Santa Cruz-based marketing agency Cosmic has always worked with social good organizations, but the company’s client roster has also included a broad array of Silicon Valley B2B companies, startups and tech projects. Recently, founder and creative director Eric Ressler and the Cosmic team made the decision to go all-in on working with brands and companies with a social good angle.

By David Apgar, GoalScreen

“Looker?” asked the sales consultant over the roar of 5,000 entrepreneurs and engineers frantically canvassing the vendor hall at The Indus Entrepreneurs 2018 Inflect conference in Santa Clara. Pivoting in front of his company’s neural-net mandala logo, he shrugged. “It’s a toy.”

In a way, the comment was to be expected. Ever since Gartner included it in the IT consultancy’s Magic Quadrant of 20 top business-analytics providers, Looker has become a target.

FortyThree is one of the best kept secrets in Santa Cruz. A tech-focused PR agency with international reach, the company quietly resides in an office overlooking Pacific Avenue. Founded by Gary Bird, FortyThree rarely works with local companies, so the team keeps a low-profile by design.

By Molly Ressler

As a teenager in Israel, Suzanne Wouk, CEO and Co-Hounder of Sellhound, spent her free time searching for secondhand treasures at thrift stores. On one of her searches, she purchased a bag of vintage women’s clothing for the equivalent of $1 and then sold it to another shop down the street for $100. For a sixteen-year-old, this was on par with winning the lottery. Wouk was hooked.  

by Cat Johnson

Camp Six Labs is working to bring high quality transportation to areas around the world. The Santa Cruz-based startup’s vision includes getting goods into areas with few roads—such as Northern Alaska, roads of questionable quality, and areas that have been hit by disasters, such as floods and hurricanes.

The Camp Six team is designing a transportation system that includes autonomous aircraft delivering large amount of cargo—up to 600 pounds—to remote and rural communities.