Most people who’ve been around the block a few times in the startup game would probably agree that being an entrepreneur sometimes means pushing boundaries – both personally and professionally.
That’s one of Steve Shulman’s big takeaways from running San Diego-based Web application design, development and marketing firm High Clarity. Yes, that’s the same Steve Shulman behind LeadActivate, also profiled on this blog. A veteran software consultant – High Clarity was founded in 2005 – Shulman knows what it takes to succeed in the business of helping other businesses.
And a big part of that success is getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.
“It is rarely possible to choose the type of work you want to do,” he said. “Until you are more established, you need to put yourself well outside your comfort zone, learn new technologies and take any work that comes your way.”
One of the biggest challenges Shulman’s business faces is that the market is continuously evolving. New technologies emerge at a rapid clip, making it difficult to keep track of the best tools, frameworks, plugins, social media networks and apps to recommend to clients.
“If you can do that successfully, you’ll soon be able to identify the types of projects that provide the best ROI for both you and the client,” he said.
To do this, Shulman said that he and his colleagues at High Clarity spend a big part of the day simply reading up on new technologies and playing around with cutting-edge products. This includes a medley of Web 2.0 concepts, such as responsive design.
“Over the past few years, we have made significant shifts in the products we use,” he said.
The business is also agile. High Clarity is based in San Diego, but has a team of experienced offshore software programmers working around the clock. Shulman said the business uses a lean structure, partnering with hand-selected companies to provide best-of-breed services where needed. The idea is to help businesses that want to avoid paying expensive agency fees, but need significantly more one-on-one involvement, strategy and technical help than is available through direct outsourcing.
“We have a graphic designer, Photoshop expert and SEO team with whom we partner – thereby allowing us to utilize these services, without the pressure – and overhead – of keeping full-time employees on the books, except for our offshore team,” he said.
It’s an approach that’s not only allowed Shulman to stay profitable, but fuel investment in other companies.
“Using this model, we have been profitable every year since we started up the company. In fact, it has also allowed us to fund the development of other startups at the same time.”
The post High Clarity Business Profile appeared first on Incubate.com Blog.
