Meet Kristylee Gogolen | CEO, Tandem Design Lab

Our founder, Kristylee, was featured in Denver based magazine, Shoutout Colorado

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kristylee Gogolen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristylee, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
Here at Tandem, we operate under the concept that “a rising tide raises all boats”. When our clients succeed, we succeed as well. And this belief influences the daily practices and the big picture decisions for our business.

Instead of creating a business model that is transactional – you pay me and I deliver a product – we believe that there should be a mutual drive for all parties to succeed. There are three ways that this belief comes into practice.

1. We create a relationship with our clients, where we care about the outcome of their business. The success of our clients is intrinsically tied to our own success.

2. Secondly, we believe that this belief adds more value to our products, because we hand tailor each product to the client’s specific needs, versus creating the same one-size-fits-all product. We won’t sell you on products you don’t need.

3. Lastly, this belief drives us to go the extra mile for each product we deliver. We put care into even the smallest details as we are personally invested in each website we build.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Tandem Design Lab is a technology firm – we do websites, software, external signs and digital marketing for small businesses. My husband Tracy and I run Tandem together, so we are a husband/wife team. It’s a lot of fun and we really love what we do. We both bring different elements to the table. I’m obsessed with typography and pretty coding. Tracy is great at problem solving and the making beautiful things with wood and metal.

Because technology is something that can be a daunting for many people, we really focus on customer service. We think it is important for our clients to trust us and feel comfortable with how their money is being spent. We spend extra time explaining the how and why of a client’s marketing plan or the specific features of the website so clients are confident with the decisions we make.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We live and work in the mountains so I think the best places to be are in the woods. When friends visit I generally take them hiking, skiing or snowmobiling, so they can experience the beautiful place we live in.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Entrepreneurship is hard. I think my parents had a big influence on pushing me to start a business. My dad – for modeling that for me throughout my childhood, and my mom for showing me how to work hard for what I wanted and how to be a shark. She’s definitely got a little bit of a shark in her.