “Chief Household Officers.” That’s because running a family is like running a small business, Garton says. According to Garton, Neat Co.’s customer base breaks down like this: 60 percent small business owners, 20 percent larger businesses and 20 percent family and personal use.