We have made the difficult decision to shut down RokkinCat at the end of this year.

When we started RokkinCat we set out to help more tech startups get off the ground by building low budget prototypes and MVPs. Back then, Milwaukee tech startups had very few options available for getting to market – most development agencies had minimum engagements far above what startups could afford and the local investment community was hesitant to invest in idea-stage technology businesses. In the last 11 years, we created a path forward for around 100 startups that were struggling to find someone to build their MVP. In addition to the founders we got to work with, we gave advice to hundreds more, helping them find ways to discover product market fit. We are so proud of the work we have done with startups, but we are also happy to see so many more resources available to founders of tech companies. More and more we have found ourselves working with founders that are further along, have customers, have investors, and need less help. The tech and startup communities have been steadily getting better thanks to the incredibly hard work and dedication of other organizations dedicated to the cause, and so we feel RokkinCat’s role in the startup community has become redundant*.

As we transitioned away from working with startups exclusively, RokkinCat became more centered around our employees and work culture. We set out to build an organization that turned young programmers into practical and adaptable ones, able to confidently step into any situation. Ultimately, we have found that our ambitions for our employees and ourselves exceeds what we think RokkinCat can be the vehicle for. We think the people we work with are capable of amazing things, but that a contracting firm is not the best delivery tool. We have had the pleasure of employing so many wonderful developers over the years and we currently have 10 fantastic people looking for their next big thing. It is our belief that any company would be lucky to have them on their team. If you are interested in our thoughts on which which of our teammates would fit perfectly into your team, shoot us an email at [email protected]

Lastly, we want to thank everyone who has helped us and worked with us over the past 11 years. There are too many to thank you all by name here, but we will be reaching out personally to all of you to say thank you. Your help has meant the world to us and we never could have achieved what we have without the support of so many.

Nick & Jason, Founders of RokkinCat

* We know the Hack & Tell has meant a lot to the community over the years and we have been hearing from a lot of you recently asking for us to bring it back. Nick is currently figuring out how to set up a new organization for the Hack & Tell that will better serve its mission. That will likely mean much more community involvement and governance – if you are interested in helping, or just hearing when the next one is happening you can check out https://mke.dev for everything related to that.