About
An operator, not a vendor.
Open·Civ is run by Jacob Ramos, who spent a decade in political advocacy, marketing, and organizing. He builds online stores for downtown shops, websites for office buildings, and the website and platform a downtown district runs on, from Saint Paul, where he lives. None of it is drafted in a coastal office. The district platform runs in the skyway every day, then travels. No venture capital and no exit pressure, so the work stays aligned with the communities it serves.
That background matters: the hard part of downtown isn’t the code, it’s getting a community to show up. We build the software and run the programming — and we measure what works so your board can see it.
We listen, we organize, we challenge expectations, we build.
The shelf
Choosing a one-person studio shouldn’t feel risky. Here’s why it isn’t.
Operated locally
You talk to the person who builds and runs it — not an account manager or an offshore queue. An operator, not a vendor.
Your data, portable
Your customer lists and inquiries are yours, and you can export them anytime.
Goals and a launch date agreed up front
Whether it’s a store, a building’s site or a district platform, we agree on what it has to do and when it goes live before any work begins.
Privacy-first by design
Passive sensing keeps counts, not identities. A phone is linked to a person only if that person opts in through the app.
What happens on the call
Thirty minutes with Jacob.
You tell Jacob how you sell, lease or run things today. He tells you what he’d build, what it would do for you, and what he’d need from you to start. You leave with a clear picture, whether or not we work together.
30 minutes, by video or in person downtown.
Where next
Eighteen places, one map. Pick one.
Get started today with a 30-minute consultation.
Book a timeCall or text (651) 378-1161