Case Studies

Case Studies

VerityThree Founder Finds Validation in HTG Peer Groups

“To be an HTG member is to be among the best of the best IT solution providers. We share successes and challenges to collectively make each other stronger and able to better serve our clients.”
-Jonathan Smith, Founder and President, VerityThree

“When you’re surrounded by success, failure is not a consideration,” said Jonathan Smith, president and founder of VerityThree, a technology solution provider headquartered in McHenry, Illinois. Growing up, Jonathan watched his father build a thriving engineering firm from the ground up in the midst of a recession. It was this firsthand perspective of fearless entrepreneurship that would eventually lead Jonathan on a similar path of his own.

At age 20, when most of us were still trying to figure out what to do with our lives, Jonathan, along with friend Pete Smothers, founded VerityThree. The young businessman was in his junior year of college when the company – which offered technology and Web site development – was incorporated in 1999.

Ten years after founding VerityThree, Jonathan started hearing great things about a network of IT professionals that met on a regular basis to share best practices. Intrigued, he attended his first HTG Peer Group meeting in August 2009. He has been a dedicated member ever since. “I reached out to HTG because I recognize that there’s a whole level of experience out there that I don’t have,” Jonathan remembers. “I could either wait for that experience or join up with partners to get it.”

Business Planning Process Key to MyITpros’ Growth

“When I Think of where we were with our financial management in 2009 and where we are today, it’s like night and day how much we’ve improved.”
-Chris Boyle, CEO, MyITpros

For the past five years, MyITpros of Austin, Texas has been enjoying business growth between 10 and 35 percent annually for about a 22-percent per year average. “And that wouldn’t be possible,” owner and CEO Chris Boyle explains, “without a business planning process.”

A member of HTG Peer Groups since early 2009, Chris says one of his incentives for joining was to tap the organization for help developing that very process. He was especially interested in learning best practices for managing the financial side of his business – specifically P&L management. Chris has been more than satisfied by what he’s learned from HTG Peer Groups.

“When I think of where we were with our financial management in 2009 and where we are today, ti’s like night and day how much we’ve improved,” Chris declares. “I can’t imagine being in this business and not being a part of HTG.”

Sharing and Accountability Makes HTG Peer Groups a Special Organization

“Is there ROI? Absolutely! HTG gave me the confidence to change my business model. We now have a much more valuable company if we were to sell it.”
— Brad Kowerchuk, President, Bralin Technology Solutions

In 2006, Brad Kowerchuk, president of Bralin Technology Solutions of North Battleford, Saskatchewan, might have been harboring a bit of a “been there, tried that” attitude about a business model for IT managed services. After approximately a decade of primarily offering IT products with supplemental business revenue coming from services, he had jumped aboard the managed services bandwagon only, as he put it, “to fall flat on our faces.”

Perhaps it was serendipity that Brad found himself in the right place at the right time in the fall of that year. Attending a ConnectWise Partner Summit, he heard keynote speaker Michael Gerber tell his audience to “focus on working on your business and not just in your business.” The advice struck a chord with Brad that would become a playable tune after he attended an HTG Peer Group presentation. “Sitting in a room with people who did nothing but managed services work, I felt encouraged to try again,” he recalls.

Aterian CEO Moves Company Forward with HTG Peer Group Encouragement

"In this industry, we're usually working hard just to get through the day. Membership in HTG inspires us to a whole new level of leadership within our companies."
-Jamison West, Founder & CEO, Arterian

The first requirement of any leader is to choose a direction. Once that person has demonstrated a commitment to a chosen path then, perhaps, others will follow — especially if the prospects for shared success are good. But absolutely nobody hitches a ride in a parked car.

Now it was never the case that Arterian founder and CEO Jamison West lacked drive. Rather, he’s someone with a mind open to opportunities and willingness to explore possibilities. A graduate of

University of Washington with a degree in Business, Jamison, in fact, parlayed a hobbyist’s interest in computers into a successful career as an IT consultant that has lasted for about 20 years. But going from tech work for a friend in the publishing business, to directing a Seattle-based IT managed services company with almost 30 employees wasn’t a pre-ordained outcome. Rather, Jamison will tell you that if it weren’t for his HTG Peer Group, he might have been satisfied running a nimble one-man operation.

On the plane ride home from Dallas, our team was talking and spending some time doing an informal debrief of our week together at the 2013 HTG Summit. I thought it would be good to review some of the

VerityThree Founder Finds Validation in HTG Peer Groups

Business Planning Process Key to MyITpros’ Growth

Sharing and Accountability Makes HTG Peer Groups a Special Organization

Aterian CEO Moves Company Forward with HTG Peer Group Encouragement

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