White Lion is a web development and design firm started in 1995 by Steve Kahle, from his one-bedroom apartment in Austin.
Hailing from humble beginnings, White Lion has grown to become a force specializing in web, mobile, design and development. Working with big brands, start-ups, non-profits and more, the Agency’s commitment to bringing award-winning solutions to every client has made them the go-to partner for web. Want to lean more about White Lion? Keep reading below…
Inside White Lion
Location: Austin, TX
In Austin Since: 1995
Core Services: Custom Website Development and Design and Digital Marketing.
# of Employees: We have 14 full-time team members all in the Austin area.
# of Four-Legged Employees: We have 4 of the cutest pups you have ever seen: Pickles – Corgi, Mosley – Maltese, Bella – Bulldog, Bindy –Bichon.
Company Mantra: “Make it better.”
Does your agency have a cool origin story?
Our owner, Steve Kahle, started looking for a new business after he graduated college. In 1995 Steve saw his first web page and the experience was the spark that started White Lion. The company started in Steve’s one-bedroom apartment where all of the computer gear was in the master bedroom and Steve slept on a futon in the living room. When brainstorming a memorable name to symbolize strength and integrity, Blue Whale Moving Company came up in the brainstorm when considering names in the animal kingdom. Then White Lion’s first employee being a fan of the “Kimba the White Lion” cartoon series tossed out…“What about the name White Lion?” The White Lion name was an immediate hit. Even though you could practically register almost any domain you wanted in 1995, the domain whitelion.com was taken by a forward thinking moving company so the team settled on wlion.com.
Most Interesting Physical Thing in Your Office?
Currently nothing! Our new Home Base space is still being built so we do not have a “physical office” space.
What does #agencylife mean to you?
The thrill of juggling running chainsaws.
“We are an idea driven agency and strive to make only new mistakes. We care about creating a great work environment and always driving higher value to our clients by having learning as a core value.”
– Steve Kahle, Leader of the Pride (Owner)
Partners in Crime
In 10 Words or Less, What We Do for Our Clients:
Build amazing online experiences to unite and delight our clients and their audience.
3 Characteristics We Look for in Potential Clients:
- Collaborative.
- Upbeat clients who trust our experience and expertise.
- Who want to engage with the development process to support the greatest product being made.
Our Clients Love Us Because:
Our clients love us because we are a dedicated group of individuals who are passionate about helping them to solve their business problems. We are solution finders that are always here to help. From the start of a project well beyond its launch, we remain a trusted partner to our clients.
Clients We’ve Helped:
We have worked in every vertical all over the world in our 20 year history. Some of those clients include Bury, SPIbelt and West Austin Youth Association (which are Austin notables) to clients like Yokogawa, Costa and Native Sunglasses, Buffalo Technology and Petroboss (all listed on our portfolio).
Austin Access
The #1 Thing We Love About Austin:
How do you choose just 1!?! The food and music scene is pretty amazing. Our new Home Base office space that is being built (read more about that here) is located on the east side off Cesar Chavez and we are really excited about the area and what it holds! We have found that the surrounding businesses have been incredibly helpful and friendly to us newbies in the area and that feels very much like an Austin trait, which we love and appreciate!
How does your agency help Keep Austin Weird?
We keep Austin weird with our new Home Base office setting alternative! Homes Base is a unique combination of branded co-working office space and remote work. It is a new and very flexible work setting to help combat Austin horrid traffic issues.
What are your most admired local brands?
Whole Foods, Dell, Tiff’s Treats, Apple, Google, Facebook (all transplants like most of us 😃)
Which is your favorite Austin food truck?
Hands down Chi’lantro! But there is The Violet Taco which is just across the street from our offices which is amazing!
Image Credits: Stephanie
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Keeping Austin Weirder
The marketing and design scenes play a huge part in Austin’s creative culture. But how many agencies and design firms do you really know in the city? From advertising agency, Door Number 3, to branding studio, Creative Tonic, we will give you a detailed looked at the designers, marketers and creatives keeping Bat City super weird.
So sit back, relax, as we take you on a trip through Austin’s creative scene…
Stay up to date on all the content during our #AustinSpotted Activation by visiting the Austin Content Hub.
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