Freeport Metrics, local software dev shop, closes Portland office

Correction (12/16/19): This article previously misspelled Andrew Gauvin’s name in a number of places. We regret the error.

Freeport Metrics, a local software development company, has laid off two employees and closed its Portland office, according to company owner Andrew Gauvin.

Gauvin, who’s based in Warsaw, Poland, where the company has a larger office, confirmed for Maine Startups Insider that the company laid off two Maine-based, full-time employees in November (both of whom were hired in February 2019) and put its Old Port office at 15 Franklin St. on the market for lease. Another full-time employee in the Portland office left for another job in October and that position was not filled, Gauvin said.

However, Gauvin stressed that the company is “not ending employing people in Maine nor ending doing business in Maine.” He said Freeport Metrics continues to have one full-time employee and two part-time remote subcontractors in Maine. It will also retain some Maine clients, which “have always mostly (or entirely) worked directly with me and our team in Warsaw and that isn’t being impacted,” Gauvin said. Forager, the startup building a software platform to streamline the procurement process between grocers and local farms, was a local client.

“Location change doesn’t mean we won’t be there for local clients,” he added. “Any locally needed business consulting, UX design services and technical support will be provided by remote employees, freelance subcontractors, or local firms we collaborate with.”

Most business development efforts, however, are focused outside the state, he said. He said sales positions in 2020 would be filled in Warsaw and Boston.

When asked what led to the decision to close its office and reduce its local presence, Gauvin said “data and logic.”

“It was a very tough decision and [came] after many months of trying to get the results we wanted,” he said. “We want to deliver more cohesive and efficient delivery for our clients. For now, we achieve better results when everyone on a delivery team is at one physical location.”

That one physical location is the Warsaw office.

The reduction of the company’s Portland presence also likely has something to do with the departure in August 2018 of Dan Piltch, who co-founded the company with Gauvin in 2009. Piltch, who lives in the Portland area, sold his stake to Gauvin. At the time, the company disseminated a press release with the headline: “Software Developer Freeport Metrics Poised for Growth with New Ownership.”