Interviews at The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC

Tania Anderson, for Bisnow on Business: Just so we know what you do—what are examples of clients you work for and what you do for them?
Well, the DC Chamber of Commerce, for example, has 30 employees, and for an organization that size it’s not cost effective to have in-house IT staff person, so they outsource to us. We provide them with full range of IT services such as help desk, network support, and an outsourced CIO function. They have a director of IT, but we assist with IT strategy, evaluating technologies in terms of business goals, and so forth. We work with United Colors of Beneton’s North American franchise, headquartered in Georgetown. They have an IT staff, but we provide a back up for higher-end IT projects like server migrations and network upgrades. And we work with associations, such as CTAM, the Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing, giving them outsourced help desk services and network support.

How do you define help desk services and network support?
Help desk is supporting end users, such as “my mouse is broken” or “I need help with Microsoft Word.” Network support is maintaining and proactively monitoring core infrastructure, such as servers, switches, and routers.

Your revenue has doubled each year since your launch. What’s driving that growth?
Customer service. We have a high client retention rate. A lot of our customers have become advocates for us and have been sending us referrals.

What is your customer service strategy?
We offer a guaranteed two-hour emergency response to our retainer clients. That is a unique factor. We’re located in D.C., so we have quick access to a majority of our customers. A lot of our competitors are located in the outskirts of the city, even as far as Gaithersburg or even Baltimore.

What gave you and the other two founders the idea to start the company?
We were previously working as network consultants for another consulting company. We got the entrepreneurial spirit and wanted to attempt to do it on our own and have been happy ever since.

You started the company after the tech bust. Did you have any apprehension about the timing?
It was unique, especially starting a company in what would be considered a recession and growing out of that. But for small businesses or businesses in general, there’s always going to be a need for IT consulting and development projects.

What’s the biggest challenge of running a start-up tech company these days?
Managing growth is a challenge but we try to stay ahead of the curve and hire ahead of schedule, so that when we do bring on new clients, we’re ready for them. We don’t want to be scrambling, after we get a contract, to run out and find someone. We like to bring people in and get them accustomed to our consulting style and our standards before sending them out into the field.

That must be a delicate balance in terms of the right time to hire new people.
It’s been a learning experience from the beginning. We’ve gotten a good understanding of our business and the beat of our industry. We’ve been doing a good job of timing that.

How do you find the people?
It’s becoming more difficult to find the type of employees that we’re looking for. We’ve been doing a lot of advertising online. We also try to find people through word of mouth from existing staff or clients that we work with. Right now, especially on the development side, there seems to be a growing shortage of qualified candidates.

Any theories on why that is?
D.C. obviously has a strong tech base. A lot of people are getting pulled into government contract work. Also, there’s been a decline in university enrollment of IT degrees.

How did you become involved with Free DuPont Wireless, the hot spot you set up in Dupont Circle?
We launched it for free in July 2005, to get some name recognition. We put out a press release and had volunteers hand out information to people in the area. We had looked around the country and seen a movement going toward setting up free wireless hot spots. They were primarily being funded by municipalities or non-profit organizations. We wanted to demonstrate that we could do it with corporate sponsorships. We put together a group of corporate sponsors, including us, that were fundamental to the operation of the project. For example, Allied Telecom is the Internet service provider. We got it set up and promoted it to the public. You can take your laptop to the park at the circle, and if it’s enabled for wireless, the service will pop up as an available network. It’s a vehicle for us to show Washington we’re a locally based IT firm that’s concerned about the environment that we’re in.

The environment that we’re in? What do you mean by that?
Showcasing D.C. as a forward, progressive city that’s exploring these technologies like Philadelphia and New York.

Was the D.C. government interested in helping you out with this?
We had initially contacted the D.C. government. I don’t think the project really caught their interest. But I think at this point they probably are noticing the strong intentions of other cities like San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York to establish wireless Internet access in the city. We avoided the need for DC approval by just setting the service up in private property nearby.

Are you looking at other hot spots around the city?
We were recently contracted by the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District to establish a hot spot at Farragut Square. That one we were paid for, and that’s been completed. It’s open to the public now but obviously when the weather gets better, people will be able to enjoy it. We are looking at other spots conducive to a wireless hot spot. The only other place that has free public wireless in DC, I think, is a part of the National Mall, which is provided by the non-profit “Open Park Project.”

Any plans to establish a hot spot outside of the city?
We’ve been contacted by a couple of community groups outside of the city.

How many people use Dupont Circle’s hot spot on a monthly basis?
Since it’s outside, in the wintertime the usage drops considerably, as you can imagine. But in the spring, summer and fall, we did have quite a bit of users, especially on the weekends. We’d get up to 150 users a day.

How did you get it hooked up?
It takes equipment that’s corporate grade. We used high-powered Cisco access points and specialized antenna to direct the signal. The equipment is located at Jurys Washington Hotel at the top. It’s beaming down from the roof.

Is this something that can make money for your company?
To be honest, I think the real value is through the PR exposure, the advertising for the company. The public is used to, or starting to get used to, getting wireless Internet access for free. We feel that’s the model to move forward with.

How did you get interested in technology?
I had a PC early on. It seemed very natural as I grew up. I was actually more interested in business when I attended college. I was looking for a job to make some extra money and help pay for college and ended up working in a computer store selling equipment and fixing the hardware that was coming in. I found that I had a natural talent for it. This was right before the boom. I saw the direction things were going in and went out and got a Microsoft certification and was picked up immediately by a software development company. After that I worked as a consultant while in the field until I was able to convince one of my fellow consultants to start TechAssist.

As a kid, did you have any businesses?
In high school, I wrote 15 or 20 business plans. I always had a new idea and every month it was some different way to make $1 million. I found the one we were going to be successful at.

What kinds of business plans did you write?
All different kinds. Some were IT related. One of the ones I wrote was the viability of establishing a gaming center, like a cyber café. Cyber cafes had started and I thought that would be a good outlet for an entertainment center, a 21st century arcade. Maybe that one will come later. There’s a few out there, but I think they’re really struggling to get a consistent model, and that’s why you don’t really see any national effort.

What’s the future of the company?
Our model is to continually improve our operations and how we support our clients. And get that to a point where we can replicate that and open that up to other cities on the East Coast and the rest of the United States. We’re also focusing on our development side. We’ve recently been engaged to develop some customized solutions for clients.

Any interesting hobbies?
Poker.

Texas Hold ‘Em?
Of course.

How much?
As much as I can. Around here, and I have played tournaments in Atlantic City.

I thought you’d be older. Are the other principals as young?
I’m actually one of the younger ones in the company.

Many young entrepreneurs bring in an experienced executive to help run the company. Did you do that when you launched TechAssist?
My father was a management consultant for 25 years, and we were lucky enough to convince him to come on board. He heads up our business development but is also instrumental in advising with his vast expertise of management and managing a startup.

That must be interesting working with your father. Who’s the boss?
I try to be. It’s not always successful. He’s a very understanding guy but there’s still a line.

[This interview conducted by Tania Anderson for Bisnow on Business.]