Maybe you've seen them sitting on the roof of Brillig Books around lunchtime.
Six guys, only a year out of college, huddled together in what seems to be some sort of intense intellectual exchange. They're not plotting the demise of Starbucks or even doing anything illegal - they're actually engaged in an important business meeting. These University grads are entrepreneurs.
"Topik Solutions has created a high-end e-mail relationship marketing software," said Okan Yetik, the company's organizational leader for sales and 2001 College graduate. "Our goals are to both reduce unsolicited e-mail and allow organizations to create a one-to-one relationship with their audience through e-mail."
The company's primary aim is to harness the information a corporation holds in its customer database and channel it to be able to communicate directly with that customer regarding his or her specific traits.
For example, if a student buys a T-shirt at a clothing store, that purchase information enters a database, which the store can use to send the customer promotions or discounts concerning future related items.
Topik Solutions does not create the databases - they already exist, and for the most part go unused.
Nor do they do business with retailers, but instead they work with marketing and development coordinators for mid-sized businesses looking to expand in a creative manner. While presently most communication between company and customer looks something like the University Connections e-mail, in which a mass of information is distributed to the entire student body to sort through, Topik Solutions offers a means to communicate directly with a customer in response to individual trends.
But what is truly remarkable about this company is the men who form its foundation. Yetik, College graduate Greg Herrington, Commerce graduate Matt Mueller, Commerce graduate Adam Namejko, Engineering graduate Ben Hallen and Commerce graduate Chip Ransler together embody every aspect of the functioning organization - from production to marketing and sales to networking.
In November 2000, Herrington and Ransler were involved in what they describe as an eBay-like project with Commerce School Prof. Ryan Nelson.
Through Nelson they met another man, Art Conroy, who hatched the idea for this company, yet was leaving Charlottesville and needed bright young minds to take it over.
Herrington and Ransler wrote a business proposal and presented it to the Darden Business Concept Competition. Over 18 teams of MBA students, their outline for Topik Solutions won the competition.
"Something was brewing," Herrington said, who now manages both product and business development for Topik.
But they all met and befriended each other long before the seeds of Topik Solutions were planted.
Three of the six were on the same hall - Humphreys second right, as they declared with grins and pride - their first year. The next year, Namejeko, Yetik and Herrington all joined Sigma Chi fraternity, with which they remain active today.
It was in their final year that their University friendships fueled what had become a serious enterprise.
They didn't immediately flee from Charlottesville, like many graduates often do. Instead of heading for a major metropolis, they remain conveniently located on the Corner.
"This is where we all met," Yetik said. "Sticking around was just comfortable."
They were able to start small by doing sporadic market research in the area, literally calling each prospective customer to create what is now a vast national clientele.
And they do not feel that it would even have been necessary to establish themselves originally in a big city.
"Because the nature of our software is on the Internet, it's easy to use Charlottesville as our base," said Mueller, the company's marketing/Web director.
The base is located on Elliewood Avenue in a three-room office above Brillig Books.
The office has all the workings of a promising corporation, but still exudes the presence of six young friends in a dynamic, engaging environment.
Upon entering, one is surrounded by an array of current technology, ringing telephones, eager interns and Yetik trying desperately to get a rebound on his Nerf basketball hoop. These guys are not so far removed from college that they've forgotten how to incorporate fun into their workdays.
"A good 18 hours of the day this office is blasting either country or techno," Yetik said.
Amid the fun, though, Topik Solutions is moving rapidly forward, even during one of the most severe economic crises the nation has ever seen.
"The need for this brand new technology is transforming from one that was previously unrecognized to one that is now recognized," Yetik said. "Companies are looking for a unique way to relate to their individual customers. In fact, as the market got worse, the demand for our service increased."
And, they say, should the market improve, businesses will have increased resources to fully outfit themselves with Topik Solution's technology, further perpetuating them toward success.
Yet as they continue to advance, the boys at Topik are considering leaving their tight-knit Charlottesville community, in which they are on a first-name basis with every food vender from Take It Away to Sylvia's Pizza.
"We've all signed a lease to live together for the next year," Yetik said. "After that we plan to expand out of Charlottesville as we begin to do higher end business deals."
There's no doubt our home-spun businessmen will make us proud.
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