I founded The Computer Kid in 2013 in an effort to help people get the most out of their technology at home. I sold the company in 2018 after serving 200 clients, hiring 9 employees in 2 location, and averaging 1 job every 2 days.
My Hats
​
Marketing
I began by walking around my neighborhood and hanging up flyers. This quickly grew into a full marketing plan to find new clients, including running ads on Facebook aimed at only our target demographic, buying ads in local church newsletters, running multiple street fair booths, and guest speaking at a PTA conference. For graphics, please click here.
​
Accounting
As revenue grew, it had to be tracked. This included tracking expenses and payroll and setting up a credit card payment system for our clients that allowed my employees to not have to handle cash.
​
Manager
As The Computer Kid grew, I shifted my role from helping our clients in their homes to managing hiring, booking client visits, assigning tasks, and being a backup in case an employee needed extra help on a job.
​
Customer Satisfaction
The Computer Kid was built on customer satisfaction. I did not ask clients what was broken and then try to fix it. I asked, "What do you hope this technology will do for you?" From there, we would talk about the different options for reaching that goal. That might include fixing computers, re-configuring their existing technology or finding an outside solution.
Monteak was launched as a collection of free online services to help lower the unseen cost of college. Due to lack of resources, this project was closed in 2017. For designs click here
​
College Book Exchange
This project was conceived after seeing the inefficiencies of students trying to buy and sell textbooks to one another. I built a website that allowed students to sell their textbooks to other students at their universities, listing them by course code as well as titles, authors and editions. This helped ensure the textbook was exactly what the course required and, because buyer and seller could meet on campus, eliminated the need for shipping heavy books around the country.
​
I brought three friends on board to help me expand my idea: one who did web development, one with expertise in legal issues and a third to handle operations. This team, and our weekly meetings, allowed us to create College Stuff Exchange, Tutor Group, and Cheap Trick.
​
College Stuff Exchange
This service functioned similarly to College Book Exchange but listed all school or dorm room supplies. Due to low overhead, this was simple to set up.
Tutor Group
Imagine being able to share notes or ask a question with every student taking the same course in a given semester. Tutor Group used the students' social networks and learning management systems to give them an online platform to meet, share, and explain. Features included:
-
Chat room for every class a student is taking
-
Shared notes in a dropbox
-
List of friends in the class or taking the class in a different section
-
Question and discussion board
-
Class calendar for review sessions
​
Cheap Trick
A Wikipedia style forum for discussing how to survive the best and/or worst years of your life
​