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We've been hearing for years that human capital is a company's most valuable asset, so it stands to reason that there's money to be made in identifying underrated humans. Nick Gleason, a budding Warren Buffett of the barrio, has built a profitable Internet company (!) by recruiting and training the brightest, hungriest tech workers in some of America's inner cities. The company Gleason founded, Citysoft, designs, builds and manages Web sites and corporate intranets. The roster of corporate clients includes Reebok (nyse: RBK), Polaroid (nyse: PRD) and Siemens. Citysoft also does subcontract work for larger Web design firms like Proxicom (nasdaq: PXCM) and Sapient (nasdaq: SAPE).
Launched in 1997, bootstrapped with money from "suckers and my folks," according to Gleason, the company should hit $2 million in revenue this year with a 10% profit margin. A former social activist, Gleason worked for non-profit groups in various inner cities before realizing that the way to change lives was to give people the chance to succeed in business. "The big opportunities for impact are in creating jobs," he says. Working in West Oakland, Calif., Gleason saw that "there wasn't a lack of social services, but a lack of wealth creation."
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Gleason picked up an M.B.A. from Harvard and began working his contacts in social work to find the diamonds in rough neighborhoods. The Citysoft strategy is to open offices wherever there's a vibrant market for new media services and a first-class tech training center or community college. So far, the company has opened locations in Boston, New York and Baltimore. Baltimore is a long drive from some potential clients in the D.C. market, but the abundance of qualified programmers, thanks in part to a non-profit tech-training outfit called Catalyst Associates, convinced Gleason to take a shot. So far, so good.
Interestingly, according to Gleason, Citysoft's biggest problem isn't identifying and hiring talented, well-trained tech workers. It's giving them "the soft skills" that they need to communicate with clients and co-workers. Conventional business has certain customs in terms of how people deal with each other, so Citysoft has spent more time than Gleason expected training people in soft skills, but less time than he expected on technical training. "The raw talent is there," he says.
And he believes that talent will propel Citysoft to the top ranks of new media firms. In fact, as heartwarming as the story is of the young entrepreneur who brings jobs to the hood, Gleason says there's an even more compelling story. And it's not about do-gooder social projects. Says Gleason: "Here's a company that can play ball. We can do great things and we have great products. We want to compete!" |
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