Brandon Marks is the Managing Partner at OWG, a company he co-founded in 2018. He has over 20 years of experience in IT, having started his own firm in 2001. Marks brings a deep expertise in cloud solutions, particularly with Microsoft Azure, which he and his team have been working with since its beta release in 2017. His leadership at OWG focuses on delivering tailored, strategic IT solutions, with a commitment to innovation, accountability, and helping businesses thrive through technology.
Company: OWG
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company
Brandon Marks: I’m Brandon Marks, Managing Partner at OWG a company I founded in 2018 along with Nick Rigali our Operating Partner. My interest in technology began because I was lucky enough to have access to one of the first “personal computers” at home in the mid-80s. I believe my father was issued an IBM AT by the US Army. We had access to the computer when he wasn’t working. This was the time of dual floppy disks and we thoroughly explored it by messing around with DOS, different configuration changes, and some very limited software. Everything was very manual. We were living on the Presidio in San Francisco and were surrounded by a lot of technology innovation My father would take me to some of the local tech events. All of this sparked what has become a 30-year career. I had my first paid IT job in 1994, 14 years old, as a technician at a local computer store. This was in the days of Microsoft DOS, Windows 3.1, really slow dial-up internet for some, and CompuServe or AOL for others.
In 1999 I co-founded an IT services firm which I exited in 2018 and following that, OWG was born, to disrupt the status quo of managed IT services providers that had become stale with cookie-cutter products. OWG has a cloud-first approach focusing on Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Apps amongst other solutions. We have a circular process of advising, building, securing, support and our core values are clearly defined and reinforced regularly to our team. OWG has offices in New Jersey, Los Angeles, and the Nordics and team members across 11 time zones.
From the beginning, the initial plan was really simple to provide a proactive support model while delivering on our core promise of providing timely and competent IT services and support while making sure that security was part of our solutions and services from the first conversation. Our team is encouraged to find solutions and workshop challenges instead of presenting roadblocks. How can we get to “yes” is our motto. OWG also has a culture of giving back and promoting a positive work environment for our team which includes protecting personal time and promoting a healthy work-life balance.
We are excited to announce our new Parralax Private Cloud solution, built on top of Microsoft Azure, which has its roots going back to 2017 when it was very clear that legacy cloud platforms, and especially legacy virtual desktop and VDI products were primed for disruption. In early 2020, just before COVID-19, we shut down our data center and moved 100% of our infrastructure as a service client to an early version of Parallax Private Cloud. The goal was to deliver the familiar Windows Desktop experience on a compliance-ready infrastructure with greater value and flexibility, higher availability, and a much more robust infrastructure while providing our customers with more control and some self-help tools for faster resolution for common IT needs.
What were the most significant challenges you faced during the scaling process, and how did you overcome them?
Brandon Marks: Our biggest challenge has been building the right team which includes recruiting, training, mentoring, and retaining top talent. After trying many different approaches and restructuring our process several times, we have landed in a really good place. Aside from the recruiting and interview process we also perform extensive screening and testing to make sure we put each team member where they can shine.
OWG team members can expect a nurturing work environment where they aren’t treated as cogs in a machine, easily replaceable. We emphasize work-life balance and are protective of our work time because providing technology services and support can be stressful.
How did you ensure that your company culture remained intact as your business expanded?
Brandon Marks: Culture is really hard to get and maintain. For us, it starts with our interview process. The very first conversation with a candidate is strictly about evaluating their personality and includes a discussion on values and cultural fit. We don’t get into the specifics of a position or qualifications. If a candidate makes it past that conversation then there can be multiple technical interviews. This took us a while to figure out and we are still learning.
We have also gotten rid of client locality when servicing our clients. This has helped to foster a “same team” mentality across time zones. We have a very regimented daily, weekly, and monthly meeting cadence consisting of a daily regional check-in for our technical team members. These are quick “standups” designed to coordinate high-priority work, ask for help on a vexing problem and make sure everyone is on the same page about changes from the previous day or sick/vacation days. Our weekly management meetings follow the EOS management model, bi-weekly technical services meetings and a monthly town hall. The bi-weekly service meetings and town halls are open floors where productive conversations can be had. The only real rule is if someone comes with a problem they must provide a proposed solution(s) and be prepared to be part of the solution.
It’s important to point out that while we track and manage many metrics the most important one is customer satisfaction and our team is encouraged to go above and beyond. We strive to provide the space to identify and solve problems to locate root causes instead of putting band-aids. Simply put, we are driven by positive outcomes.
What strategies did you employ to maintain quality and customer satisfaction while scaling rapidly?
Brandon Marks: We have tried so many things but have had the most success with leveraging technology to have the data, creating processes that are just enough without being overbearing, and sending customer satisfaction surveys at ticket closure which do get followed up on in every case. The feedback is shared openly with the team. Both the good and bad.
We take a stakeholder view in our role rather than being “just a vendor” and add value wherever we can. We also hold regular meetings with our customers to find out what works, what needs to change and where we could do better. Introspection and honesty are critical here.
Can you share a specific turning point that was crucial for your business’s successful scaling?
Brandon Marks: Our transition from a data center environment running VMWare to what eventually became Parallax Private Cloud leveraging Microsoft Azure is without question the biggest turning point for OWG. This happened just before COVID. We had been paying attention to the market and what the vendors were telegraphing but not saying. This suggested a big shift was coming. So we did some soul-searching and made the right decision to abandon the data center.
Because of this transition, we were able to handle the rapid influx of remote working brought on by COVID-19. We had 100% of our clients working in a FULLY remote capacity by early April. That level of scale wouldn’t have happened so smoothly if we hadn’t been ready. This experience changed how we designed solutions and we have never looked back. At this point over 95% of our clients are cloud only with the remaining 5% in a hybrid setup where they have some on-premise systems infrastructure for various business reasons such as specific system requirements.
How did you manage the financial aspects of scaling, particularly in securing funding and maintaining cash flow?
Brandon Marks: Because we are self-funded we fit the business to the profits making responsible investments in the business. Whenever possible we remove barriers and complexity in our agreements, invoicing, and payment systems, making it easy for our customers to interact. Of course, we assess budgets and expenses with a bit of a profit-first mentality. Finally, we are very selective with our vendors and try to work with as few distributors as possible. This helps with scaling the relationships while supporting as few third-party products as possible through standardization.
