Chase Blackwell grew up in Conway. He went to school in Conway. He graduated from college in Conway.
13
Original number of TriTechne employees
29
Average employee age
80
Current number
of TriTechne employees
Naturally, Blackwell decided to locate his startup telecom services company, TriTechne, Inc., in Conway. And when launching TriTechne in 2015, he utilized his insider’s knowledge of the city to harness an untapped resource — students.
Blackwell, 32, understood better than others that Conway’s slogan “City of Colleges” isn’t just a boast. He made graduates of UCA, Hendrix and Central Baptist College, as well as products of area trade and vocational schools, the building blocks of TriTechne, formulating a training and staffing plan that has led to speed-of-sound growth.
In three years TriTechne has gone from 18 employees to 80, from $5 million in revenues to a projected $15-20 million this year, making it one of the city’s fastest growing startups.
“The dynamics of Conway just play ever more into our success there because we are the city of colleges and we’ve built relationships with UCA, Hendrix and now CBC,” Blackwell said. “Representatives from our company go and they host training and hiring seminars and things of that nature where we’re constantly continuing that pool of certain individuals into our organization and continuing that evolution of growth.”
Blackwell, a graduate of Conway High and a 2009 graduate of UCA, with a degree in dietetics and nutrition, wanted to work in public policy. But Blackwell’s father, a telecom industry veteran, asked him to first go learn some systems in northern Louisiana and come back and teach them before embarking on his career path.
Blackwell enjoyed the work and befriended the Louisiana project manager, who later asked him to manage a major CenturyLink program in the south. Public policy soon faded into Blackwell’s rear view.
“That was kind of like ‘That’s all she wrote,’ ” he said.
BEYOND STARTUPS PANELISTS
Chase Blackwell
Founder, TriTechne, Inc.
Amy Denton
Owner, Pediatrics Plus
Rhea Lana Riner
President & CEO, Rhea Lana, Inc.
Ashton & Austin Samuelson
Owners, Tacos 4 Life Grill
At TriTechne’s outset, Blackwell was attempting to catch a double wave of government subsidies for telecom carriers via the Connect America Fund and a robust household broadband market. Connect America is the FCC’s multi-phase effort to connect all rural Americans by 2020.
Blackwell devised a training plan and structure in which his first 13 employees would learn the TriTechne way, then become leaders responsible for handing down the training to the next group. That group would then train the next group and so on in a pyramid fashion.
“We call them pillars in our organization,” Blackwell said. “And pillars equate to manager. We are a big-team type attitude and we understand that our ability to grow is to mentor and groom that lower level of pillars.”
With clients like AT&T and Windstream, the company began by offering design services but branched into construction and installation as demand for household broadband increased. TriTechne houses its design and systems wing in its facility on north Donaghey, while its construction and installation branch is on Runway Drive near the old airport.
TriTechne’s average employee age is 29, which Blackwell estimated was half the age of the company’s competitors. While the TriTechne model allows for training of graduates who don’t necessarily have telecom experience, it also taps into something that can’t be taught — younger, creative thinking.
“It’s that whole embracement of new mindsets, millennial attitudes,” Blackwell said. “If you’ve got a problem we can come up with solutions.”
See more about Conway’s economic growth at Outlook Conway.
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