Fire Engine RED

It is a Philadelphia-based education-technology company that customizes Web-based software products, conducts student search marketing campaigns and offers a CRM solution for university admissions offices. It has employees spread throughout the Unites States and Canada. Fire Engine RED in December The co- founder Rene Smith decided to be a completely virtual company.

The team stays connected through a complicated web of communication aided by conference calls, Skype, AIM, and — working literally around the clock as employees in different time zones coordinate with each other to finish projects. Team members spend an average of three to four hours virtually meeting with team members, says Shelly Spiegel, president and co-founder. "Often people are Skyping with one group of team members while simultaneously IMing with other team members," Spiegel laments.

With 40 employees and 315 clients, Spiegel beams that her company is growing fast. Perhaps more surprising than the company's miniscule turnover rate, is the fact that no one seems to mind that there is no physical headquarters.

We never planned to have a virtual company. We initially began working from home because we couldn't afford office space and we didn't live near one another. Then in 2005, when we hired our first team member, the "perfect" candidate lived in Colorado not in the Philadelphia area. We decided not to let her location stop us from hiring her because our services are not location dependent. A year later, when we made our second hire, the "perfect" candidate lived in New York. Again, we hired her despite her location. After these two initial hires, we realized that we were on to something, by allowing people to work virtually, we could attract and hire top talent no matter where they lived.

Typically every April we have an annual team meeting and everyone comes to Philadelphia for four to five days. There's a mix of both business and socializing at this event. It helps us make sure that everyone's on the same page. Because we're in meetings most of the day, we all have dinner together every night. We go different places in Philadelphia, but our team members go out together after dinner during their free time. Also I have conference calls with the team probably twice a month and everyone calls in.

The benefits of a virtual company The fact that we can hire the most talented people no matter where they're located, we believe, has contributed dramatically to our success. We're not asking people to take a chance and move to the city—it's a big decision to move across the country. In addition to that, we have hired, almost exclusively, through referrals and, as a result of that, our team members have been wonderful at recommending people that very much fit within our culture.

Factors Behind the Success -Very good instincts. -The ability to know how to select people from the onset that fit within the company's culture. -people who are self-motivated. -need people that are very comfortable working as part of a team and people who don't need to be micromanaged. -happy support team makes for happy clients that can be retained.

the biggest lessons the employees have learned since starting Fire Engine RED? It's all about the team. Its all about hiring the best talent, that's more important than anything. It's more important than money. Just having the right people, the right team and preserving that culture and really making certain that you continue to take every hire really seriously.