Year Started:1995
Number of Employees:76
Cal Net Technology Group began as a company called PC Literate, which I started in December of 1995. I worked in the computer department at Circuit City in Woodland Hills, California, while attending Cal State Northridge. This was during the boom of the first PC in the home, shortly after Windows 95 was released. After spending considerable time with each of my clients on the sales floor, many of my clients asked “can you come to my house, set up my PC, and show me how to use it?” Circuit City didn’t offer these services at the time, so seeing an opportunity, I started “PC Literate” an in-home computer setup, training, and support company, and I was the sole employee.
After the store management of Circuit City saw the positive results (lower PC returns and more satisfied customers), they informally endorsed PC Literate’s services. In a period of about 3 years, I had gone into over 500 homes to set up its clients’ PCs.
I pitched this service to the regional management at Circuit City, however, they didn’t think that an “in-home” computer service offering would take off, so PC Literate’s business would be limited to a single store.
After graduating from Cal State Northridge in 1997, I went to a local trade school to earn my certification as a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. I wanted to branch out into the business market, and enjoyed the complexity of networking and administering larger systems. It was during this time in school that I envisioned Cal Net Technology Group, and transitioned my business from PC Literate to Cal Net Technology Group.
In the summer of 1998, I set up his my first network. I shortly thereafter started obtaining an increasing number of clients in the business arena, and hired an employee to assist with the home user business.
From there I continued to grow Cal Net Technology Group, never taking out a loan or line of credit, one employee at a time. I hired good, hard working people, paid them well, and treated them as I would want to be treated.
We are now a 76 person company, and help some of the largest corporations in California with their technology. We have hired 10 people in the last 4 months and are growing steadily, despite the Obama economy.
I built it, with the help of lots of great employees, and with the government, by and large, staying out of the way.
