MEMBER FOCUS: Penn Brafford

Variable is an innovative manufacturing startup based in Chattanooga. Founder, George Yu, and his team design and build technology that enables companies to precisely match colors. In other words, major manufacturers and suppliers that ship their products around the world rely on Variable’s software to make sure every pigment is consistent and up to standard.  It’s fascinating and heady stuff, so we sat down with their Chief Business Officer, Penn Brafford, to learn more about the Variable and how a Corporate Membership at Common House has helped their team thrive. 

To start off, could you tell us a little bit about Variable as a company?

Basically, we build color instruments. That’s our core business. Then we also have software to support our customers — and through that, we have various partnerships, particularly with companies like Sherwin Williams and other large paint brands that you may be familiar with. Essentially, we have a device that you can hold up to a wall and with our technology, it'll find the closest color match for that paint. It takes away a lot of the subjectivity of human vision – the challenges that are created when trying to find a good color match. Through our technology, we're enabling our customers to dial in things like color quality or their products more precisely. 

I was brought on in 2017 to run the business side of things as the Chief Business Officer. We have about 35 to 40 full-time employees and about half of our team works in manufacturing, and the other half work on the office side. 

What do you enjoy most about working at Variable?

I came from a larger corporate background and, at the time, I was getting caught up in the “navigating your career in a big company” type of mindset. My wife and I got pregnant with our twins and I started to realize that that career trajectory meant a lot of sacrifices at home. At Variable, I’m able to have a larger role in something that's impactful and really rewarding. And I'm able to have a good life balance with my family.

That’s great. Do you bring your family to Common House? 

We’ve really enjoyed Sunday brunch. And our kids love to run around the large ballroom when it's empty. They get up on stage and give my wife and me a little performance. It's really fun. They think of this place as a palace. My wife and I have also done some of the social events together and that's been a lot of fun. Around Valentine's day, Common House hosted a chocolate pairing and tasting event. And that was a lot of fun and a good way to break up the normal date night cycle.

And how does your team at Variable like to use Common House? 

I would characterize our use of this membership in three ways. First, it’s an investment in our people. We joined in late 2021, and we did it because our office space had changed so much. We grew during the main part of the COVID era. And naturally, some of our workspaces had to get converted into extra space for manufacturing or to allow for further social distancing. Common House provides a central location for our team to still get together and see each other face to face, without disrupting our manufacturing team.

Second, over the past two or three years, our leadership team has tried to find time to get together outside of the office, and we always struggled to find a good location that was affordable. So we would meet in random areas around town. And it worked, but we didn't have the essentials like a dry erase board or privacy. Through our Corporate Membership at Common House, we can use their space for regular leadership meetings that are outside of the office. And I think that that's been really helpful.

The third piece of why we joined is really just from a mental health perspective — to allow our employees to be able to enjoy what Common House has to offer in its entirety. Even outside the coworking and meeting space on the third floor, there's a lot that this place does. To be able to offer a nice workspace or be able to come and just have a meal — that’s something that we don’t have on Amnicola Highway, where our office is. So it's a nice place for them to come and just break the routine and have a mental reset.

Lastly, what does the future look like for Variable? 

We’re in a fundraising, capital raise mode at the moment. And we’re continuing to focus on building out various new software products to support our hardware. We’re continuing to grow, which means we’ll need more talented people to help us accomplish our goals.