HTG 10 Meeting at Microsoft Canada Headquarters
Happy Birthday HTG 10!
Our Canadian peer group, HTG 10, recently met at the Microsoft Canada headquarter in Mississauga. It was the one year anniversary of our group. This peer group has drastically transitioned my business and my life.
When I started the participation in the group, I was the sole owner of CompuConsult, a Calgary based IT service provider. The company had organically grown to more than 1 million dollars in yearly revenues. I had joined a local Powerhouse peer group to learn how to grow the business, and I jumped on the chance to join an industry specific group.
We were not really prepared for the growth coming our way. The demand for Computer Consulting Services in Calgary was really taking off and we could not find qualified staff to deliver the service. A lot of people will probably remember this dilemma in 2008!
My participation in the group taught me that in order to grow my business I needed to form a management team. Up until that point I was a technician, a manager, an entrepreneur and chief bottle washer. In other words the company would cease to exist if something was to happen to me.
One of the options on the table was to merge with one of the other HTG participants, this would instantly create a management team. On February 1, 2009 Bulletproof InfoTech started its operation after a merger between CompuConsult of Calgary and Bulletproof Networks of Red Deer. Our management team now consists of Jeff Anderson, Sean Tindall, Stuart Crawford and myself. We make an awesome team and I feel that because of our HTG Peer group involvement we have all matured as business people and not just technicians. Without the support of this peer group, I highly doubt that we all would have found the courage to complete the merge.
In our Mississauga meeting we had the pleasure to be presented with 4 new candidate members. After attending the first day of meetings, to get acquainted, 3 candidates were accepted as new group members. We would like to welcome Ted Garner of IT Weapons, Goran Jovanovic of Omega Network Solutions and Dan Buhler of u networks. I am sure that they will receive as much value from our group as I have received in the past year!
Paula & Stuart
We also had an opportunity to visit the office and data centre of IT Weapons, which were very impressive. Randy Biggs who had sacrificed his Sunday for us so the we could get a tour of Toronto was also able to show his VACS office in St. Catharine’s to a few peer group members. It is great see the offices of other peer group members as it helps to better understand their business.
It was great to have an opportunity to meet our Microsoft partner manager Paula Stronach. Thanks again Paula for letting us use your facility, and herding us like cats to go for coffee! Ingram Micro Canada was kind enough to sponsor dinner at the Niagara Falls. I owe a big thank you to Stuart Crawford for giving me the opportunity to see this Canadian landmark for the first time!
