How We Started

By Mike Landau, CEO

In the early 90s a friend of mine was telling me about his efforts to learn the new technologies that were impacting his business. As an artist, he was very interested in learning Photoshop on an Apple Mac.  The problem was that he didn't have the hardware. He decided that he would rent time on a computer and teach himself.

At $15 per hour he was able to put in about 2 to 3 hours a week trying to master a very complex software package. Needless to say, he became frustrated and wasn't learning very quickly. At the same time he could see that this was the future.  When he looked at the alternatives, namely purchasing the equipment and software to learn full time, he was confronted with the fact that he just didn't have the financial resources to do it.

We talked about it one day and it really bothered me that here was an individual who wanted to learn, was very motivated and responsible, but just wasn't in a position to make the self-investment required.

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to have the same attributes as many of the business cases that I saw as a Director at AT&T. We called it the hockey stick affect. You invested capital initially (i.e. negative cash flow) knowing that you were creating something that would be worth more in the long run (i.e. positive cash flow).

I gave this a lot of thought and then called my friend with a proposition. I would lend him whatever he needed to acquire the hardware and software that was necessary for him to become an expert in PhotoShop.  In return, he would pay me back several months later. This was the time we agreed he would need to acquire the skills that would lead to an increase in earnings to repay the loan.

It worked great! He has become an expert in the product, teaches it at a major college, has more than doubled his annual income, and is looking to expand his business. By the way, he never missed a payment.

This whole experience was a real eye opener. It was a win/win situation. He got the skills needed to make a transition, and I got the satisfaction from helping another person.

So what does this story have to do with you?

Well, this model is so appealing to me; I wanted to use it to teach people about the new technologies in application development. A lot of the dynamics are the same.

Having taught Visual Basic to hundreds of students back in the day, I had met a lot of people that had been frustrated by the pace of technology, and in many cases, their inability to make a transition from traditional application development to the new areas.

When they looked out into the industry they saw a blizzard of buzz words and acronyms What are these terms and more importantly how do they relate to each other? While you're pondering that question, the journals are discussing a dozen new ones.

While individuals are frustrated by their inability to grasp and digest the wave of new technology, companies are facing a similar problem... where to find qualified people. That is, developers who have an understanding of the big picture. In many cases, the big picture revolves around Microsoft technology.

Every day there are articles about companies trying to fill jobs that require specific skill sets. To put it mildly, the need for people that can develop applications, administer databases, develop business intelligence systems, and create and customize web portals is off the charts.

So we decided to build a business on the concept that personal investment in the right education yields a return better than almost any other investment.

Our model is simple. Survey the marketplace, find areas where there are skills shortages, develop the right curriculum, and recruit talented people. In the end SetFocus is a bridge between talented people and business opportunity. It has worked well ... over the last 11 years we have been able to help more than 1500 individuals find rewarding careers. The future is bright!

Feel free to contact Mike with any questions that you have about his story or SetFocus!