A visit to Tuleburg.
I didnât grow up in Stockton, but soon after I graduated high school, my mom moved there, so Iâve been visiting there regularly for nigh on 20 years now. Stockton has always been a bit of a mystery to me. It has all the ingredients, like proximity to the Bay Area and Sacramento (not to mention glorious recreational areas like Yosemite), very affordable rents, and the oldest university in California in UOP, to be a cultural and tech hub, but it consistently has rated as well, a miserable city. It has high crime rates, low literacy, and only recently exited bankruptcy.
But my yearly snapshots have begun to show more promise. The Miracle Mile has more and more hip restaurants, cafes, and bars. The city just elected a 26-year-old African-American mayor in Michael Tubbs. And on my last visit, I finally discovered a tech company, Tuleburg. Itâs great to see some UOP grads, instead of joining the post-college exodus to the Bay Area, stick around Stockton and make a contribution to the community. They took over a space in the beautiful old Federal Building downtown with just six people, and proceeded to explode in size and reputation in the last five years. Tuleburg does business development in the broadest sense of the term, from marketing, branding, design, and social media, to building web presences (which is where the coding comes in and I get tingly).Â
Most impressively for a company still in its toddlerhood (and something I really donât see enough of in NYC tech companies), Tuleburg dedicates a lot of time and space to the Stockton community. Thereâs a room Tuleburg uses for community tech education that any local grassroots organization or nonprofit is also allowed to use. The CEO Jason showed me some impressive art on his wall that he commissioned from a local homeless man. He also organized an anti-crime march. The list goes on--suffice to say Tuleburg isnât some stealth firm taking advantage of plentiful Stockton office space while pretending itâs not part of the city.
How do I know all this about Tuleburg, you ask? Well, hereâs the kicker for people used to the uber-secretive and/or âweâre too busyâ tech cultures of NYC or the Bay Area. I emailed them saying Iâd love to visit. And they emailed back right away saying sure, come by. I went there a few days later and was shown around by Becky, the CMO, as well as Emily, a marketing assistant. I talked to developers, creatives, and Jason, the CEO, all of whom were friendly and either happy to talk to me or damn good at pretending.
So, Iâm kind of in crush with Tuleburg. Iâm thrilled to see tech dipping its feet into the waters of the Stockton delta. Give them some love, and if you need any development help, give them some business.













