The TechnoDane story
Imagine any overpriced coffee shop...
Two Twin-Cities IT professionals fell to talking. "You know," said the first, "If you are a sole proprietor, you pretty much run your own systems and you can make use of the same retail support outlets as home users do."
"Hm." said the other.
"And if you are a big business, y'know, an MN-100 or a local branch of some giant national or multinational company you have an IT army of your own, or you contract with IBM or some other giant multinational outsourcer to get your support."
"Uh-huh." said the other.
"But what about the company between those extremes?"
"Left out." said the other.
"Left completely out!" said the first.
A long silence ensued.
"You know," said the second, "We should really start a business."
"Yeah, I wish I could think of an idea for one."
How it really happened
That isn't really how TechnoDane happened. But it isn't all that far off. TechnoDane was founded in August of 2007 by two Twin-Cities IT professionals who have been talking about starting a business for years. One of them is a software developer with 20 years of experience developing software of all kinds, from embedded systems to contract work for banks, government, insurance companies, you name it. The other is a systems administrator, educator, and "jack of all trades" support professional with nearly 20 years experience.
Both of the founders worked "day jobs" doing what they do, and both took occasional support work for small professional offices such as dentists, lawyers, accountants, small marketing firms, and so forth both for the enjoyment of variety and to make some extra money.
The first's "day job" was an extended contract for a medium-sized Minnesota company doing custom PalmOS software for field force automation. Combining these experiences, they realized that although small businesses had great need for reliable service and for occasional custom software, it was usually unavailable or economically out of reach.
That's when TechnoDane was born. Created to meet a real need. Businesses like yours depend on your computers and networks. And businesses like yours can benefit from customized training and even possibly from customized software.
And the name, well, the founding partner has a couple of Great Danes, and they are, if nothing else, inspirational!
