ITHACA — Singlebrook Technology on Aug. 12 sold the assets of its content-management system (CMS) division to Minneapolis–based Origin Eight, a digital-development and design agency.

The sale included cash and an “earnout,” a contractual provision providing the seller additional compensation in the future if the business achieves certain financial goals. The financial terms of the deal, including price, were not disclosed.

Singlebrook continues to own and operate its custom web-applications business at the company’s downtown Ithaca office, where it employs a staff of six, plus part-time employees and outside contractors. Leon Miller-Out, the new company president in addition to being the CTO, runs the web-applications business. Origin Eight operates its new CMS division under the name O8SB, co-working both from the Minneapolis office and Singlebrook’s Ithaca office.

“I founded Singlebrook in 2006,” says Elisa Miller-Out, the company’s former CEO, “with the idea of assembling a team of web developers who are not only passionate about building great web sites and mobile apps but also about making a difference in the world. Our team works with many technologies and offers a variety of services, including custom web-application programming, apps, website design, database design and development, web security, and trouble-shooting.”

She continues, “Singlebrook’s clients, composed of Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, and higher education, are all socially and environmentally conscious: The Sierra Club, Cornell University, the Environmental Defense Fund, Hitachi, Yale University, Peeled Snacks, RSF Social Finance, EarthColor, and the Social Venture Network, to name a few. They do innovative social and/or environmental projects, and we help them with our technology expertise.”

“I initiated the contact with Origin Eight, a firm that does work similar to Singlebrook’s and shares our commitment to a passion for great programming and design; craftsmanship and innovation; serving the community; close collaboration with clients; and creating happiness with clients, vendors, partners, staff, and the larger community … Negotiations lasted six to eight months,” Miller-Out says.

No broker was involved in the transaction.

Singlebrook is certified as a women-owned business and registered as a benefit corporation (B-corp.), which is a hybrid that bridges the legal gap separating for-profit companies from not-for-profit companies. New York State adopted the law in 2011 to allow a company’s board of directors to consider non-financial interests when making decisions. This protects the officers and directors against shareholder lawsuits focused only on maximizing profits.

“B-corp. status has its advantages,” intones Miller-Out. “First, the company can buy supplies from certain vendors at special prices only available to nonprofits. Second, we also have access to social-capital funds. And third, we are branding our image as a socially responsible company.”

Origin Eight
Origin Eight is a full-service, digital agency founded by Seth Viebrock in September 2010. The company is based in Minneapolis and has offices in Ithaca and the Hudson River Valley. Origin Eight specializes in web, application, and mobile development and design. It has CMS expertise, including Drupal and WordPress, and has experience with Magento, an open-source, e-commerce platform.

Origin Eight also offers support, audit services, web hosting, search-engine optimization, and marketing. The firm boasts a client list that includes the University of Minnesota, The Julliard School, Estée Lauder, Public Radio International, Cornell University, and the University of New England. Origin Eight’s website displays a staff of 13 employees.

Miller-Out graduated summa cum laude from Barnard College in 1997. Prior to founding Singlebrook, she worked in New York City for a number of industries and created two other companies. She was a co-founder of the Ithaca Venture Community, a strategic partner in CSRwire, and vice chair of the New York Society of Association Executives. In 2016, Miller-Out became an advisory-board member of StartFast Code, the managing director of the Finger Lakes Fund, and the COO of Women 2.0. In 2015, the serial entrepreneur co-founded CourseQ. She regularly serves as a mentor and judge for startup accelerators and competitions. Miller-Out lives in Ithaca with her husband Leon. The couple has two daughters.

Viebrock graduated from Macalester College in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He spent the next two years at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, learning creative ways to approach technology with relation to cognition. His initial work experience included a stint as a data analyst/programmer, starting a book sales/reselling /buyback business on Amazon, selling IT equipment on eBay, and co-founding a web-design and hosting business at the start of the dot-com boom, while still a student in high school. In 2007, Viebrock worked for the Hursk Group as a programmer and network, security-data analyst and later joined other companies as a senior developer and CTO. His technology experience is balanced by a grounding in business and a passion for music and the arts. In addition to English, Viebrock speaks five languages: French, Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, and Italian.

“My decision to sell the CMS division of Singlebrook and step back from daily operations was based on serving our clients better by providing more talent and new skills and on my recent involvement in three new ventures that explore women and technology,” explains Elisa Miller-Out. “In August of last year, I co-founded CourseQ, a for-profit, chatbot platform for higher education. It serves as a messaging platform and includes features such as polling communications and reminders. In August of this year, I joined Kate Brodock, the chief marketing officer at untapt and the president of Women 2.0, a for-profit company that works to bring women into the tech industry. I am serving as the COO, and Kate and I are working to initiate a new phase of action-based initiatives. The latest was relocating headquarters to New York to foster a closer connection to the New York City startup scene. We are also working on bringing more diversity to tech hiring. My third venture, which also began this August, is serving as the manager of the Finger Lakes Fund, an early stage, angel-investment, close-ended technology fund based here in Ithaca. Our initial goal is to attract $1 million for investing in local startup companies, before considering a wider geography for our investments.”

Contact Poltenson at npoltenson@cnybj.com