If you want to discuss rapid start-up, accelerated growth and IPO exit strategies, Jeff Clair wouldn’t be your likely source. But if you want to learn why some consider it crucial to take your own sweet time to build a successful business, pull up a chair.
Clair is president of a Canton firm that some refer to as “the dot-com behind the dot-coms,” partly because Data Direct Inc. (www.datadirect.com) develops and hosts Web sites, with an emphasis on e-commerce and database development. The designation also applies because Clair was a pioneer who launched the area’s first independent Internet firm, and he’s outlasted many new-sprung competitors despite his slow, strategic approach to growth.
Clair, 44, started his company in 1984 as a sole proprietorship. His initial focus was database development and Unix consulting, and his key customer was B.F. Goodrich. Ten years later, Clair decided the Internet had progressed to the point where it was time to quit his day job and incorporate his company. (He was an electronics and programming specialist at Aultman Hospital.)
“At that time, the Internet was predominately Unix-based, and that’s where our core competency was. So it was a natural evolution for us to get into the Web,” he says.
Back then, many sacrifices were necessary to build a successful Internet firm, says Clair, because the Web’s potency had not yet been proven in terms of a return on investment. Client education was a major part of every sales presentation, and to build a reputation and a portfolio, Clair designed many sites without charge, or for next to nothing.
Since then, the Internet has become a must-have marketing tool for every business, and Clair’s company has proven itself as a preferred provider. Still, he has taken small steps in moving his company up the ladder of success. Today, doing business at 4565 Dressler Road in Canton, Data Direct employs 10 people — a staff Clair says is small, but strategic.
“I’ve watched other companies quickly spring from two to 50 employees, then lose their major clients and have to lay off their employees. I didn’t want that to happen to us, because the strength of this company lies in the expertise of our employees,” he says.
As for Data Direct’s clients, the CEOs and business managers of those companies credit Clair’s strategic specialization and appreciate his approach to growth.
Bill Jasso, vice president for public affairs at Time Warner in Northeast Ohio, says that in 1995, when Time was searching for site developers to help create Web content for the launch of Roadrunner, the nation’s first high-speed online computer service, Clair was selected for more than one reason.
“Here was a guy who grasped what we were looking for, which was someone who saw the advantages of creating Web content in a broadband environment,” Jasso says. “We also appreciated Jeff’s business sense. He wasn’t one of these get in, get rich and get out guys. He looked at this as a business for the long term, so we saw him as someone we could develop a long-term relationship with — which is essential for any business activity.”
Mark Adams, president of The Rogers Company — a Mentor-based tradeshow booth designer — was one of Clair’s first clients. He, too, says Clair’s business approach was a deciding factor in doing business with Data Direct.
“When we hired Jeff to do our first Web site in 1995, I liked the fact that here was a guy trying to get a company going, and he was going at it with consistent, measured growth as opposed to stratospheric numbers,” says Adams, still a loyal Data Direct client.
The company’s numbers have reached $1.2 million in annual sales, a figure Clair says is notable considering he’s come this far on his own.
“I’ve looked at investors and venture capital, but I didn’t want to have to go that route because I wanted to keep control of the company and keep it headed in a specific direction,” says Clair.
Holding tight to the reins has necessitated insightful planning and creative thinking, he says, explaining that one of the ways he’s grown the numbers is by establishing strategic partnerships.
“Our strategy involved developing partnerships with local advertising agencies because, since the Web is an advertising vehicle, we knew they could offer their own clients Internet marketing options along with their other advertising efforts,” Clair says.
Among the alliances are those with Canton companies Crowl Montgomery & Clark Inc., Innis Maggiore Group and Covey & Koons Inc.
“Our partnership has worked well because we both have a firm understanding of what the Web can accomplish for a company,” says Rod McGregor, senior vice president of Crowl Montgomery & Clark. “Jeff also knows what he’s good at and he knows what we’re good at. We handle the strategic issues of marketing and operational directives of our clients’ Web sites, and he’s involved in the back-end decisions, like the database and e-commerce applications. So we’ve meshed well.”
Innis Maggiore president Dick Maggiore says that once his firm determines the creative direction for a client Web site, Data Direct tackles all the complicated, back-end applications.
“It’s a partnership in which we complement each other, and we’re able to provide our clients a complete package because Data Direct also houses some of our client sites on their server,” says Maggiore.
Covey & Koons president Rod A. Covey says, “It’s been a great partnership, great for our business and great for our clients, because Data Direct provides all the technical support we need.”
To provide that technical support and solve problems for clients, Clair has made strategic investments in technology.
“We’ve constantly added and upgraded new equipment in the past few years, and Oracle was probably our biggest investment in one fell swoop,” Clair says, confiding that the Oracle software — a $100,000 investment — enhanced Data Direct’s e-commerce site development capabilities.
For example, when Myers Tire Supply wanted to expand its market and move into e-commerce, Data Direct used the Oracle software to build a database that enables multiple searches, including keyword, manufacturer, product code and pull down menus. Oracle was also used to develop the database for Stark County Family Council’s site — which provides resource referrals to the community and transmits user requests to more than 130 cooperating agencies.
“We’ve also made significant investments in the servers in our T-1 connectivity to the Internet,” says Clair, noting Data Direct began offering hosting solutions five years ago.
But Clair’s colleagues say he’s been careful not to overinvest in technology.
“A lot of Web companies have gone under because the tendency too often is to become enamored with the latest and greatest of technologies,” says McGregor. “Jeff knows that in this business, you can’t overcommit to capital expenditures of technology. You have to have the business in hand before you start committing all sorts of funds for growth. He’s taken a more structured and conservative approach than what you might find in a similar operation of his size.”
Clair has also been careful to stick with his specialty, rather than trying to offer every Web-related service. As the Internet became more widely used and companies increasingly wanted to have more than just a static Web presence, Clair strengthened his forte to meet their needs.
“Rather than putting up brochure-type Web sites, we moved into the interactive and database arenas, because that’s where our expertise was, and those are the areas that offer more benefits to the client and the consumer,” he says.
Clair recalls that his first e-commerce client was Conferon, a Twinsburg seminar-management firm for which Data Direct designed online registration sites, collected registration and ordered information entered by users, encrypted the data and electronically forwarded it to the client.
From there, Clair started providing myriad e-commerce solutions for other companies — from order processing and fulfillment services to intensive database design and interactive site development.
He was also careful not to offer off-the-shelf packages that didn’t specifically meet a client’s need.
“We decided to specialize in finding solutions for clients by sitting down with them, listening to what they really needed, and designing solutions especially for them,” says Clair.
More than anything, Clair says he’s learned from experience.
“As far as the planning goes, a lot of my growth has been planned, but so much of it is experience as I go, from cash management to sales and marketing. You have to wear so many different hats and it’s an enormous education process. But I’ve learned so much about running a business and what it takes to survive,” he says.
Clair says he plans to guide Data Direct into the new millennium by expanding e-business development with regard to extranets and intranets.
“Extranets and intranets can be applied to a variety of scenarios to take e-commerce to a different level of business. Our Oracle partnership strengthens our product offering and we can confidently focus on developing this area,” he says.
He also plans to strengthen strategic partnerships crucial to his success.
“We’ve worked hard in the past year by analyzing the market and identifying our own strengths and weaknesses. This year we will pursue strategic alliances to assist with areas outside of our core competencies,” he says.
“We’ve already the felt the effect of our focus on these areas, and I’m confident that we will meet our goals.” How to reach: Data Direct Inc. (330) 499-0692; (888) 438-6768 www.datadirect.com
