March 26, 2026

This piece is sponsored by MarketBeat.

Mindy doesn’t care about stock market data.

She has no opinion on earnings season, no preference between bull and bear markets and no interest in the company’s content pipeline. But when MarketBeat founder and CEO Matt Paulson leaves for work in the morning without her, she absolutely has opinions about that.

Paulson’s dogs, Mork and Mindy, are part of a rotating cast of four-legged regulars at MarketBeat’s downtown Sioux Falls office.

On any given day, there’s a dog somewhere in the space. Asleep under a desk by 9 a.m. Positioned suspiciously close to whoever’s eating lunch. Sitting in on a meeting no one invited them to.

Nearly every employee on the team has a dog. Most have two.

“Having dogs around just changes the feel of the day,” Paulson said. “People relax a little more. There’s always something to smile at.”

It’s not something anyone formally decided on. There’s no policy behind it. It just happened gradually as people brought their dogs in, and no one saw a reason not to.

Now, it’s something you notice when it’s missing.

The dogs behind the desks

Most employees keep treats at their desk. When someone mentions they’re bringing their dog in, the question isn’t whether it’s allowed. It’s which dog.

There are routines. Dogs that head straight to the same spot every time they arrive. Dogs that make a full lap around the office before settling in.

If you’ve visited the MarketBeat office, you’ve probably met a few of them. Rigley has been coming in since the early days.

Buckley has a more defined schedule, reliably claiming Tuesdays as her workday.

Employees’ camera rolls are filled with photos of dogs finding the best patch of sunlight by the window or peering through the glass while they wait for their owner to return from the bathroom.

On more than one occasion, a dog has wandered into the background of a podcast recording.

Viewers of MarketBeat’s Monday YouTube livestream might hear the occasional bark without ever seeing where it came from.

It’s a small detail, but it says something about how the company works. At MarketBeat, the things people care about tend to show up in the environment around them.

Over time, that connection has shown up in other ways too.

Some of those dogs came from the same organizations MarketBeat supports.

Web developer Bekah Van Maanen adopted Bowser, her Boston terrier, from B-Squad Dog Rescue after meeting him at a local event.

He was the last dog waiting for a home that day. Paulson’s dog, Mork, is also a B-Squad rescue.

And then there’s Scruffles.

MarketBeat previously sponsored the Sioux Falls Area Humane Society’s Waggin’ Wednesdays, a weekly social media feature highlighting adoptable dogs. When the Humane Society brought Scruffles to the office for a promotional shoot, MarketBeat’s digital media producer, Bridget Bennett, wasn’t expecting to go home with a dog.

“When I saw him, I thought he was absolutely adorable, but then getting to know his personality and demeanor during the shoot, I just felt an instant connection,” Bennett said. “I knew he was my dog, so I left work early to make it official the same day.”

At a certain point, the connection stops feeling separate. The dogs in the office and the organizations behind them begin to overlap.

Scruffles isn’t the only example.

Where personal connections lead

That’s generally how things work at MarketBeat.

MarketBeat tends to follow what its employees care about, whether that means supporting leadership development, encouraging nonprofit board service or building a workplace where dogs are welcome. Its employee-led philanthropy committee reflects that, with personal connections playing a meaningful role in those decisions.

“When someone on the team already has a connection, you understand the impact a lot faster,” said Maureen Ohm, director of community relations, who helps lead MarketBeat’s philanthropy committee. “There’s context there. People have seen the work up close, and that shapes how we think about where we can help.”

The company’s first contribution to a local rescue came through a 2021 collaboration with Remedy Brewing Co. MarketBrew, a limited-run beer, was created to raise money for nonprofits. Remedy brought B-Squad Dog Rescue and Sioux Empire Pit Rescue to the table. The batch sold out within a month and raised $25,000 for the two organizations.

“We didn’t overthink it,” Paulson said. “It lined up with something the team already cared about, and it gave us a way to support organizations doing really meaningful work locally.”

That project introduced MarketBeat to organizations that the team grew personally connected to over time.

Van Maanen, who served on the company’s original philanthropy committee, became increasingly involved with B-Squad, eventually volunteering on rescue transport missions alongside other employees.

“You see these dogs come in from really tough situations, and then a few months later, they’re just part of someone’s everyday life,” Van Maanen said. “That’s a pretty cool thing to be part of.”

The company has supported B-Squad on various occasions, including a contribution that helped keep a rescue mission on track after emergency vet costs had wiped out the volunteer-run organization’s reserves.

Dogs on the guest list

That connection also has shown up in more visible ways.

When MarketBeat celebrated its 10th consecutive year on the Inc. 5000 list, the team built a celebration around the things the company values: local art, live music, good company and a chance to give back.

In keeping with that spirit, they invited Sioux Empire Pit Rescue to bring adoptable dogs.

Guests were able to meet the animals and were given the opportunity to donate to the organization. MarketBeat matched contributions 2:1, and the evening raised $15,000 for the rescue.

“Dogs are such a big part of who we are at MarketBeat, so it felt natural to have them there,” Ohm said. “It gave people a chance to connect with the work in a really direct way.”

Part of a broader commitment

MarketBeat supports nonprofits across Sioux Falls in education, arts, community development and more. The support for local rescues and shelters is one part of that.

It’s an organic extension of the culture that’s already there.

To learn more about the organizations mentioned in this article, visit bsquaddogrescue.com, pitrescue.org and sfadopt.com.

Local nonprofits interested in applying for MarketBeat’s support can find more information on the process here.