Tallwave, a commercializer, and its largest portfolio company, integrated digital marketing agency ethology, announced they have signed a definitive agreement to jointly acquire the assets of Arizona-based user-centered design firm 29th Drive. The cash and stock transaction is set to close at the end of this month for an undisclosed amount.
29th Drive was founded by Kevin Goldman and he currently serves as the CEO-his brother Gregg serves as President. Their company’s user-centered design approach blends human factors, marketing, technology, and aesthetics to create software products and services that solve real human problems and delight end users.
Goldman has over 20 years of experience in industrial design, has worked closely with Scott Guthrie and Scott Hanselman and their teams on a range of design needs for Microsoft’s ASP.NET and IIS groups and with clients such as Sonos, LastPass, Intergraph and Cobalt.
“Aligning with Tallwave and ethology represents a tremendous growth opportunity for 29th Drive as we combine our talents to create and innovate for the amazing companies we all serve,” said Kevin Goldman. “This event marks a key milestone and we simply cannot wait to get started.”
29th Drive will remain a standalone brand for the next six months at which time the company brand will no longer be used and then transitioned into the Tallwave/Ethology entity. Goldman will continue a leadership role as Vice President and Chief Design Architect in Tallwave’s Product Practice. Also, all employees will be retained, the 29th Drive offices will be moving to Tallwave and they are planning on adding designers in the near future.
“The integration of 29th Drive into the Tallwave family is a strategic addition to our service of helping early stage companies rapidly build products that drive commercial success,” said Jeff Pruitt, chairman of the board, founding partner & CEO, Tallwave.
A cool fun fact about Kevin is that he played bass professionally in Maktub for 14 years-and he still keeps some cool guitars in his office. He recently gave a thought-provoking talk at our Free Lunch Friday event on “The Human Solution to the Designer/Developer Dance.”
Read more about 29th Drive here
Read more coverage about Tallwave here
