The Story

While running their web design business, Nick Ippolito saw Squarespace users struggling to create unique designs without extensive coding. He partnered with wife Hannah and developers Rowan Findlay and Nat Booth to build SquareKicker – a no-code design and animation extension that gives designers extra LEGO pieces (the shiny, bendy, moving ones) to build faster and create amazing websites.

The Numbers

• Team of 13 all working together in Nelson (no remote setups!) 

• Serving 6,000+ users across 35,000 websites 

• Won Innovation Award at 2024 Nelson Tasman Business Awards 

• Launched October 2020, now a full suite of professional design tools

Plot Twist

People are surprised SquareKicker is a professional design tool because they still think Squarespace is just DIY for small businesses. What they don't realise is Squarespace has evolved into a robust platform for fully featured business websites, and with SquareKicker, designers can create custom, code-free sites that rival any platform.

The Good Stuff

Circle Day in New York is legendary – while some team members spoke at the Squarespace conference, the rest stayed up all night in Nelson to watch live, celebrated with team breakfast, then took the day off to recover. That's the SquareKicker spirit: committed, a bit crazy, and always in it together. Early lesson learned: "ship now, learn fast" beats perfectionism every time.

Building a tech business and need someone to swap war stories with? These Nelson legends are always keen to connect and cheer each other on.

🔗 squarekicker.com | LinkedIn