Samsa will soon have signage at its full service and sales center set up at 7 S. Washington St. in downtown Ypsilanti. (Tom Perkins | For The Ann Arbor News)
Tom Perkins | Special to The Ann Arbor News By Tom Perkins | Special to The Ann Arbor News MLive.com
A growing tech company is setting up a new shop and expanding in downtown Ypsilanti.
Saginaw-based Samsa develops websites and software as well as maintains and repairs hardware for residential and business customers. The company operated on North Washington Street for about a year until recently relocating to 7 S. Washington St.
Samsa’s owner and founder Mike Stackhouse said the new location will help provide a more public face to the company and offer new services local businesses and residents.
“We were by Beezy’s for about a year now with two software developers in there and no public presence, so we said ‘Let’s have a little more of an office space where we can meet with people,’” he said. «The idea is to hire more developers, a technician and possibly a sales person.
“If someone needs their computer repaired or upgraded, bring it in, we’ll repair it, and turn right around. We’ll sell refurbished and new computers and parts.”
The company has grown steadily since Stackhouse founded it 25 years ago, bringing in annual revenues of $1.5 million and employing 20 people.
While Samsa serves small to mid-size businesses, governments and non profits all over the country, it has focused its efforts in Michigan, and also has offices in Saginaw and Midland.
Stackhouse explained that the Ypsilanti office opened more by accident than design, though it has been a happy accident.
One of the company’s key software developers started with Samsa when he was 18 years old. After seven years, the employee’s girlfriend took a job in Ann Arbor, so he relocated with her to Ypsilanti and started working with an Ann Arbor-based web firm.
But Stackhouse found he really needed the employee on his team, so he called him and offered the chance to work remotely in Ypsilanti.
“I was needing him back so I said ‘Please come back, and you can work out of Ypsilanti,’ so he worked out of his house for six months. We’re in Saginaw and there is much less opportunity than in southern Michigan so I thought let’s open an office in Ypsilanti. So we eventually opened an office there and it has grown from there.”
The new Ypsilanti space will house developers for business customers and offer a storefront for residential customers to visit for sales and repair.
Stackhouse said the company took a major step forward in its ability to service and repair hardware when it acquired Bientek last year. The move also expanded Samsa’s customer base, and Stackhouse sees Ypsilanti as the first in several new Samsa locations that will open in southeast Michigan.
While the company does some business beyond the region, Stackhouse said around 90 percent of its clients are from Michigan
“They come to our office and meet with us. We employ local Michigan employees, we don’t outsource and we think there’s a value there,” Stackhouse said. “We think there’s a good amount of people who still value face to face contact, even in a digital age.”
He said clients often come in and describe what they need their businesses’ website or computer system to do, discuss their expected outcome and provide insight into their company.
Samsa’s team then develops what the customer wants, but continues the relationship with the client beyond the initial set up. If there are updates or maintenance that needs to be done, for example, Samsa provides those services as well as ancillary services like marketing.
And forging long-term partnerships minimizes the amount of marketing Samsa must do for itself, Stackhouse said.
“It doesn’t just end at ‘Hey I have a new computer system,’” Stackhouse said. “It’s the care and feeding long term that we also focus on and that represents recurring revenues. We don’t have to wait for the phone to ring to stay in business.”
