In the Family

In the Family

companies by Dave Szymanski | Tampa Bay Editor

The Bellini brothers began ConnectWise as an IT services firm, but now the company also sells its own software that manages IT work.

Arnie Bellini remembers the day. It was on his Dad's porch in Carrollwood Village, near the fourth tee, 1980. It was the day he told his dad he was going to leave his job as an IT consultant at Price Waterhouse after 2½ years and become a tech entrepreneur in Tampa, offering IT services.

Bellini's late father, a successful turnaround executive and brand manager with IBM, was skeptical.

"He said that the only reason IBM was making PCs was that it was pressured by Apple and that the whole thing was just a fad, that they'd sell, maybe, 5,000 of them," says Bellini, 48, CEO of ConnectWise, a 25-year-old Tampa IT and software firm. "He said it would do this to appease the hobbyists."

Bellini pauses and smiles.

"He said, 'Whoa, whoa, Arnie,'" Bellini recalls. "I knew he was wrong. But Dad is never wrong. He said it was all about mainframes."

But then something interesting happened. After about two or three days, his father revealed that he too, had dreams. And those dreams included running his own business.

"He said, 'If you're gona do it, do it,'" Bellini recalled. "He said, "I love IBM, but with effort, think I could've opened my own business."

Soon, Bellini founded ConnectWise with his brother David, another CPA and two years his junior. And dad helped them do it. After he retired, he even got a certified financial planning designation to serve the new business.

"He became a big supporter of us," Bellini says. "He was probably the proudest person, as proud as he could be. He was our financial advisor. He made us invest a chunk of money."

With revenues of $16 million and growing, the host of an annual national partners conference and a software selling worldwide, that investment has paid off.

Starting with IT

ConnectWise began by offering IT services. It would evaluate, install and maintain information technology for small- to mid-size companies that didn't have their own in-house IT staff. Companies with 100 PCs or less often need an outside IT provider.

ConnectWise eventually would service about 400 clients. Fifty of those have outsourced their entire IT department to ConnectWise. That is the kind of arrangement the company aims for.

Those include Chris-Craft Boats in Sarasota, which spent $60,000 with ConnectWise in 2006 for Internet access, web hosting, complete management of IT, service and support. That doesn't include products. But it's still a cost savings for them, Bellini says.

"That really is our focus because it frees clients from headaches," Bellini says. "They can focus on being a lawyer, a doctor, an insurance agent. It saves them a lot of money."

For the remaining 350 clients, ConnectWise comes in and out to service them when needed. Although its IT services business has been growing at about 10% a year, as technology becomes a more integral part of small- and medium-sized businesses, the company expects the IT services business to double in the next three years.

"That's one stat that fuels our business," Bellini says.

Migrating to software

About 10 years ago, the company "hit a brick wall" in growing the business, Bellini says.

"Our business system didn't allow us to scale and grow," he recalls.

ConnectWise wanted to find a software to help it manage its IT work. When it couldn't find one, it wrote one for itself in 1996, a product that organized IT work, such as tracking purchase orders, time sheets, expense reports, project management and service tickets.

It mentioned that to its friends and customers over the years and many of them wanted the software, too.

So in 2003, it began selling the software, ConnectWise PSA, a "line of business solutions" for IT people also designed "to get the company to the next level," Bellini says.

"Our software came out of our need to grow and run the business better," he says.

It worked. Annual software sales started at $500,000, but then shot up to $4 million, then $8 million and then $12 million last year.

It is now the biggest part of the company, in terms of sales, with 16,000 customers around the world in places such as Australia, Ireland, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. IT services has brought in $3 million to $4 million the past three years.

"IT services grows at a pace more slowly," Bellini says. "The software side is growing so fast, at about 50%. I can't believe it."

On Nov. 1, the company will unveil the seventh version of its software. This one also allows IT professionals to network with other IT pros at other companies to find solutions to problems.

"It let's them collaborate and take care of clients," Bellini says.

The software is available through the company Web site. It sells for $795 a user or $50 a user a month on a version ConnectWise hosts on its server.

In what may be a unique setup for a Gulf Coast business, ConnectWise is a customer to itself because of its two functions. Both sides of the business "feed each other in so many ways," Bellini says. Brother Dave, who runs the IT services side, is the software side's toughest customer.

"He's always asking for more features," Bellini says. "That makes us self-improving."

One of ConnectWise's main competitors is Tigerpaw Software Inc., a Bellevue, Neb. company offering customer relationship management solutions for 24 years.

"One of the advantages of ConnectWise is that it has the IT services side, so it can stay connected with people in the industry," says Ginger Moriya, director of marketing for Tigerpaw.

Technicians want an easy way to track their business and both ConnectWise and Tigerpaw offer that, a click-click solution, Moriya says.

"They do well, we do well," she says. "It's pretty neck and neck. They grew up quickly. We both do a good job. We sharpen each other."

Family ties

Only two years apart, Arnie and David Bellini were close growing up, playing sports together.

"It doesn't mean we don't fight," Bellini says. "All brothers do. But there's a lot of respect and trust."

David and Arnie are both CPAs, both University of Florida alums. Their younger brother, Mike, also works for the company, in video graphics.

It likes to hire locally. "USF (University of South Florida) is a phenomenal talent pool," Bellini says. "Some awesome graduates. They are our farm team."

Bellini, who has lived in Tampa for 35 years, wants to keep the company there. His family moved to Tampa from New Orleans when he was 12.

Arnie looks like someone from an Armani ad in the pages of GQ: Trim, dark-haired, tailored dark suit, dark tie, tan, relaxed, energetic, in charge, in control, elegant and stylish, slightly gelled hair, the Pat Riley of CEOs. Too hip to be a CPA.

"We are business people that ended up teaching each other the tech side," Bellini says.

Bellini is married with two sons, Arnold IV, 17, and Peter, 15. He was careful in having them close enough in age so that like he and his brother, they could play together. The family lives in Avila, a gated, exclusive neighborhood north of Tampa. Last year, he and his wife Lauren flew his family to the Gators' national championship football game. They have also been snow skiing in Colorado, go to UF home games and live on a lake and water ski and fish.

"You've got to seize the opportunities," Bellini says. "Our passion is to help them run their businesses better. I've got a master plant to pull it off. I have to make huge investments in the future of the IT services industry."

Part of that master plan is also a national advertising campaign in the future.

Creating community

Those investments include nearly $1 million for the company's third annual partner summit at the posh Tampa Marriott Waterside. He compared organizing the conference to his work as social chairman for his college fraternity, a role he enjoyed.

"It's very important to create a community among our partners," Bellini says. "The IT industry is a like a large fraternity or sorority. This is important for me to pull off my vision for their future."

At that partners conference last month, hundreds of people who work with ConnectWise attended. One of them was Clearwater-based Tech Data, but many of them were from California, Oregon, Colorado and other states. One the speakers at the conference was Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak.

"We're looking and seeing where the market is going and seeing how we need to position our partners and our company to succeed and win," Bellini says.

Wozniak spoke to about 800 people in the audience. Later that day, so did Arnie Bellini.

In the end, Dad was right.

REVIEW SUMMARY

Company: ConnectWise

Industry: Tampa-based IT services and software firm

Key: Help customers manage their information technology needs.