Eight months was all it took for Coreen Bouchard to start her own Ottawa-based value added IT reseller business, PureLogic IT. In that short time it has grown into a $2.5-million company.
Bouchard, the CEO of PureLogic IT, said to CDN that her educational and occupational background comprises a diploma in business administration and various sales roles with companies such as Novatech and TeraMach. She says her industry experience in the IT VAR community spans the course of seven years, at which point she eventually decided she was ready for a change.
Bouchard, who was only 29 years old at the time, with no experience in running a business, began researching and reconnecting with her contacts, which later led to the birth of PureLogic IT last June.
“I started the company from the ground up,” Bouchard said. “I talked about my go-to-market strategy with clients, distribution communities, manufacturers and the government sector to sell products and services. After about two and a half months of research and applying for business licenses, getting certifications and credit lines established, I had my first sale in about three months.”
For its first year of operation based on a 12-month period, Bouchard says the company had a goal of reaching $2.5 million in the first year. Within five months of starting the business, the company was already profitable, she said, and is currently well on track to its first year’s goal. Business goals for the second year is $4 million and for its third year, PureLogic IT is striving for $6 million.
PureLogic IT, Bouchard explains, is a value added IT reseller that services primarily the Ottawa and Toronto areas, particularly in the data centre space. Some of the company’s solution focus areas include: servers, virtualization, storage architecture, data deduplication, networking, tiered storage and professional services. The company’s customers include a mix of both the commercial and federal government, as well as other government agencies across the country.
Including herself, PureLogic IT has five employees, two of which are sales agents who work in the field. The company has also established various business-to-business relationships with other professional services organizations and manufacturer partners to go to market, Bouchard explains. There are plans to add one or two people to the PureLogic IT staff before the end of this year, with the possibility of adding more if the business allows, she adds. Despite the current economic recession, Bouchard says PureLogic IT’s business continues to thrive.
“Right now, we’re looking for more connection relationships to get into new business,” Bouchard said. “Using Internet-based resources to help build corporate branding and to deliver call campaigns, while working with advertisements has helped me drive business, while keeping our start-up budgets in mind. Even some of our brand new customers are promoting us internally, so word of mouth becomes essential.”
On her advice to others who may be interested in starting a business during these tough economic times, Bouchard says to really research how a business works and get to know and understand your target market.
“Instead of looking at maybe what your competitor does, look to offer something in the niche market to really find your spot,” Bouchard offers. “Being able to voice your vision is key to success in the first year and having open communications with customers and manufacturers and staying realistic with numbers is also important.”