![The pingpong and foosball tables in the break room are popular. Feature[23] staff will take part in a pingpong tournament being planned among several Downtown technology firms, which also have table-tennis equipment at their offices.](https://media.yourobserver.com/img/photos/2022/05/05/_1410371682WS-PAGE7-4_tx500.jpg?506ad42b508a880dffd8f7e5f0f1f034c7684957)
On the 10th floor of the Greenleaf-Crosby Building in Downtown Jacksonville, a dozen Feature[23] consultants, software engineers and strategists work and play.
It’s a fun and functional space, with individualized high-tech offices, comfortable furniture and rugs, a bright breakroom that offers pots of coffee along with a pingpong table and foosball, lots of meeting nooks and whiteboards, and artwork reflective of the office-holder’s interests: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, fairy tales.
The team of the 6-year-old company already occupies one 4,400-square-foot floor and plans for another, probably the 11th floor, next year and possibly the 12th, the top floor, after that.
The building, also referred to as Greenleaf Tower, was built in 1927 and renovated in 1985 and 1999.
“We do want to grow, but we want to do so methodically,” said Tracy Potts, one of the three co-founders and chief of operations.
“Methodically” means working closely with clients, including many who have been with Feature[23] from the start, and helping them develop software that truly resolves an issue and creates opportunities.
Feature[23]'s Downtown space and work offsite.
“It’s a getaway from their office, but they’re getting stuff done,” Potts said.
It can be a busy place. In addition to work, there are lunch-and-learns and science fairs in which the engineers present the research they are encouraged to do as part of their jobs.
Potts and her husband, Mike, the CEO, and Jeremy Vaughan, chief strategy officer, moved the business to Downtown Jacksonville in June from an office in Downtown St. Augustine.
The company began in 2008 when Mike Potts, a principal, founded Potts Consulting Group in the Southpoint area.
Mike and Tracy Potts brought in Vaughan, who had his own consulting company, in 2011 to help with business development and they launched Feature[23]'s in 2012 as a new, strategic brand release.
“It’s a small world and it was very much perfect timing,” said Tracy Potts.
Vaughan explained the company was founded by Mike, a veteran software consultant and technology executive, and Tracy, an operations executive, during the recession.
“We didn’t just hop on the technology bandwagon because it was trendy,” Vaughan said, who has a degree in finance and had opened his own consulting practice in October 2009.
He said Mike and Tracy Potts believed there was a growing need for knowledgeable IT departments that was not being met by most American companies and they sought to close the gap.
At the start, he said, the idea was simple: “Build a consulting company with a hypothesis that if we helped our clients treat software like an asset — rather than a cost — we could deliver better value to our clients. It’s evolved significantly from there.”
After a few years in business, the firm noticed new patterns. Feature[23]'s name comes from the many years applying its philosophy in delivering the business of software engineering.
Within lines of code was “feature set 23,” which was a revenue generator for a client’s application. The name stuck.
The company, whose website is feature23.com, moved to St. Augustine two years ago and decided to return to Jacksonville and move Downtown to be nearer its clients, who range from startups to big business. Those large clients include Whataburger, Polo Ralph Lauren, Wendy’s, Shell and Safariland.
“We didn’t realize how hands-on software is to people,” Potts said. “Sitting down face-to-face is easier.”
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