Young tech company grows despite tough economy

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A. Siue Weisler

Casey Jordan ’08, left, and Patrick Bosek, founders of Jorsek.

You own a medium-sized company that manufactures guitar amps. You’d like to have a Web site where you can present your products, show photos and video, list dealers, highlight news releases and share customer testimonials.

You also need printed materials and you’d like to make information available on hand-held devices such as iPhones. And you want to get news out to customers via Twitter and Facebook.

But it takes a lot of interdepartmental work and IT skills to accomplish all this. And keeping everything up-to-date and in sync can be a nightmare.

Jorsek Software has the solution. The Rochester company, launched in 2006 in RIT’s Albert J. Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, has developed Jorsek’s StemCM, an exceptionally easy-to-use Web-based Information Management System.

“It could be used by any organization, but it’s a homerun for medium sized companies that need to share data both between departments and with customers via the Web or mobile devices.” says company co-founder Casey Jordan ’08 (physics). “And it helps people work together efficiently because you don’t have to be a technically savvy to use our technology.”

StemCM allows users to set up and link the various information components (Web, mobile, print materials, etc.). Changes made in any component is automatically updated to all other documents. The user can access the documents online using any Web browser through Jorsek’s “Software as a Service” system.

StemCM is the first product offered by Jordan and Jorsek co-founder Patrick Bosek, a University of Buffalo computer science graduate. Both are 2003 graduates of Penfield (N.Y.) High School.

They’re getting great feedback from customers. “The challenge of organizing information within our company has been a long standing one,” says Zachary Welch ’02 (film and video), systems administrator for VP Supply Corp., a Rochester wholesale distributor of plumbing, heating and air conditioning products. “Jorsek’s answer to the common problem of useful, consolidated and organized information management is not only elegant, but capable.”

Despite the challenging economy, Jorsek has been growing. It recently graduated from the Simone Center – RIT’s student business incubator – into Venture Creations, an RIT subsidiary that works with faculty, staff, alumni and outside businesses to bring technologies to market.

The company has also began setting up strategic partnerships with Rochester businesses and added staff. After advertising for positions Online, “We received hundreds of applications,” says Jordan. “The most qualified candidates were from RIT.”

To get their business off the ground, Bosek and Jordan are committed to putting in the long hours and personal sacrifice required. Their efforts haven’t made them wealthy as yet, but there are other rewards. “As entrepreneurs, we have the chance to contribute to Rochester’s growth,” says Jordan. “Plus we meet a lot of cool people.”

One of those people is Dale Waldt, senior analyst for Gilbane Group Inc., a Cambridge, Mass., consulting firm focused on content technologies. He’s convinced the young company is onto something.

“This dramatically changes the way Web content will be created and updated going forward,” says Waldt.