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Sunday, October 07, 2001

By Linda A. Dickerson

Access Data Corp. could be viewed as the business version of the salmon swimming upstream. At a time so many dot.com firms are imploding, it's prospering.

	Linda A. Dickerson is a principal in Dickerson & Mangus Ink., an issues consulting firm.

Part of the company's staying power stems from a $15 million infusion of cash received through a private placement in early 2000, said Jim Dolan, president and chief executive officer of the Uptown upstart. Another component of its fortitude is the firm's focus on a specific and profitable niche, the financial services industry.

Most of Access Data's top management brought substantial experience in the financial industry to their new assignments. Dolan earned his financial services stripes at Federated Investors, the mutual fund giant where he worked for 19 years. He concluded his tenure there by serving as president and CEO of Federated Services Co., its back-office fund administration and data services subsidiary.

This rich experience base is yet another reason Access Data claims success where many others failed. As a full-service provider of Internet-based consulting and application hosting solutions, Access Data experienced first-hand what Dolan describes as "the over exuberant growth of dot.com everything."

Now that dot.com companies are fewer, many analysts are speculating the root causes of the decline. Attributing the shakeout to "fundamentally profound, systemic change," Dolan sees a brighter future ahead for the firms such as his that kept pace with the rapid-fire changes.

Since his early days of developing the concept behind Access Data, Dolan says he was "drawn by passion to build and create." To others with a similar desire to take the entrepreneurial plunge, he advises, "Double the amount of money that you need, and recognize that it will take longer than you think."

Dolan said the key to a start-up's success is understanding the market it's targeting and having what he terms "the right value proposition." For Access Data, he said, that means having a "deep understanding of the financial services market" and a commitment to recruiting top talent.

"Hire the best and the brightest and the most ethical," Dolan counsels. Then, "Get ready for hard work with a little luck."

About to enter its fifth year of operations, Access Data employs roughly 100, 60 in Pittsburgh. To support its Two Chatham Center headquarters, the company maintains offices in Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.

"We have a deep, long, strong experience in the industry," Dolan said, adding that with this experience comes insights that are invaluable to Access Data's clients. "Our clients don't have to teach us the problem. We already know the problem."

While leading-edge technology clearly distinguishes the firm from most of its competitors, Dolan stresses that the people who utilize the technology are essential.

Fortunately, he said, "This region has a great work ethic." It's also aided by a university infrastructure that generates the intellectual, human and technological resources his and other tech companies must have.

"One of the bright, shining lights in the community" is Carnegie Mellon University, Dolan said, calling CMU "a constantly emerging source of bright intellectual talent. It adds to our ability to generate business because those resources are here."

Fortunately for Pittsburgh, confirmed entrepreneurs such as Dolan are beginning to surface. These energetic individuals enable this region to more fully capitalize on these great ideas. Celebrating and encouraging their accomplishments is, in itself, a great idea.