Episode 17 - Jeff Jefferson

CREATE VIRGINIA

I've been wanting to do this interview since we've started CreateVirginia. I've been friends with Jeff and his partner Sean Harrington for a long time (note: Sean was one of my college roommates and cross country teammates). Jeff and I sit down to talk about their experiences of creating a company called Easy Software Solutions and their product, TimeSheasy. Jeff gives an honest look at what it took for them to get started, to grow, to fight through adversity, and to ultimately sell the company to a larger player in their industry.

There is a lot of romanticism around having a software startup. Although Jeff becomes successful, his story shows that it did not come with a huge amount of work and risk. I think anyone interested in starting a software startup should listen to this interview. Jeff and Sean started a partnership thinking that they would start a staffing company. Along the way, they found a great opportunity in a market that they understood very well. From there, they completely shifted focus into becoming a software company.

The story of the software company is a bit of a roller-coaster. They found something that people wanted, but there were plenty of issues with the development of the product and funding of the company. On the flip side, they are really fun guys with great stories of going to trade shows and partnering up with other companies in the industry.

We end the conversation with what is coming next in Jeff's future, as he has his sights on another opportunity to uniquely serve a market he understands.