Oct 22, 2013
Connecticut has its share of tech giants, like Priceline.com and TicketNetwork. But it’s increasingly up against stiff competition from other states to grow and retain technology companies.
Each year, the Connecticut Technology Council showcases the tech sector at the annual Marcum Tech Top 40 awards. Marcum’s Michael Brooder said awards like these are important. “We have a vested interest in supporting our clients, for one,” he said, “supporting the state to create jobs, and also to support the industry in general. We do feel that a lot of our future will be, and it is now, based on technology of the innovation for some of these companies.”
According to Matthew Nemerson, president of the Connecticut Technology Council, the event has a greater relevance. It serves as a way to collect data and learn more about where to invest in emerging industry trends. “It’s important for policy standpoint to know where to put your valuable extra resources. Just from a standpoint of society, it’s important to recognize and to celebrate successes. It creates some stickiness. The companies that are recognized feel more of a loyalty and investment in the location, because they say, people appreciate me. It’s good to appreciate people.”
This year, Norwalk-based company Datto was the overall award winner as the fastest growing tech company in the state. The company produces backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity solutions for clients across the globe. “Essentially, we went from under $1 million in revenue to greater than $25 million in revenue very quickly,” said 28-year-old founder and CEO Austin McChord.
McChord is happy with his company’s location and its growth. “It turns out,” he said, “that Connecticut is not a terrible place for a tech company, as much as other people may say otherwise, and we really found quite a bit of really great, smart talent. We found a really good niche for ourselves in being able to pull from a lot of areas where we are located in Norwalk.” As a result, the company is doubling down on its investment in Connecticut, and is dedicated to creating more jobs, said McChord. “We made a pledge at the beginning of this year to hire over 100 people in Connecticut,” he said, “and we’ve well surpassed that. But we’ve got dozens of open recs on our websites, and we are going to continue to hire. We’ll probably grow the staff by another 30 plus people by the end of the year.”
The Connecticut Technology Council suggests that state policy makers need to listen to all of this feedback, the good and the bad, if we’re to remain a viable place for fast-growing companies to stay.
Read the full story at WNPR.org.
About Datto Inc. Datto Inc. is an award-winning vendor of backup, disaster recovery (BDR) and intelligent business continuity (IBC) solutions, providing best-in-class technology and support to its 5,000+ channel Partners throughout North America and Europe. Datto is the only hybrid-cloud BDR/IBC vendor that provides instant on- and off-site virtualization and screenshot backup verification, achieved through its Inverse Chain Technology™. The Datto product line addresses the specific needs of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and serves a wide range of vertical markets including: healthcare, financial, education, banking, legal, manufacturing, retail, and municipal. Datto is a channel only provider. Solutions are resold through Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Value Added Resellers (VARs) and IT Service Providers to end-user businesses.
To learn more about Datto, visit www.datto.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and our Blog.
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