SYRACUSE — Tech Geekery, Inc., which provides technical-support assistance and training on computers and iPhones, is a startup that’s a reincarnation of a business one of its co-owners had launched back in 2009. With downtown operations based at the Syracuse Technology Garden, Tech Geekery is a mobile service that provides assistance that could include installing […]
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With downtown operations based at the Syracuse Technology Garden, Tech Geekery is a mobile service that provides assistance that could include installing a point-of-sale (POS) system or wireless Internet service.
“We like to say everything from getting your phone set up all the way up to building an enterprise solution for you,” says Amy Wyant, co-owner of Tech Geekery.
Wyant and her husband, co-owner Michael (Mike) Wyant, Jr., also have an office for Tech Geekery at their home in the village of Phoenix.
Besides technical assistance, the young firm also provides training in personal or group sessions.
The business training might be an option if a small business has a new piece of software on which the owner wants all employees trained at the same time, Amy Wyant says.
“We can customize curriculum and come into your space to help get everybody where they need to be,” she adds.
Restarting the company
Mike Wyant first launched Tech Geekery in 2009 after returning to the Mohawk Valley from California.
“There was a lack of Mac [Macintosh computer] support in the Herkimer–Mohawk area, which is where we were at the time,” Mike Wyant says.
The Wyants had been living and working in the San Francisco area for a few years after their graduation from Alfred University, located in New York’s Alleghany County.
Wyant says the Richfield Central School District, which is located in Otsego County, sought his services for needed technical support for its MAC computers.
“So I decided to start up a consulting firm to see if I could help out with that,” he says.
Wyant began pursuing other clients, but eventually realized he wasn’t finding enough clients with a need for service within a 90-minute driving range of Richfield Springs.
At that point, Wyant decided to look for either another job or a way to relocate his consultancy. He eventually landed at the Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) retail store at Destiny USA.
“I applied for a genius spot. Then they offered me their supervisor spot instead,” Mike Wyant says.
A “genius” at an Apple retail store is member of its technical-support team, according to the Apple website.
Three years later, Wyant decided it was time to move on.
“I wanted to be able to say, okay, I can come to your house. I can finish setting this up for you,” Mike Wyant says.
He says “that extra part” wasn’t included in Apple’s offerings for customers.
Wyant left the Apple store in January and relaunched Tech Geekery, as an incorporated entity, in April, he says. Amy Wyant, who had also been working for the same Apple store as a certified trainer, left to join her husband in March, she says.
Future plans
The Wyants next January plan to apply to join the Apple Consultants Network, an international database for technicians or firms that are certified in an area of Apple technology, Mike Wyant says.
As a former Apple employee, Wyant has to wait for a year to join the consultants’ network, he adds. That’s one of his goals for the firm in its first year of operation.
“That’s the last piece of credibility that we’re missing … is that we’re not on the Apple Consultants Network, even though we should be,” he says.
Tech Geekery also hopes to open its own office sometime in early 2014. The Wyants are currently operating in the Syracuse Coworks space at the Tech Garden for $125 per month.
“It gives us access to a large lecture hall for our trainings and for large meetings,” Amy Wyant says. It also provides a place to work in downtown Syracuse, she adds.
Syracuse Coworks is working space that the nonprofit organization 40 Below created for entrepreneurs, virtual workers, independent employees, freelancers, and designers, according to its website. 40 Below is an organization of young professionals with a “passion for local revitalization in Central Upstate New York,” the website says.
Mike Wyant also contends a firm needs its own office to add another layer of credibility.
“I’d love to have a storefront where people could come in and just chat with us,” he says.
Tech Geekery also hopes to have hired at least one full-time employee by that point, Mike Wyant says. The employee would be a technician responsible for handling on site computer repairs in homes or businesses.
“It’s really driven by need and comfortability with us,” he says.
Mike Wyant declined to disclose a projection for the amount of revenue Tech Geekery might generate in 2013.
Even though Tech Geekery has no employees as of now, the firm does work with five independent contractors. One such contractor handles development of iOS, an advanced mobile platform, Mike Wyant says. Another specializes in PHP (general purpose scripting language for Web development) Web-design programming, he adds.
In its early stages, Tech Geekery has 10 recurring clients, including Richfield Springs Central School District and Kinani Blue, LLC, a social-media marketing company.
Kinani Blue handles Tech Geekery’s day-to-day communications projects. The Wyants credit Kinani Blue, itself a Coworks inhabitant, with introducing them to the Coworks working space
The Wyants met while attending Alfred University. Mike graduated in 2004 with a dual bachelor’s degree in history and English, and Amy graduated in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in both biology and history.
Mike Wyant was in charge of the student-run information-technology (IT) organization, which handles all first and second-tier support for the school. Amy also worked with the IT organization, she says.
“Our work-study jobs became our careers,” Amy said.
Mike Wyant didn’t own a computer until he was a sophomore in high school, and is now operating a company that he hopes will make his clients more comfortable with technology.
“By building this company and making it something that we can use to change people’s lives in a tiny way, that’s why we’re doing this,” Mike Wyant says.
Tech Geekery on May 18 held a training session on using the iPhone at the State Street Café in which it charged $10 for a training session, coffee, and a snack, according to the firm’s website.
“We literally geek out over technology when it looks cool and it works [how] you want it to. It’s really fun,” Amy Wyant says.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com