Michigan Student Sees His Path to Success in Serving Fellow Start-up Ventures

By Holly Hetzner, Prima Civitas Foundation and Chris Stickney, MSU Extension

It was a bad experience with a chain electronics store that led Bryan Scheiber to launch Zortech Solutions, a computer services company when he was only 16 years old.  “I actually had an experience where I took my laptop in to be repaired at a chain computer store,” he explains. “The job was simple: They just needed to replace the monitor of my laptop (which is actually what they even wrote on their repair sheet), but when I received the computer back, they had disabled my Windows password and accessed my files.  So I decided to form a local computer firm with a personal touch and that is when Zortech Solutions was born.” The company was later renamed  Zorveo Incorporated.

Scheiber, currently a Business and Computer Science major at Alma College, provides custom designed technology solutions, including web development and hosting services to other start-up companies in Michigan.  MI2M asked him about his experience as a student entrepreneur.  “I definitely had more time in high school to run the company than I did in college, but of course people look at you as a high school student and feel that you are not qualified, which was a challenge.”

Now that he is a college student, he reports seeing growth in his business, despite having less time to devote to it.  His secret to success is limiting his growth to enable him to focus on providing individualized support to his existing clientele. "The company did not see significant growth until I entered college. I do limit the number of new clients I receive while at college in order to ensure that both new and current clients are receiving fully available technical support and dependable services." Scheiber indicated that this has resulted in most of his business stemming from customer referrals rather than advertising and marketing.

Scheiber also has a few tips for high school and college students thinking about starting their own business.  “Find a niche that meets your specialty and do plenty of research before entering into that 'industry.' If the business is something you enjoy, then don't give up. Give the customer your complete attention because their satisfaction results in additional customers from their recommendation.”

For more information regarding Bryan Scheiber and Zorveo Incorporated, please visit the company website at zorveo.com and contact Bryan at bryan.scheiber@zorveo.com.