Date: May 24, 2020 Author: Emily Gowdey-Backus Source: Telegram (
click here to go to the source)
Passion is often discovered at an early age and that was the case for Brian Geisel.
One day when he was in sixth grade, Geisel's teacher asked if anyone owned a computer at home. At that time, in the late 1980s, his family happened to own a monitor and keyboard that could be plugged into the TV. That afternoon, Geisel ran home to read the manual, which included chapters on how to program the equipment.
"I read the 181-page book cover to cover and I understood zero words," he recalled. "So, I did what every sixth grader would do -- start over and read it again. My third time through I understood it."
Software development clicked for Geisel as a successful career path and more than three decades later, he was named 2020 Massachusetts small business person of the year by the Bay State branch of the U.S. Small Business Association.
Relocating to Central Massachusetts from Pennsylvania in 2000, Geisel, now 42 and living in Shrewsbury, has been active in the New England software development market for more than two decades. While he remains happy with the move, he described the timing as a comedic coincidence.
"I moved here from Pennsylvania in the middle of the dotcom boom and an hour and a half after we arrived, we found it was the dotcom bubble," he said laughing.
While the market fluctuated in the early years of the 21st century, Geisel's commitment to advancing new technology wouldn't waver. His CV includes work with Compaq, Digital Equipment Corp., iRobot, and Hewlett Packard.
While he maintained consulting projects with high-level firms for more than a decade in Massachusetts, Geisel decided to build up a team of his own in mid-2011.
"Somewhere near 2009, I started answering questions with 'we can do that' or 'my team will do that'," he said of the decision to take on fellow contractors.
In the 200-square-foot second floor of a Cape Cod-style home-turned-business-space in Shrewsbury, Geisel Software got its first big break with a project from iRobot. The contract was to help develop the necessary robotics for machinery that would deliver health care essentials in rural hospitals where doctors and medical professionals are few and far between.
This was the first chance for Geisel to transition from a consultant to a small business owner and he looks back at this commission as a bittersweet one.
"One thing that's really difficult for small business owners is that you never start the business because you love small businesses. You do so because you love the work," he said. And, "to grow it you have to stop doing the thing you love in order to run the business."
A turning point was marked in 2017 for Geisel Software as marketing became a priority and sales began to increase. The company's work began to diversify as firms in varying industries became aware of the breadth and depth of the team's capabilities. Geisel calls this period the "second boost" which led to an "accelerated growth curve" and contracts with government agencies as well as Internet of Things infrastructure and a growing expertise and collaboration with medical startups here in Central Massachusetts.
In the past three years, Geisel Software has experienced an 83 percent compounded annual growth rate.
Of the company's medical and robotics niche, Geisel said: "We like problems that are hard ... and it turns out there are a lot of hard problems yet to be solved in robotics and in medicine."
The company would move to Higgins Armory in 2017 then the Worcester Business Center on Millbrook Street this time last year. Today, nine years in, Geisel Software employs 18 full- and part-time employees -- a far cry from its solo-preneur early days -- and has grown its annual sales from roughly $250,000 in 2011 to "a few million" this year.
As his company grows, Geisel makes a point to invest in the next generation of Worcester talent.
"We're aware of the (brain drain)," he said and while the company boasts multiple hires from colleges within the city, "it's still on our list to continue to build better relationships with the local colleges."
Approaching a decade in business, one of the most influential ways the company gives back is through internships. He recently mentored four high school girls as they developed an app for a women's conference in Framingham. He plans to expand his internship program to target students at HBCUS and among other underserved communities.
"We have former interns who work for us today and we see it as a long-term play," he said of the time and resource investment.
The bulk of Geisel's clientele is located in Massachusetts and across New England but stretches as far and wide as the University of Alaska Fairbanks and California. Brands including FLIR Systems, Medica, iRobot, the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs and Carbon Black, among others, have all collaborated with Geisel Software.
And those clients have nothing but praise of their experience with Geisel and his team.
In his former role as FLIR Systems' director of software, Dave Weatherwax worked closely with Geisel and his team when FLIR contracted them to help deliver a bomb disposal robot in a six-month timeframe. Geisel was tasked with developing a controller application to be run on a tablet.
In the short timeline, said Weatherwax, Geisel helped FLIR Systems complete the project on time and provided flexible support given the changing nature of the project.
"They brought on a bunch of different skill sets which was a big benefit for us -- everything from project management to web development to UI/UX development and software testing -- it was the full package," he said.
While LEDVANCE LLC has been connected with Geisel for a year, Paul Langdon; head of global residential software development for the Wilmington, Massachusetts-based firm; has worked with Geisel directly for two months. He too describes the collaboration as a pleasant one. When Langdon started his role with LEDVANCE, he remembers Geisel meeting with him to introduce himself and review the contract.
"This isn't something I expect from someone running a consulting company so it was nice to work with someone so knowledgeable," he said.
Citing his "customer-first approach" and "high-caliber engineers," Langdon and Weatherwax, respectively, concur Geisel is deserving of the SBA's recognition.
Geisel Software's value, said Weatherwax, is in "adding a force multiplier to deliver projects quickly."
Slated for the beginning of May, the Washington, D.C., ceremony -- at which the national small business person of the year will be announced -- was postponed to late 2020 due to COVID-19-related health concerns. And, while appreciative of the award, Geisel says he views the recognition as a nod to the entire team and not only its top executive.
While it hasn't yet been composed, Geisel said the gist of acceptance speech would reflect just that.
"It's not an honor to me," he said. "It's about the business and that means the people who built the business. I am, currently, one-eighteenth of this business and I'm very proud of the work we've done."
