Webb-Based Business Credits Families for Success

The Earl F. Webb family of Fayetteville seems predisposed to entrepreneurship. Thus far, two of the elder Webb’s sons, Jeremy and Jason, have founded computer businesses.

Earl Webb has long been in the insurance finance business. He owns Webb & Associates of Fayetteville. Earl Webb has helped his sons by initially giving their companies free office space.

The owners of both computer companies — Interface Computer Center, owned by Jeremy Webb and two partners, Matt Romine and Scott Miller; and WebbSite Inc., founded by Jason Webb — are determined to succeed.

‘Whiz Kids’ start business

Fayetteville’s Interface Computer Center owners are longtime friends and neighbors. The three are not related, but they credit their company’s survival, at least in part, to support — financial and otherwise — from each of their families.

The partners admit it’s been a struggle. After 3 1/2 years, Jeremy Webb says, “We’re beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.”

From its beginnings as a computer retailer, Interface Computer has grown to become a backbone Internet provider, the sort of company that provides high-speed, reliable connections for its clients. For comparison, consider that companies like AT&T and MCI are backbone providers, albeit much larger than Interface Computer.

The company now also sells security systems, known as firewalls, to clients. That aspect of the company is an outgrowth of the partners’ own unfortunate experience in which they ultimately helped the FBI nail an Internet thief.

Jeremy Webb and Romine founded the company in 1994 while both were still studying computer systems engineering at the University of Arkansas. Both men were also employed at IBM, where their assignments included working with J.B. Hunt’s on-board computers. Their work was rewarded with a couple of commendations.

But, perhaps more importantly for their futures, the friends became convinced that they could run their own company.

The work, Jeremy Webb says, “taught me what the business was like. It taught me that I could do anything I wanted, as long as I set my mind to it.”

So, they struck out on their own, balancing schoolwork and a new business and, in Jeremy Webb’s case, continued working at IBM for another six months.

Their office space wasn’t plush. It was the basement of Earl Webb’s office building, but the rent was free. Because the two were selling computer systems and parts over the Internet, location wasn’t a factor.

But, there’s little markup in computer sales, Jeremy Webb explains, and Interface Computer had no money to stock inventory. Instead, the pair ordered merchandise needed by clients and paid extra for overnight shipping. Most profits were eaten up by shipping costs.

The partners established a record of dependability with clients so that, eventually, they could branch out into the more lucrative service market. That would have been impossible without references, Jeremy Webb says, since the computer industry is prone to fly-by-night operators.

After a year, they were ready to become Internet providers but, again, lacked capital. Miller bought into the company, giving it some money but, more importantly, expertise in Internet services. Without his skills and knowledge, Jeremy Webb says, Interface Computer couldn’t provide that service.

Coincidentally, the three partners — Jeremy Webb, Romine and Miller — all grew up in Fayetteville, all lived on the same street in the same neighborhood. Through the years, they’d drifted apart but, in college, they all studied the same thing: computer systems engineering.

An early article about the company dubbed the founders “whiz kids” since all were still in school. They haven’t aged much. Jeremy Webb and Romine are 24 now; Miller is 25. They have nine other employees, the oldest of whom is just 27.

FBI assistance

The trio’s venture into the security business actually grew from their own misfortune. They were trying to buy computer parts over the Internet from a man who had a virtual storefront. But his business was taking money from customers and not delivering the goods.

The partners of Interface Computers discovered the man had Internet accounts in Singapore, Oregon and California. They went to a local FBI agent, who put them in touch with another agent in Eugene, Ore.

“We got to tracking [the culprit] and we figured out how he was doing it,” Jeremy Webb recalls. One key element was discovering that the man, who was in Oregon, had an account in Singapore. They discovered that simply because of the time difference: The man was checking his e-mail messages in Singapore during hours when most residents there would have been asleep, Jeremy Webb says.

The FBI was aware of allegations against the man because he had allegedly been running scams throughout the world. But, Jeremy Webb says, Interface Computer’s complaint was probably the agency’s first from the United States.

“We wanted to get him off the Internet,” Jeremy Webb says.

The man was ultimately convicted of fraud crimes in which he was accused of stealing half a million dollars from people from Australia to Arkansas, Jeremy Webb says. He served six months in jail and paid Interface Computers a small amount of restitution. Fortunately for the company, the owners’ family members were willing to help them weather the crisis financially, a debt, Jeremy Webb says, he still owes.

Other than that, the only loan the company has taken was last year to pay taxes, Jeremy Webb says.

But the partners used the experience for their — and their customers’ — benefit by providing security services.

The company is still small. Most profits have been plowed back into the business to assure its growth, but sales have already reached the seven-figure range, and Jeremy Webb says he hopes to double that this year. About 20 percent of sales come from hardware; the rest is from network support, he adds.

Interface Computer hasn’t accepted end-use or individual Internet accounts, although the company has recently begun offering that service. Jeremy Webb explains that many individuals complained that the company’s rates were higher than other providers.

They don’t understand, he says, that his company provides a different type of service than other Internet providers.

For one thing, it’s a multi-horned service provider, meaning it has more than one independent backbone to the Internet. If its MCI line goes down, service switches to UUNET and vice versa.

Also, most of its clients want immediate and complete access to the Internet, something not available from many end-user providers, Jeremy Webb adds.

WebbSite

After a stint at Interface Computer Center, Jason Webb founded his own company: WebbSite Inc. The two-year-old company specializes in web sites for recreational areas, primarily lakes.

“We have several lake domain names,” including Beaver Lake, Table Rock Lake and Bull Shoals Lake, says Jason Webb.

“What we’re trying to do is promote those lakes, an awful lot like a lake association,” he explains. Toward that end, WebbSite works with chambers of commerce and lake associations, and its clients include real estate companies and resort owners. Through its web sites, the company can handle reservations for resorts and hotels. It also offers free classified ads for recreational equipment. The potential exposure for such advertisements is world-wide.

Jason Webb knows he can’t register the names of all the world’s lakes but he has reserved uslakes.com and usalakes.com, two Internet sites where he plans to provide information on every lake in the nation.

“That’s our long-range goal. We’re not going to be the one doing all lake sites, but we will have them linked,” he says.”We want to become the Yahoo of freshwater lakes.”

By linking all the lakes, advertisers get better exposure, Jason Webb explains. Net surfers may not find exactly what they’re looking for at one lake site, but they’re easily linked to other lakes, where they may find the desired amenities.

Jason Webb says his Table Rock Lake web site is the most successful to date, probably because of its proximity to Branson, a popular tourist destination.

Currently, WebbSite has three employees and it occupies the basement space of Earl Webb’s office building.

There’s a third Webb brother, Justin, who’s currently a UA student. He hasn’t started his own company yet, Jeremy Webb says.

“But he will.”