In 2009, in a side room reserved on the second floor of the Pyramid Brewing Company in Seattle, Hayley gathered a small group of icon artists. There was an air of excitement as she passed out W-9s for everyone to sign. Barb Nichols, whom Hayley had already coerced into handling the accounting, made sure that the new recruits filled out the forms correctly.

It was the beginning of Allovus. It was also the continuation of working relationships with people she’d already grown to know and trust.

“I was just winging it at the beginning,” Hayley said. “I had so many unknowns.” She knew she was taking a risk by starting a business during an economic downturn. She told herself it was okay to take risks and to fail.

Little did she know, Allovus would not only succeed, it would grow and thrive.

Today, at 70 employees, Allovus is rolling with the tide, changing with the times, and thrilled to be helping talented creatives find work that makes them happy.

Let’s look back on each year to see how we went from a 6-person company who primarily focused on icon design to a 70-person company focusing on UX, UI, and much, much more.

2009

Hayley signed on 6 employees. Focusing on icon design, Allovus quickly grew to 20 before the first year ended.

2010

The second year in business, we diversified our offerings and dipped our toe into User Interaction + Development. We doubled in size to 40 employees.

2011

We expanded our network of clients + talent and continued to grow. Our 40 employees grew to 70.

2012

As technology shifted and changes happened in the way our clients did business, we pivoted our focus to User Experience. As UX was in its infancy, we scaled back to 65 employees.

2013

Just like all businesses, we changed with the times. In our evolution, Allovus Studios opened focusing on building client partnerships. This year brought us 75 employees.

2014

As our company grew, the necessity for building tools became paramount. We built a proprietary tool to provide for business efficiency. Seattle Business Magazine’s “Best Company to Work For” edition voted Allovus #7 in the mid-sized company category. Allovus received our WBENC certification. We scaled up to 80 employees.

2015

Still evolving, Allovus transformed our business practices to address staffing, direct hire, and studios work, bringing our workforce number up to 82 employees. Hayley became a finalist for the Women Business Owners Nellie Cashman award. We opened our Gig Harbor headquarters right on the GH waterfront.

2016

Our business team recognized the need for a permanent recruiting staff and leadership team. We bumped our numbers up to 85 employees.

2017

Adding a Seattle location and new clients helped Allovus diversify and grow to 90 employees.

2018

Our focus in 2018 was collaboration and establishing deeper connections with our clients + talents. 80 employees.