Minneapolis-based repair and consulting firm The Foundation has an easy slogan to remember: "We can fix that." Considering that the accompanying image on its Web site shows a laptop with a spike through it, that slogan is quite a claim to the company's abilities. Founder Chip Pearson talks about leaving a cushy job, cookie cutters, and getting the word out.
How did The Foundation get started?
The Foundation began in 1999. At the time I was working for one of the "Baby Bells" and fielding calls from other employers and freelance opportunities left and right. This was back in the go-go days of the late '90s before the tech market tanked. I decided if I was going to go into business for myself, I better get moving.
So, I left my cushy 40-hour-a-week job and started The Foundation. I had no clients, no money, and no way to pay the bills. It was a little rough at first, like any small start-up business, but eventually I started getting clients.
In the beginning, The Foundation was run out of the sunroom in my apartment. We moved into an office and the market crashed; back to the sunroom.
In late 2002, we took the plunge and moved across the river to Minneapolis. In less than a year we were on Hennepin in Loring Park.
Why do you think there is a need for your services?
I like to think we service a segment of the business world that relies on something other than cookie-cutter, out of the box, off the shelf computers.
We target the creative economy of the Twin Cities: the graphic designers, the advertisers, and the printing industry. Our team understands the unique needs of our clients, and is able to provide them with solid, dependable computer support. We'll work with the non-creative sector as well.
We work with our clients to achieve the most cost-effective use of their budget and nowhere is this more apparent than the non-profit sector. From locating computers for donation to volunteering our time and resources, non-profits will always hold a special place for us.
What are the largest challenges that you see in providing your services?
The biggest challenge I see is putting our name on the street. I have complete faith in what we do here so we just need to get more people to recognize that. And pay us for it of course.
We are starting to make a name for ourselves, a good one even. Letting people know there is an alternative to what is the norm exists is all part of what we are trying to do here. We are starting to see our efforts pay off.
Do you have anything in the works for the future?
Yes, we have teamed up with Dunwoody College of Technology to put on free monthly training seminars. With very little press, the very first one registered over sixty attendees. Not bad.
The second one had fantastic representation and we think the next one will be just as populated if not more so. We will continue to work with the Enterprise Consulting Group. This group lists a lot of Fortune 500 companies as clients.
We also have various expansion plans in the fire. We are first looking into expanding our Mac service statewide. After that, who knows?
do you know a Twin Cities company we should cover? Let us know about it. Send your local profile candidates to emillard@computeruser.com.
