LEADERSHIP Steve Thies | CEO

INDUSTRY Fingerprint scanners

LOCATION Spartanburg

FOUNDED 2009

If someone were to make a movie about your company, what would be the story you'd want to tell? 

A story about growing up! Excited about the technology, naive about the challenges, never-give-up effort, more than a few dead ends, a pivot to a new direction, light at the end of the tunnel and burgeoning success. 

How do you manage fast growth? What advice would you give to a company in growth mode? 

We are using EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System, developed by Gino Wickman; the system is easy to emulate and has served us well for the past three years. I would recommend it. 

What lessons did you learn the hard way? If you could go back five or 10 years, what advice would you tell yourself? 

The sales cycle in the biometric space is quite long and lumpy. If we went back 10 years, we might not have started this company. It took three years to get our technology moving in the right direction and six years for our first significant commercial success. Patient investor capital and committed team effort finally broke through. 

Have you acquired or merged with a company as part of your growth plan? What advice would you give to a company considering the same?

Our company acquired the technology we use today six months after we began. Acquisition with the intent to broaden your target market or to give you a unique advantage can be well worth it. Don’t overpay. 

What marketing tips would you offer other companies? 

People can automatically detect and lose interest in scripted, inauthentic language. Figure out what your “real voice" is and have fun! If you’re genuinely having fun, other people will want to join in.