Office Space: Inside the Union Square offices of MuleSoft
San Francisco Chronicle
20 Jul 2015
By Julie Balise
Photos by Connor Radnovich / The Chronicle
This is the MuleSoft logo that people see as they exit the elevator for the company’s offices. Inside the logo is the outline of a mule’s head and ears.
MuleSoft was built around taking the “donkey work” — the boring, laborious part — out of connectivity.
And in its Union Square office, a modern, airy space with floor-to-ceiling windows, there are plenty of references to mules. On a lobby coffee table: a book called “The Natural Superiority of Mules.” At the reception desk: a small stack of comics, “The Adventures of Max the Mule,” featuring a superhero mule wearing the MuleSoft logo, an M in a circle that looks vaguely like two donkey ears.
MuleSoft was founded in 2006 by Ross Mason, and its platform connects applications, data and devices for organizations like hospitals or colleges with a large IT infrastructure.
The company moved into its current space at 77 Geary St. in March 2013 after outgrowing its office on Maiden Lane. It occupies the second and fourth floors and is building out the third and mezzanine floors. It chose the location to be close to BART.
“When I first walked into the building, it looked very different than it does right now,” CEO Greg Schott said. “We did a lot of work on it, but the bones were amazing. It’s the old I. Magnin department store, so it’s got 21-foot ceilings and exposed brick and hardwoods and lots of steel. It just had this really cool vibe.”
No one has an office. Instead, employees sit at custom-built bench-style desks. Chalkboard and white board walls give employees a place to scrawl notes and brainstorm. Phone and meeting rooms are named after the places where MuleSoft has offices, like Bay Area-themed North Beach, Napa and Sonoma. A main conference room, Yosemite, has a meeting table so large it had to be carved up into pieces and hauled into the office and rebuilt.
There’s also a wing of offices named for places in Argentina. On the second floor, rooms are named after New York City destinations, major mountains and spots in Australia. The Bondi Beach room has a treadmill desk.
Schott said he doesn’t believe in differentiating by offices. “The culture we have built is very flat, very communicative,” Schott said. The company wants to “make sure we all know that any one of us can make a big impact.” On one side of the fourth floor, there’s an
open space for meet-ups and company-wide meetings. Stacks of turquoise and black chairs are on hand for those larger meetings. Right next to that space is a cozy nook with soft seating and lighting, where employees can find quiet. The company’s contractor, who’s from North Dakota, installed a rolling barn door outside the supply room.
Zesty caters lunch at MuleSoft on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There’s also a snack wall full of granola bars, pretzels, raisins and other treats. Photos of employees and fun facts about them are attached to another wall. Clocks show the time in London, Buenos Aires, Sydney and New York, where MuleSoft has offices.
