CHARLESTON, S.C. -- When Charleston, S.C., entrepreneur Shawn Jenkins got the bug last year to launch a high-tech company in his hometown, he asked himself an important question: "Can you really build a software company in Charleston?"
Less than 18 months later, Jenkins has his answer. His startup, Benefitfocus.com, is not only thriving in once-sleepy Charleston; it is emerging as the dominant player in the field of online employee benefits services.
"We get 150 resumes a week, and we don't even have to advertise," says Jenkins, president and CEO of the software development company based in Mount Pleasant, a suburb of Charleston. "We've had no trouble hiring people to fill our high-tech positions. All of the good things about Charleston for me personally are also good for our people."
Benefitfocus.com -- named the 2001 Emerging Business of the Year for the Charleston area -- is already the marketshare leader in producing employee benefits software for use via the Internet and touch-screen kiosks. On Sept. 5, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina signed up its 100th corporate client for its BluesEnroll Application, built and supported by Benefitfocus.com.
Founded June 6, 2000, the company moved into its 31,000-sq.-ft. (2,883-sq.-m.) headquarters in Mount Pleasant in March 2001. The offices aren't fancy -- they're housed in what used to be a Wal-Mart store in a class B shopping center -- but they're more than functional for a firm that employs about 100 people and plans to grow to 325 within five years.
"We started this software company, a spinoff of American Pension Inc., almost by accident," says Jenkins. "But when we launched we knew we had one main criterion: We had to stay in Mount Pleasant."
Jenkins says he never considered relocating outside of Charleston, a metro area of just 552,000 people. "I'm not a big-city guy, and in general it's a lot cheaper to live here than it is in Atlanta or Washington. Housing costs are cheaper. The schools are great. We have some of the best schools in all of South Carolina. There is easy access to work from almost anywhere in the market. There is good shopping, and the people here make the best work force. It's just something about our culture. It's great for client service, and that's what our business is all about."
Jenkins isn't joking when he talks about costs. Take his lease, for example. He pays US$6 per sq. ft. for his 31,000 sq. ft. (2,883 sq. m.) of converted retail space and nothing for his parking. "Our first five months' rent were free, and I spent about $100,000 on renovation costs to move us in," he says. "I could easily fit 260 people in here comfortably. I have plenty of space for the next five years."
Using an application service provider (Exodus) that hosts the software out of Atlanta, Benefitfocus.com is signing up Blue Cross clients at a rate of one to two a day. "We now have more than 150 of their accounts, and we are growing every day," Jenkins says.
|
