Relationships Key to Networking Firm
Alex Diaz and his partner, Parham Sadegh, were technology experts at Silicon Valley Internet firms when they decided to start their own computer networking and security company. They started in a garage with a few months’ savings, some equipment and relationships with many businesspeople who, like them, had left large corporations to start their own firms. Strategic relationships in San Jose and with the Latin Business Assn. in Los Angeles have proved invaluable to the company’s success. Diaz was interviewed by freelance writer Karen E. Klein.
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We specialize in security implementation and computer room outsourcing. Most of our clients are small and medium-sized businesses that let us take care of their internal infrastructure, tech support and security concerns with our Web remote tools. This way they don’t have the expense of hiring a full-time information technology person, and we do not have to deploy a technician to their premises. All the work is done on the Internet with a Web browser.
Most of our success comes from the relationships we have formed during the last five years. We have access to well-established companies in San Jose and Southern California that were started by people we knew as employees in Silicon Valley, who already trusted us and were familiar with our work.
As a young company without outside backing, we still have to be careful about finances. We get equipment very cheaply from vendors who give us special pricing, or we find good deals on the Internet. We fly to San Jose every week and spend two or three days with our Northern California clients, but we make sure to buy the tickets early so prices are lower, and we are careful about where we stay and what cars we rent.
The strategic associations we’ve made help us not only in generating business but also in other situations. For instance, two companies we work with in San Jose have established large programming bases, both here and offshore. Because of our special relationships with them, we have access to 600 people if or when we need them. If there’s a large project that comes along and we need 20 programmers quickly, they will allocate their people to work for us. That really gives us a competitive advantage and allows us to take on big projects even though we’re a small company.
We learned the hard way, however, that we have to formalize these kinds of associations and put the details in writing. Almost a year ago, we were working as subcontractors, developing new technology for a large pharmaceutical company. We were told that in exchange for our work we would get some ownership interest in the company, but we had no written contract. When we finished the job, the guy we were working with said the company was not going to use the product but that it would pay us for our time. The company gave us a fee, used the technology we developed and cut us out of any larger compensation or equity. We got burned on the deal. It was a bad moment because we had high hopes for that technology. Still, this is how you learn in business: You try, you fail and then you get up and try again.
One very good relationship for us has been with the Latin Business Assn., a networking group of Latino-owned businesses in L.A. We became its strategic technology advisor and are helping the association with seminars and implementation of technology for its members, a majority of whom are still running businesses manually. We’re showing them that instead of manually keying in invoices or doing calculations on a spreadsheet, they can automate everything in a cost-effective way that will make them more competitive.
We don’t have a big operation, but it’s growing and we find that business is always developing. We believe that relationships are our most important asset, so we’ve left all the doors open with our clients.
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If your business can provide a lesson to other entrepreneurs, contact Karen E. Klein at the Los Angeles Times, 1333 S. Mayflower Ave., Suite 100, Monrovia, CA 91016 or at kklein6349@aol.com . Include your name, address and telephone number.
At a Glance
* Company: Net2Link
* Owner: Alex Diaz and Parham Sadegh
* Nature of business: Computer infrastructure and security
* Location: 4221 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 140, Los Angeles 90010
* Founded: 1999
* E-mail: sales@net2link.com
* Web site: www.net2link.com
* Employees: 5
* Annual revenue: $500,000
