The two of us
We're Cody and Holly.
This is the studio we run together. Since 2020 we've built the websites, written the stories and shot the pictures for law firms, medical practices and builders whose reputation had outgrown their website. We do it from Boulder, for a client list we keep short by choice.
UPWARD is a small studio in Boulder, Colorado, run by Cody and Holly Strate, a married couple. Cody spent twenty-plus years in healthcare sales and marketing, a long run of it as a CMO. Holly came from forensic architecture on construction defect cases. Since 2020 we've delivered more than 100 projects for over 50 clients, a handful at a time.
The story
We didn't start out as web people.
Neither of us started out in web design. Cody spent twenty-plus years selling and marketing inside healthcare, a long run of it as a CMO, in rooms full of skeptical clinicians and careful executives who'd heard every pitch there is. Holly spent her years on the architecture side of construction litigation, leading the field teams that built the data behind construction defect cases, for plaintiffs and for the defense. In that world you don't say anything you can't document.
Somewhere in there Cody had the moment that still runs this studio. An agency was congratulating itself on the traffic it had driven to the company website, and he asked the question a sales guy asks: yeah, so what? Visitors were staying a second and leaving. Traffic wasn't the point. Trust was.
That question became the business. The moment that matters on any website is the one where a stranger decides whether to trust you. It usually happens before they've read a word, and usually right after someone they respect gave them your name. UPWARD started in 2020 to build for that moment, for firms whose reputation had outgrown the website that was supposed to carry it.
We run it together, and we're a good pair. We both manage every client and we both design. Cody carries the creative side, the story and the human connection: how to make the right person feel recognized in the first ten seconds. Holly carries the detail, the documentation and the data: what the analytics say, whether the thing we built is working, and what to change next. One of us tends to get excited about an idea. The other one tends to check whether it's working. It's a good arrangement.
We keep the client list short on purpose. A handful of firms at a time means the two people you met are the two people doing the work, and it means you get our cell numbers. If something breaks on a Sunday, you call or text, and we handle it. That's the whole account-management structure.
We also shoot the pictures ourselves. Stills, film, drone work, customer stories. Cody is the one behind the camera, in your rooms, with your people, because your best clients can spot a stock photo in a second, and we'd rather they see you.
Our first client is still with us, and several others have been here for years. The reason goes beyond the work: we only take on people we like, and we wrote that down. It's called the No Asshole Policy, it's published, and it applies to us first. We'd rather spend our time with good people on work that matters, and so would you.
If that sounds like your kind of studio, we'd love to chat. And if you're happy with what you've got right now, that's completely fine too. Say hello anyway. We like meeting people who care about their work.
The people
The two of us.
Cody Strate
Founder · Creative & Story
Cody spent twenty-plus years selling and marketing inside healthcare, a long run of it as a CMO, which is where he learned how serious people decide: slowly, under pressure, and mostly on whether they believe you understand their problem. He's a Forbes contributor, and he still gets more out of an hour interviewing a client than out of any brief. He shoots professionally too, sports and motorsport when the weekend allows, which is why your attorneys and clinicians end up photographed like the professionals they are.
Holly Strate
Partner · Data & Analytics
Holly studied Environmental Design at CU Boulder, then spent years in forensic architecture on construction defect cases, leading the field teams that gathered and documented the evidence behind them, for plaintiffs and for the defense. It's work where an undocumented claim is worth nothing, and she brought that standard with her. She reads the analytics, runs the measurement, and leads our work on being found in search and in AI answers, the part of this business where rigor beats flair every time.
Where we draw lines
Four things we won't do.
- 01
Take everyone
A handful of firms at a time. You work with the two people you met, start to finish, and never with someone junior you've never heard of.
- 02
Hold your site hostage
The site, the words and the accounts are yours, outright. Leave any time and take them with you. The vendor-hostage model disgusts us, and several clients came to us to get out of it.
- 03
Fake it
Your people, your rooms, your results. No stock lawyers, no invented numbers, and no claim we can't back up on a phone call.
- 04
Work with assholes
The No Asshole Policy is published, and it applies to us first. It's also the reason our clients still like us years in.
Boulder is home. The work is wherever you are, and the camera travels with us.
Every client on this site is referenceable. Ask us for a phone number and call them.
See the work firstThe ask
You've met us. We'd love to meet you.
A conversation
One conversation, with the two of us. No account manager between you and the people who'd do the work. And if you're happy with what you've got, that's fine too.
Cody usually replies within a business day.