Eric Greenspan’s Bio

Me: a work in progress

September 1968

Eric Greenspan is a recognized thought leader in the area of customer experience, unique marketing strategy and finding the extreme in every aspect of the business. As an entrepreneur, he has built several companies from the “third bedroom” with a focus on extreme customer service and the “mind blowing” customer experience. Using these factors as means of differentiation, his companies have established strong, cult-like followings.

Eric is currently the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Make It Work, Inc., the Neighborhood Computer Support company and the newly formed Web and Social Media Services division.

Eric is also the creator/host of Poogling Internet Safety Seminars; in the process of developing the OSN101 Conference; and is the official licensee of TEDxAmericanRiviera that was held on 10/10/10 in Santa Barbara and again on 11/11/11. Eric recently co-hosted the #140conf LA Meetup with Jeff Pulver at Yahoo! Burbank’s HQ and again on May 10, 2010 at the Comedy Store.

Eric is a regular speaker at USC’s Marshall School of Business and UCLA Anderson School Entrepreneurship Institute.  Eric has spoken at countless events and conferences, various schools, colleges and universities and private functions. He has emcee’d school charity events, Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation’s signature annual luncheon, Saks and The City, the #140conf meetups, Thindex and Poogling conferences and many others.

In his “free” time, Eric is an active board member of the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation and former board member of the Technology Council of Southern California. Teddy Bear helps families of kids with cancer with up to $5,000 in direct financial assistance so the family can be with their child during treatment. The Technology Council supports Southern California technology companies by building community and sharing knowledge, ideas and energy. Eric is also very active in local school functions, sponsorship of local youth sports teams and has a hard time saying no. For Eric Greenspan’s complete resume, click here.

That’s what “they” say, here’s what I think (switching to first person)…

2010 Twitter pic

I’m a father, serial technology entrepreneur, wakeboarder and proud member of the Superfriends (meetup group). As an early industrialist in Palm Springs, California, I began with a paper route, moved to lemonade stands on the Muni Golf Course using free and abundant lemons, resold used mattresses hauled away after the delivery of new ones and sold Hertz’s used cars (this part of the story will have a full chapter dedicated to it someday). After eight years of school in the desert, Mom got divorced and decided it was time for me to live with my father. The next day, I found myself on an airplane to Cleveland and with a one hour drive South to Canton, Ohio where I spent the next four years learning to fish, hunt, ride mopeds and listening to Def Leppard, Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne. It was brutal at first — a foreign country to me — but it taught me many constructive life lessons, most importantly, tolerance. I grew to love the “good” parts of living in the Midwest, particularly the fishing part. After graduating Jackson High School in 1986, I attended Kent State University in the fall. The year went by fast, but I wanted to head back to California. Dad said, “Stay here and I’ll pay for your college; move back to California and you are on your own.” I flew West the same day.

Landing in Palm Springs, and making my way to Santa Barbara with my best friend Ian, in 1987 I began the process of putting myself through college, learning about women and understanding the “real world” as Dad had put it. First job: waiting tables and flambéing tableside at the new Fess Parker’s Red Lion Resort (now Doubletree). I learned vital life skills — how to prepare Steak Diane, shrimp scampi, Caesar salad and Bananas Foster. What a job this was…great money and not too far a bike ride from my roach-infested ocean-view apartment. Fun…until the Fire Marshal shut down tableside food preparation in Santa Barbara County. I moved on to room service for the next year. Loved being on my feet, moving fast, making good money. Later, I left Fess to work at the local Mexican restaurant, Hola Amigos!. At Holas, I made great money, stared at the ocean all day, served burritos and the infamous “Pollo Amigos” – still my favorite dish in the world –all of which got me through the next three years of life, college and debauchery.

Great career starter!

While working in the restaurant business and going to college full time, I decided I needed (or wanted) a computer. Off I went to the Santa Barbara City College bookstore and purchased an IBM PS/2 Model 55sx 386sx 16mHz, 60mb hard drive, 2mb of ram, 15″ VGA display, 3.5″ floppy drive — state-of-the-art computer from an IBM Collegiate Representative intern. This thing came pre-loaded with DOS 4.01, Windows 3.0, Word 2.0 and Excel. I bought a separate 2400baud modem and signed up for Prodigy. You laugh, but what an improvement over the electronic typewriter I had been using.

This was my lightbulb moment. I knew technology was my thing. I loved it. I was a sponge, absorbing everything I could by “borrowing” software (easier in those days) from my neighbor who had every program money could buy.  It turned out I was to be a great salesperson, too, but only because I could sell things I loved and believed in.

After obliterating my Windows 3.0 install on my new PC and working with a local IBM systems engineer to rebuild it, I decided to look into the IBM Collegiate Representative program myself. I went back to the bookstore, talked to the salesguy who sold me PC and ended up helping him close another sale. He asked, “You interested in an IBM internship?” Duh. The next day, I interviewed with the same guy who helped me rebuild my PC and he gave me a shot.

The internship at IBM turned into a full time job…in addition to my full time restaurant job and my full time college schedule. MY IBM title was Education Marketing Representative for student, faculty and staff sales at all colleges and universities on the Central Coast (UCSB, Westmont, SBCC, Cal Lutheran, Cal Poly and more). Over the next three years, I worked my tail off. I loved going to my jobs in shorts and to school in a suit and my cool “vendor” parking pass let me park anywhere on campus. That alone was worth all my exertion and dearth of compensation. I have never told anyone this, but the ID badge I had opened any door at any IBM building, at least all the ones I tried. I used to sneak into the mainframe lab in downtown Los Angeles, put on a white coat and talk with a British accent (to myself) as if I were a famous scientist.

I stayed with IBM for three years, over which they were reducing their workforce in a struggling economy and because OS/2 got smushed by Windows. There were 144 in my Santa Barbara office when I started; when I left, I was one of four remaining. My manager offered me a gig in Woodland Hills, but I said, “Thank you, but I’m going to stay here and finish my degree.” Her response: “What? You don’t have a degree? How the heck did you get a job with IBM?” To which I responded, “I dunno. The bigger question is…how did I pass the drug test?” She laughed, we hugged, I packed my things and left.

I dabbled in the investment recovery business for a while, working with attorneys and experts in arbitration. We got our clients their money back from bogus investments made through unscrupulous brokerage firms and broker-dealers. I made a ton of money and did a lot of good, but I knew it wasn’t for me.

Original Make It Work 1995-2000

In 1995, on the couch of my Montecito condo, I sat with my IBM Thinkpad 700c on my lap, Coreldraw 7.0 open, and created my first company. I called it “Make It Work” Because I wanted to make things work for businesses. It had a great logo, a one-page business plan and a ton of energy and potential.  I built software, installed networks, solved problems — whatever I had to do to stay alive. My first client was Debbie’s Delights, a local bakery that provided most of the area’s coffee shops with their morning pastries. I built a network for her, but she also needed a way to run her business. Using Microsoft Access, I built Debbie a “from flour to delivery” system and in under six months, she sold her company and retired. I knew I was on to something.

The next potential project took me and my new CTO to Cancun, Mexico. We had a ton of fun on our all-expense-paid-trip to Cancun, but did not get the project. We did, however, land a $600k project in Baltimore a few months later and the company was born. We built software at makeitwork.com and designed/installed big Microsoft and Citrix networks at makeitwork.net. The company grew to become one of the largest Citrix partners in the world and was awarded the distinguished Platinum status in 1999. With its successful Thindex Conferences, the company was soon added to Guy Kawasaki’s Garage.com and a month later, an investor found Make It Work there and bought it.

Original MIW Fleet 1995-2000

After selling the company in 2000, I went on to become one of the founders of the ASP industry (now known as SAAS) by creating a new company called Push, Inc., which was named top CRM Application Service Provider (ASP) in the nation by PC/Magazine. I sold 20% of Push to KPMG, LLP, which funded the construction of a mega-datacenter in Santa Barbara, California. I was named to the Citrix iBusiness Board of Governers — along with with the founders of Futurelink, Corio and Navisite — where I worked closely with my fellow entrepreneurs in this burgeoning new industry to guide and shape its development. I even paid a whopping $125,000 for the URL “push.com” (oops). The company grew like wildfire for a while. Then came the “dotbomb” era of 2000. The company had a ton of cash, solid customers and a great product, but my co-founder didn’t understand how to “hang on.” In early 2001, I reluctantly stepped aside as the second largest shareholder and over the following year watched the company fail. Push became “my teachable moment” and while making a mistake once allowable, I will never make that mistake again. Here’s what I learned: trust your gut, choose your partners wisely and stay in business, even if it means chaning the business. International Business Machines (IBM) began as a punch card company; today they hardly sell “business machines.”

In 2001, I was going through a divorce, had a three year old son, a few bucks in the bank, but nothing on the horizon. I applied for a job at a significant public company in Irvine, about three hours south of Santa Barbara, where I lived. The morning of my interview, the company called to say “in light of today’s events, my interview would be rescheduled.” It was September 11th, 2001. A week later, at the interview, they seemed to offer me the position, but also said, “We are concerned you are an entrepreneur at heart and will leave soon to start your own company.” On my drive back to Santa Barbara, I did just that.

Make It Work Mini Cooper

In November, 2001, I officially formed my third company, once again called Make It Work. When I sold the first Make It Work, I kept the trademarks, URLs, systems, etc. But this time, I wanted to do it differently, so we created a new logo and launched the business. We got many of our former Citrix clients back and we earned our gold Citrix status pretty quickly.

The phone was ringing, but many of the calls were coming in from home computer users. I wondered if technology in the home was strong enough to support a business yet. It seemed like an up and comer regardless, but I wasn’t willing to bet the farm on it, so I launched a division of Make It Work called Computer Plumber, the residential provider of MIW. I remember sitting with my top engineer at the time, discussing how he could wow our customers with his advanced skills while fixing their home computers. He laughed and said, “I think this is a mistake, but I trust you.” A year later, Computer Plumber was booming and we renamed Computer Plumber to Make It Work, Inc.®, the Neighborhood Computer Support Company™ and rolled all our focus into this emerging industry. We went on to receive $3.7 million in funding, doubled revenues four years in a row, had 21 consecutive growth quarters…and we lost a ton of money in the process. In 2008, trusting my gut, we completely realigned the business to become profitable. In December of 2008, we had our first EBITDA positive month. Since then, we have continuously strengthened our bottom line and business structure and have matured into a solvent, soon-to-be-debt-free, profitable business.

MIW Boot Camp 2008 Palm Springs

Currently Make It Work serves all of Southern California, with long-term plans to expand nationwide. Its fleet of red and white, logo-emblazoned Mini Coopers are seen from Santa Barbara to San Diego, fixing everything that “hums, beeps or clicks, from computers to iPods to home theater” in homes and small businesses. With a focus on mind blowing customer delight, the company serves over 35,000 customers and has received over 30,000 cult-like testimonials. With Tech News, our nationally syndicated radio show on CBS and ABC radio, the company is achieving great things on a regular basis and we hope to become the “Virgin Airlines” of the industry nationally in 2010.

I also Executive Produced Tech News, powered by Make It Work, which aired on LA’s number one talk radio station CBS’s KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO every Saturday at 1 p.m. in 2009 and 2010 and Make It Work on ABC Radio (Citadel) in 2010. Make It Work Radio was cancelled in 2011 so the company could refocus its efforts on larger projects.

I’ve been profiled by numerous publications including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Mobile Enterprise Magazine, the Orange County Register, PC/Magazine, Windows2000 Magazine, the Montecito Journal, the Santa Barbara News Press, Independent, Pacific Coast Business Times, SocalTech.com and others. I was named to Who’s Who in Technology, the “40 Under 40” list in the Pacific Coast Business Times, a finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year for Ernst & Young, PriceWaterhouse Entretech and the Technology Council of Southern California. I speak regularly at USC’s, Marshall School of Business and UCLA’s Anderson School.

I have a beautiful son, Jackson, born on April 16, 2010 who is the very proud brother of my 14 year old son Jacob. I also have a Beagle named Yugi and two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels named Kingston and Maximus. We live in beautiful Montecito, California (part of Santa Barbara) and vacation at our lake house near Paso Robles on Lake Nacimiento. We golf, wakeboard, cook, eat, travel and live.

RESUME

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