When you own an information technology company for 19 years, it’s more like you owned several companies. That is the case at US Itek, which David Stinner founded in 1999 and operates from Niagara Falls Boulevard headquarters in the Town of Tonawanda. “I would say I’m on the fourth reinvention of the company,” he said. “And when I use the word ‘reinvention,’ it’s almost like starting a new company.” Stinner, 42, has two bachelor’s degrees from the University at Buffalo and is a graduate of the UB School of Management’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. He recently partnered with his wife, Dawn, to open a co-working space called Inception Buffalo in the same building that houses US Itek. He spoke recently about staying agile and running a tech enterprise in Western New York.
How’s business? The industry is moving strongly from on-premise equipment to cloud-based applications and services, along with an increasing emphasis on cybersecurity. At the same time, the economy has been much better in 2018, in my observation. So put those two things together and you have business owners investing in technology more than they have in the past, and that has led to tremendous business success for us.
That means staying on top of changes in a fast-moving industry. How do you do that? I have to keep my staff trained on the new technology and make a personal point of going out and seeking to understand new trends. I ask vendors about the right solutions I can bring to market with existing customers and new prospects. It’s all in providing great technology support so that customers love our service. I am involved in continuous education for myself to adapt to skills that I know I will need in the future. In the meantime, we work with our clients in a way that is proactive instead of reactive. That means understanding what their issues and goals are so that we can strive to build around those goals, instead of just implementing technology for technology’s sake.
What’s it like doing business in Buffalo? Our customers are fairly regional, though we serve many branch offices of our Buffalo-headquartered clients throughout the East Coast, as well. I am very excited about the direction of our economy. Some people are negative and say the Buffalo Billion infusion from the state is going to fizzle out but I don’t see that. I think it helped Buffalo because Buffalo had a self-esteem problem.
It sounds like you buy the narrative of a regional renaissance. I’m of the generation where I saw my peers graduating from (the University at Buffalo) and moving to places like Charlotte. I have five children from high school down to middle school and I think they can all have a great future here, as opposed to previous generations not having that opportunity because of the region’s self-esteem problem. Buffalo is a great place for business. There is a lot to do here in the entertainment and restaurant industries. It’s a smaller city but it has a rich history that makes it very unique. So I am very optimistic about the local economy and I don’t see the cranes going away anytime soon. The litmus test for your region is whether you’re seeing anything new or whether it’s stagnant. That’s not going to happen because the people who live here now are excited.
You must be logged in to post a comment.