About
A habitat, not a brochure.
eHabitats started in 2005 on a simple idea: an organization's presence online should work like a habitat rather than a brochure. A place that fits the people who use it, holds what matters, and lasts.
That framing held up better than the technology around it. The tools changed roughly every three years. The idea didn't.
What we believe
- Software should fit the organization, not the reverse.
- The generic platform is right more often than agencies admit. When it's wrong, it's wrong in a way that costs your staff hours every week, and that's when custom work pays.
- Own the relationship.
- Social platforms bring reach. Your habitat holds the relationship: who your members are, what they did, what they care about. Build on other people's land and you rent your own audience back.
- Admin screens decide adoption.
- The public site gets the design attention. The staff screens decide whether anyone uses the system. We build both.
- Say the uncomfortable thing early.
- If the project is wrong, or the budget doesn't match the ask, or you should buy something off the shelf instead, you'll hear it in the first conversation rather than the third invoice.
Who runs it
eHabitats is led by Jeloni Shabazz. Educated at MIT, he has spent more than twenty years designing and building software for organizations, communities, and data-intensive platforms, and is the founder of ScholarComp. He is based in Maryland.
Tell us what you need.
Send a paragraph about your organization and the problem in front of you. We'll tell you whether we're the right shop, what we'd build, and what it costs. If we're not the right shop, we'll say so and point you somewhere better.