In an unusual move, New York's ZocDoc opens second office in Phoenix

New York health tech startup ZocDoc will soon open its second office in Phoenix, a city not usually known for attracting startups the way San Francisco, Boston, or Chicago does.

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ZocDoc helps digitally connect patients with doctors for all kinds for appointments. As with all things medical, the service needs high-quality customer service and support. This was the thinking behind Phoenix — the city is geographically distant from its NYC headquarters and is isolated from most extreme weather events. When NYC was threatened by Hurricane Irene, ZocDoc had to create a pop-up office in Chicago for customer service in case the HQ lost power or would be without power for days.

“Many companies may look at the Bay Area, where people try to attract engineers, but this is for customer service and sales,” ZocDoc director of communications Allison Braley told us. “We want better customer service coverage and it’s an untapped place in a sense.”

Braley admits that it’s a little strange to see a quickly growing 320-person startup like ZocDoc pick Phoenix for its second office, but the company especially liked the weather and proximity to universities to find talent. Phoenix also offers many emerging private companies to pluck talent from, as listed in the Inc 5000.

“For tech companies of our size, it is a bit unusual, but it made sense for us,” Braley said. “We only have a few employees there now, but we’ll add many more as we scale and grow.”

ZocDoc has raised about $95 million so far, including a large $50 million round last year from DST Global.