Software Design

Search Optics hires 30-plus workers in Ferndale

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March 21, 2013

When Search Optics went looking for a place to set up shop in the eastern half of the U.S. to take advantage of the automotive Internet marketing space, no place made as much sense as Metro Detroit. "The people in Detroit are intrinsically tuned to what's going on in the automotive industry," says Christian Fuller, executive vice president of Search Optics. "Everybody bleeds a little oil here." The San Diego-based company now has more workers in its growing downtown Ferndale office than its west coast home and Toronto satellite office. Search Optics opened its office in downtown Ferndale two years ago and it now has 55 employees and a couple of interns there. It has hired more than 30 people over the last year, prompting it to expand its space. It currently operates out of the first floor of a loft-style office and is building out the second floor of the building to accommodate its growing staff. Fuller expects the Detroit office to grow to 100 people within the next year. "In the last year we have almost doubled our business," Fuller says. "We have been absolutely elated with the quality of people who have filled positions here in Detroit." Source: Christian Fuller, executive vice president of Search Optics Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Latest in Software Design

Downtown Mt. Clemens welcomes software firm eyeWyre

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General

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March 21, 2013

Downtown Mt. Clemens is welcoming another new economy tech firm as eyeWyre Software Studios makes the move from Shelby Township to the seat of Macomb County. The 13-year-old firm is moving into an old firehouse (circa 1908) that has been newly refurbished into a creative office space. The company is bringing nine employees and an intern with it. It had looked at other downtown spaces across the region, including Royal Oak, Ferndale and Detroit, but saw downtown Mt. Clemens as the best fit. "We are a very creative company," says Matt Chartier, president & director of product development for eyeWyre Software Studios. "We want to have an urban experience and a cool environment. ... We saw a lot of new things happening here. This new growth was pretty cool for us." The software company offers both consulting and software services for everything from desktop to mobile platforms. It has also produced its own software and tech products, including robotics and micro-controller simulators and games for the desktop and mobile platforms. Mobile has become a growing part of eyeWyre Software Studios' business. It has hired three people over the last year, and they have all been software engineers. Source: Matt Chartier, president & director of product development for eyeWyre Software Studios Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

DataFactZ adds 110 people, looks to hire 10 more now

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General

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March 21, 2013

The demand for more bandwidth and expertise in the IT and data management industries has risen sharply with the economy, which is good news for a business like DataFactZ. The Northville-based firm specializes in data-warehousing and IT services. Its revenue has spiked 30 percent, enabling it to hire 110 people over the last year. It now has a staff of 500 employees and a few interns. It is currently looking to hire another 10 people. "We had tremendous growth last year," says Sridhar Kodati, vice president of DataFactZ. "We added many clients, like Meijer. This is helping good companies like DataFactZ that are in the right place at the right time to grow exponentially. Kodati expects to notch another 30-40 percent growth this year as the company continues to attract more clients and staff. "The trend has been increasing day by day," Kodati says. "The industry needs more resources, so a lot of companies are looking to us." Source: Sridhar Kodati, vice president of DataFactZ Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

A Need For Raw Talent

By Jon Zemke

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General

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March 18, 2013

Paul Jacobs, CEO of Southfield-based mobile apps firm jacApps, thinks that talent rather than experience is critical to building success in today's ever-evolving mobile technology industry. Jon Zemke chats with Jacobs about the challenges of and strategies for attracting the best and brightest to his growing company.

High Bit Security focuses on sales presence to spur growth

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General

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March 7, 2013

High Bit Security's bread and butter is IT security, but the Rochester-based firm is making its product offerings heat up by focusing more of its attention on sales and marketing. The 3-year-old firm specializes in IT Security Testing (Penetration Testing), Social Engineering, and obtaining and maintaining PCI-DSS or PA-DSS compliance. It has recently focused on its sales and marketing efforts, adding a full-time staffer to handle that part of the company. "A good part of the last year was spent getting that part of the business online and working," says Adam Goslin, COO of High Bit Security. The idea is to bolster the sales and create some internal efficiencies. That has led to a freshly relaunched website and a constant drum beat of press releases going out each month. That work has set the stage for the company to hit some significant growth goals this year. "This coming year looks to be quite positive for High Bit Security," Goslin says. "That's because of the investment we have put into our sales presence." Source: Adam Goslin, COO of High Bit Security Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Buz.fm scores $100K investment from Automation Alley

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Economic Development

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March 7, 2013

Buz.fm has landed a $100,000 investment from the Automation Alley Pre-Seed Fund, the first investment in a Series A round the company hopes will total between $1 million and $5 million. The Orion Township-based tech start-up specializes in developing social media, digital marketing and advertising technologies. The 1-year-old firm provides Internet-based services and products in the advertising and promotion sectors. Its cloud-based applications deliver thousands of digital marketing and advertising campaigns to customers in a variety of industries including restaurants, resorts, hotels, auto dealerships and the entertainment industry, among others. Buz.fm employs 14 people and is interviewing interns for this summer. It currently has five positions open for software developers (two) and marketing technologists (three). "We have grown a lot," says Stephen Sadler, CEO & president of Buz.fm. "It happened faster than we thought. I have never seen something grow this quickly." Buz.fm spun out of Scate Technologies, a software development company, two years ago in September. Sadler hopes to continue the company's current growth streak and lock down its Series A funding round within the next 6-8 weeks. "The sky is the limit, really," Sadler says. Source: Stephen Sadler, CEO & president of Buz.fm Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Novi’s Marvel Technologies hires 35, plans to double headcount

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February 28, 2013

Marvel Technologies is leveraging some large projects to continue its substantial growth. The Novi-based IT firm has hired 35 people over the last year, expanding its staff to nearly 90 people and the occasional intern. It currently has 10 job openings right now, for everything from a sales associate to director of IT. The company, founded in 2006, expects its staff to pass the 200 mark within the next year. "I want to double that this year," says Bala Rajaraman, president & CEO of Marvel Technologies. "If we keep hiring at this pace it shouldn't be hard." Marvel Technologies has created two new SAP products. CompEz is a compensation-planning solution for use with SAP applications that provides add-on capabilities to the SAP ERP Human Capital Management application. FormsEz 1.0 provides SAP-certified integration with the SAP NetWeaver technology platform. It helps customers become more sustainable by reducing the need and use of paper and enables enterprises to develop, manage and process electronic forms dynamically with speed and accuracy. Those products have helped the company hit 70-percent revenue growth in 2012. The staff and its technology has also been supporting some major local projects, including General Motors' implementation of IBM technology. "The last couple of years we have had big, big growth," Rajaraman says. Source: Bala Rajaraman, president & CEO of Marvel Technologies Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Russian immigrant leverages referrals to grow Company Folders

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Entrepreneurship

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February 21, 2013

Vladimir Gendelman grew up in the U.S.S.R. dreaming of owning his own business. It seemed like a far-away dream for the youngster growing up in a communist country, until he immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1990s. Gendelman worked as a website developer for a few years before he got laid off in 2002. That's when he decided to seize on his childhood dream, launching a start-up called Company Folders. The company helps make presentation folder selection easier to understand and use. "With presentation folders there are a lot of options," Gendelman says. "People either offer you just one way or you get overwhelmed with information. I set a goal of taking that overwhelming information and turning it into something understandable." The company now has a staff of six employees and the occasional summer intern. It hired one person (a writer) over the last year and now has three openings for jobs in social media, marketing and user experience. That staff growth is coming on increases in revenue, which is up 50 percent since 2008. "Many of our new customers came from referrals," Gendelman says. "We also get a tremendous amount of customers who come back." Source: Vladimir Gendelman, founder & CEO of Company Folders Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Accounting Business Solutions by JCS hires in Southfield

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General

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February 21, 2013

What was once JCS Computer Resources is now becoming Accounting Business Solutions by JCS. What remains the same is that the company is growing its presence in Southfield. The 18-year-old business specializes in integrating software solutions into parts of a business, such as accounting. The company also has locations in Dallas, Chicago, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Atlanta and Sacramento. "Our work in the Metro Detroit area has doubled, primarily because of the economy," says Jennifer O'Brien, president of Accounting Business Solutions by JCS. "Businesses are trying to automate more processes and that's what we do." The company's revenue is up 120 percent over the last three years. In that time it has added in excess of 50 new clients. That has allowed the company to hire two more people to its Southfield office, expanding it to seven employees. "I think in the next 12 months we will grow another 50 percent," O'Brien says. Source: Jennifer O'Brien, president of Accounting Business Solutions by JCS Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Kors Engineering continues expansion with new hires

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Economic Development

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February 21, 2013

Kors Engineering is swimming against the conventional wisdom tide, working to make manufacturing a bigger part of the tech company. The Waterford-based business specializes in systems integration and automation for manufacturers and other industrial facilities. It has spent the last year growing the manufacturing integration side of the business and setting the stage for the big revenue jump in 2013. "We wouldn't be surprised if our number of customers doubled this year," says Tony Kaczmarek, president of Kors Engineering. Kors Engineering now services customers in a wide range of manufacturing sectors, including metalforming, hide-processing, food packaging, chrome plating, forging and driveline systems production facilities. Today, a total of 43 plants leverage Kors' PleXML tool to integrate programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and other plant floor systems in order to automate processes and capture and share production data. More than 1,300 work centers are integrated through Kors’ PleXML tool, with 30 percent located outside of the United States. Kors Engineering currently employs a dozen people and is looking to expand that staff soon. "We are definitely looking at hiring 1-2 people this year," Kaczmarek says. Source: Tony Kaczmarek, president of Kors Engineering Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.