Showoff’s Growth from Startup Projects to Enterprise Solutions with Heroku

Enterprise solution support often brings to mind large teams managing infrastructure, security, and operations. But with the right strategy, tools, and talent, these teams can be nimble, building and delivering far more enterprise-grade solutions at scale that offer the same level of security. That’s exactly what Showoff, a B2B software development agency, has done with clever use of Heroku’s Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS).

Showoff specializes in building data-driven applications and integrations. Founded in 2012 with less than €4,000 and a few MacBooks, the agency started by developing apps for startups and quickly scaled to solving enterprise-scale challenges, such as integrating real-time data pipelines, ensuring secure Salesforce synchronization, and modernizing outdated systems for large clients. By building a team with deep domain expertise, Showoff has grown from delivering 4-figure projects to managing 7-figure, multi-year engagements. Today, they provide high-impact enterprise solutions across the USA, Australia, the Middle East, and their core markets in the UK and Ireland.

Scaling smart by investing in growth

In its early days, Showoff focused on rapid development, onboarding new clients efficiently, and scaling without a large operational footprint. With just one salesperson and one developer, they needed a way to easily and securely manage their own cloud resources. Every tool and platform choice had to maximize efficiency, keeping the focus on development over infrastructure management.

As Showoff’s reputation grew, so did their client base. Moving from startup and small-to-midsize business (SMB) projects to building enterprise-level solutions introduced new challenges, particularly around scalability, security, and compliance. Large enterprise clients required:

• Stronger security and compliance standards for regulated industries, including HIPAA and PCI DSS for handling sensitive data, requiring penetration testing, encryption, and detailed audit logs.
• High availability and reliability, ensuring applications could scale dynamically to handle increasing workloads without performance degradation.
• Integration with diverse data ecosystems, including Salesforce and legacy systems, requiring seamless real-time synchronization across multiple data sources.

To bring an innovative approach to solving enterprise challenges, Showoff prioritized building a highly skilled and diverse technical team, including business analysts, architects, designers, software developers, and project managers. With a focus on efficiency and impact, they made strategic tradeoffs to invest in talent while relying on their toolstack to handle infrastructure and security needs, rather than building an in-house operations solution from the ground up.

Using Heroku to power secure, flexible solutions

Showoff built its business on Heroku’s PaaS to deploy and scale applications for clients, enabling them to scale their own operations while delivering high-growth solutions for their clients. Each client owns and manages their own Heroku environment, while Showoff serves as a strategic development partner to build, optimize, and scale applications. With Heroku’s managed cloud platform, Showoff reduced DevOps complexity and the risk of taking on technical debt, enabling their team to move fast without the burden of managing servers, security, or scaling. As a bootstrapped company, they also benefited from Heroku’s pay-as-you-go pricing model, which let them scale resources alongside revenue, avoiding the heavy upfront costs of building cloud infrastructure. Heroku’s documentation and support, simplify client collaboration and long-term maintainability.

At the core of most solutions, Showoff implements Heroku Dynos to deploy and scale applications, Heroku Postgres as the primary database, and Heroku Key-Value Store (KVS) (previously Heroku Redis) for caching. From there, they tailor implementations based on client needs, integrating additional services as required.

As Showoff transitioned from working with startups to enterprise-level solutions, their Heroku usage evolved to meet growing demands for security, compliance, and integration. To support enterprise clients, they adopted Heroku Shield provided HIPAA and PCI DSS compliance for handling sensitive data. Heroku Connect became a critical component, enabling real-time data synchronization between Heroku Postgres and Salesforce, ensuring seamless information flow. VPN networking facilitated secure back-office integrations with legacy systems, while Apache Kafka on Heroku enabled scalable, real-time data streaming and connectivity across enterprise architectures.

Heroku simplifies infrastructure management, allowing us to focus entirely on building and deploying solutions. As we scaled from startups to enterprise clients, Heroku provided the security, flexibility, and integrations we needed, without increasing operational complexity. John Kilbride, Chief Architect, Showoff

Showoff proves that enterprise-grade solutions aren’t defined by team size

With Heroku as the backbone of their development strategy, Showoff evolved from a high-volume, startup-focused agency into a trusted technology partner for high-value enterprise clients. By reducing infrastructure complexity, they scaled effectively while maintaining agility, strategically investing in operations to support enterprise-grade solutions without unnecessary overhead.

Scaling to enterprise without adding complexity

Heroku’s fully managed cloud environment played a key role in Showoff’s growth. By leveraging Heroku’s platform instead of managing their own cloud architecture, they scaled efficiently while avoiding the technical debt that often comes with custom infrastructure. This allowed them to focus on delivering high-value solutions without increasing operational overhead. As a result, they maintained a lean team while securing enterprise-level contracts, increasing revenue potential, and strengthening their industry reputation.

Meeting enterprise security and compliance standards

Heroku’s built-in security and compliance capabilities enabled Showoff to pass rigorous enterprise audits and handle projects involving sensitive data and regulated industries. With Heroku Shield Private Spaces, encrypted networking, and compliance certifications like HIPAA and PCI DSS, Showoff provided secure, enterprise-grade solutions without the burden of managing complex security frameworks themselves. In one case, a global automotive manufacturer conducted penetration tests on a Showoff-built solution, and it passed with flying colors, demonstrating that Showoff could meet the same high standards as larger competitors.

Accelerating development and reducing operational overhead

By leveraging Heroku’s managed infrastructure, Showoff’s developers could stay focused on building features and custom solutions. Auto-scaling, managed databases, and seamless Salesforce integration through Heroku Connect allowed them to optimize workflows, reducing deployment friction and increasing overall productivity. With these efficiencies in place, Showoff improved project turnaround times and could take on more complex, high-value engagements.

Heroku has been instrumental in our growth, enabling us to deliver secure, high-performance solutions while keeping our team lean. Its reliability and built-in compliance have strengthened our credibility with enterprise clients, driving long-term success. Barry Sheehan, Chief Commercial Officer, Showoff

What’s next for Showoff?

Showoff is expanding its global reach, taking on increasingly complex enterprise projects while continuing to grow its technical expertise. In addition to client services, they are exploring opportunities to develop their own products using the same technology stack they recommend to customers. With Heroku’s managed platform reducing operational complexity, they are well-positioned to accelerate innovation and refine their expertise in cloud-native development.

In parallel, Showoff is deepening its enterprise focus, leveraging Salesforce technologies like Agentforce and Data Cloud to create next-generation solutions. They are also collaborating with Heroku on AI advancements and the upcoming Fir platform upgrade, exploring its potential for even greater flexibility and performance. As they continue to scale, Showoff remains committed to delivering secure, high-performance solutions that empower businesses to maximize their data. Learn more at Showoff’s website.

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