The Friendly Geek

The Friendly Geek

Entrepreneurs by Mark Gordon | Managing Editor

For startup computer firm JCR Systems, the path to 1,000% revenue growth includes a hiring formula that has little to do with employing techies. No "jerks" allowed, says the founder.

Brazilian-born Ric Roggero is an artist in a techie's body - a friendly artist.

Founder of a Venice-based computer network service firm, Roggero takes apart all sorts of tech gadgets and gizmos as soon as he gets them. It's a hobby-turned-obsession that the former college biology teacher picked up from his father. "I look to see if it's well-built," he says, "and if people put some thought into it."

Poking thoughtfully around the inner guts of technology is one of the foundations of Roggero's JCR Systems Inc. The other is requiring a friendly approach. Roggero, 51, set out to build the company backwards, looking to hire employees who can relate well to customers and translate tech-speak into everyday language.

He'd rather teach the right person the proper technology than hire cocky "jerks" that know how to fix a server breakdown but don't play well with others.

"My technicians will not use jargon," Roggero says. "It's their job to make [clients] feel comfortable using the tools they have."

The method works. From starting the business partially on a whim in his garage five years ago, Roggero, a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, has grown JCR Systems 1,000%, approaching $1 million in annual sales. In 2005 alone, sales grew 845% and net revenue jumped to $140,000 from $14,000.

What's more, the company was named the Sarasota Economic Development Corporation Technology Company of the year in 2005, an award reflecting a combination of customer service, technology knowledge and revenue growth. Current clients include Realtors, doctors, accountants, law offices, public libraries, even a cabinetmaker. The firm's core work includes designing and maintaining servers and networks and hosting and designing Web sites.

The growth line of the company took a dip somewhat late last year and into the first half of 2006, something Roggero attributes to the residential real estate slowdown, as several clients that depend on the industry dropped their accounts, while others scaled back. Still, he says things picked up recently; he added his sixth employee a few weeks ago.

In addition to revenue growth, Roggero likes that his company has done business with do-good clients. Among other jobs, JCR Systems implemented Wi-Fi Internet hot spots for several Sarasota County libraries and customized computer systems for doctors' offices. Says Roggero: "It's gratifying when you get to help people."

Across the pond

About 30 years ago, Roggero didn't speak a lick of English. When he was 21, he sold nearly all of his possessions to pay for a ticket to fly from Sao Paulo to England. His dream: To learn English.

Roggero lived in Oxford, near the prestigious college. He took a few odd jobs to get by, cleaning houses and working as a short order cook. He made enough money to take a few classes and he also made sure to hang around the people he could learn the most from. "I didn't mingle with anyone [my age]," he says. "I made friends with teachers."

Walking around Oxford's campus one day, Roggero met an American student from Kansas, whose father, it turned out, was involved with a program to give foreign students scholarships. And that's how a twenty-something Brazilian ended up studying biology in the late '70s at the University of Ottawa in rural Ottawa, Kan. Roggero admits it "was pretty different" than his Brazilian hometown, one of the largest and most cosmopolitan cities in the world.

Roggero's work ethic and smarts carried him through some tough times adapting to a new culture. He ultimately earned a Ph.D. in computer simulations from the University of Kansas. After teaching undergraduate biology and graduate biostatistics for nine years, he ran a computer department at the college, where among other tasks, he developed hardware products and wrote software code. In 2000, Roggero and his wife decided to leave Kansas and head for Florida, settling in Venice.

Soon after moving, Roggero went to a local computer store to buy some equipment. The owner and a customer were getting into a heated debate over how to solve a problem with a server. The outgoing Roggero offered his own thoughts, which turned out to be the solution. A few days later, Roggero was working as a consultant for the store. Six months later, Roggero was out on his own, initially setting up shop in his garage.

Good people skills

Roggero's first job was installing an Internet and computer system in a dentist's office. Early on, the medical field was a niche for JCR Systems, buoyed by being in an area of Southwest Florida with a large elderly population, and by extension, a large medical community.

For that first job, Roggero individualized the dentist's office by creating an on-line database for appointments and a system for children and adults to select products, such as braces. For doctors' offices, Roggero devised and installed electronic tablets that convert hand-written notes to text and display images and test results.

Another notable JCR endeavor has been its library work, which includes systems for the Fruitville and Venice Jacaranda libraries. Features include a controlled public Wi-Fi hot spot that users can log on to only with a library-provided password. The JCR-designed network in the Venice library's computer lab also has interactive educational components.

Despite the technological prowess, many JCR Systems clients point to Roggero and his staff's easy-going and conversational approach when dealing with problems as the best part of working with the firm. Part of that was by design from the very beginning, Roggero says, as he wanted to be known for more than fixing a down Internet problem.

Also, the competitiveness of Roggero's field - dozens of small businesses claim to do Internet and web-related work - led him to focus on the customer service aspect before the technology work. His hiring formula, a risky balance between retaining people with better one-one people skills than computer skills, revolves around testing candidates for the non-jerk factor.

Roggero and sometimes the entire staff will interview perspective hires. They test their computer knowledge, followed by asking several open-ended human-nature questions. The latter is where they do the most weeding out: In the extreme, for example, one interview candidate who banged his fist against the desk during an interview because he was frustrated by a question wasn't hired.

And Roggero continues to monitor his employees after the hire, checking with clients to see how they liked the technicians, from know-how to service. Just as he won't hesitate to pass on certain hires, he won't delay in yanking an employee off an account. "I've had technicians that were excellent," he says, "but clients didn't want them there because they didn't have the people skills."