LOCATION: 6737 West Washington St., Suite 1310, Milwaukee, WI 53214
WEBSITE: www.thinairsoftware.com
Year founded: 2004
Product or service offered:
Thin Air Software provides custom software and product development outsourcing services in diverse industry sectors on a national basis. Our approach typically involves off-site development using agile methodologies and a fixed fee arrangement.
Projected 2009 revenue: Not disclosed
CEO, President/Owner(s):
Geoff Bastow, CEO; Kelley Starr, president; Paula Erickson, chief of staff
Target clientele: Over the years we’ve worked in a broad set of industries and with companies of all sizes. We have extensive experience in the financial, health care, marketing, and service sectors. Our clients look to Thin Air Software to be an extension of their development team; and in select cases we have responsibility for the entire software development function.
Business organization memberships: Wisconsin .NET Users Group; ITAWi – IT Association of Wisconsin; Milwaukee Software Process Improvement Network (SPIN)
What has fueled your company’s growth? Our approach to client engagements has fueled our growth. We provide an alternative model to typical software outsourcing options (staffing or independent contractors). Typically we do our client work off-site at our development center where our teams can share ideas and collaborate. We use agile development methodologies to increase the value delivered in frequent release cycles. That combined with a fixed fee payment schedule gives our clients confidence that their investment is paying off early in the development cycle. Our clients tell us it’s a refreshing approach given the well-documented project challenges in our industry. Our approach is also our best recruiting tool. Our environment is attractive to talented software engineers that like working in teams on challenging, leading edge projects.
What is the biggest obstacle to your company’s growth?
In certain industries, the economy has impacted capital investment in software. That’s slowed our growth rate in the short term. As the economy recovers, we feel our business model is sound and can scale as we grow.
Do you plan any changes in your company in the upcoming months?
Nothing significant is planned for the balance of the year. Last year, we invested heavily in a new development center and capital equipment – which is paying off with capacity for additional staff and clients.
Who are the business people, locally or nationally, whom you admire? And what traits do those people exhibit that make you admire them?
Whether you are a CEO, business partner, or company team member – we value people that have the utmost in integrity, the ability to make commitments and keep them, and those that surround themselves with talent that likes the bar raised high.
What is the outlook for the business conditions of your industry over the next several months?
The industry as a whole will continue to experience challenges as capital expenditures are kept in check in the coming months. However, there continues to be incredible demand for implementing technology-centric solutions and a shortage of talent that can execute and deliver them. We see that as an opportunity for our firm.
What is your company’s key strategy for rising out of the recession?
Our current strategy is to prepare for the next round of growth. We are in discussions with a number of clients that see the current environment as a time to gain market share and release new products.
