Featured Techie: Haralds Jass, Founder and CEO of Superb Internet, Hawaii's Largest Web Hosting Company

In January 2009, Superb Internet Corp. relocated to Honolulu from Vancouver, Canada lock, stock and barrel. The Internet hosing and technology services company had decided to leave Canada for a number of reasons bu the move was a surprise to many in Hawaii. The traditional pattern for technology companies in the islands is launch small, grow to a larger size then leave. And the traditional reasons cited for leaving are usually cost of operating a business in Hawaii, lack of qualified technology workers, and difficulty meeting with customers due to the remote location. Haralds Jass, the CEO and founder of Superb, turned this logic on its head. The remote time-zone is excellent for covering both the U.S.and Asia in the same work day. And while Hawaii is hardly a low-cost haven, compared to Vancouver the islands are comparatively cheap. Equally important, Jass believed that his workers would be more productive in a healthy environment. As for customers, Superb, like an increasing number of technology services firms, has little to no face-to-face contact with customers, nor is such contact expected. In fact, a significant percentage of Superb's revenues come from resellers who package Superb's hosting offerings and sell them to customers as part of other services or as stand-alone hosting packages. In other words, Haralds Jass has created a text-book case study for how Hawaii could attract top-notch Internet and technology services companies to grow the state's economy. Which is why we have chosen him as our Featured Techie of the month. (It helps, of course, that he sponsors us and is a strong supporter of this non-profit effort to build Hawaii's technology community, natch.). A native of the Baltic nation of Latvia, Haralds studied at the University of British Columbia. In 1994, he founded Superb Entertainment, an online interactive entertainment company. Frustrated with the lack of solid Internet infrastructure, he decided two years later to launch a Web hosting company that quickly eclipsed his original venture and has become his primary entrepreneurial outlet. Superb is one of the world's 50 largest Web hosting companies, Superb's network handles anywhere from 100,000 to 500,000 Web sites (the larger variance is due to reseller activity). Superb's tech staff runs 15,000 servers with 60% of customers in the U.S. and 40% of the customers overseas. Jass has posted impressive mid-to-high double digit growth numbers every year since founding the company in 1996. That growth rate has continued in the year since the company moved to Hawaii. Superb employees 100 people globally with the majority now working out of Honolulu and receiving comparatively high wages for the islands. I chatted with Haralds about how he made his decision and how it has turned out. The key pain point for Superb was red tape. Canadian government bureaucracy was heavy and significantly raised Superb's costs. Lack of skilled job candidates was another problem. Says Jass, "Vancouver, and Canada as a whole, has a very limited labour pool and we found that being located in Vancouver, Canada, we were greatly limited in our access to the skilled staff that we need in this very knowledge-centric business. Simply put, the Vancouver, Canada office was like an iron ball chained to our ankle." While Hawaii is remote, traveling across international borders, even to close locations such as Seattle, meant that Superb's teams often spent double or triple the time they would have required had the flights been domestic (the company has colocation facilities on the two coasts of the U.S.). Set on bolting from Vancouver, Jass began to search for a new home for Superb. The three obvious possibilities were Seattle, the Washington D.C. area (both close to Superb colocation facilities) and the Bay Area of California. But Superb also began to consider Hawaii. So Superb did test postings for jobs in those locations and actually found higher quality applicants for Hawaii jobs. The majority of these applicants had either moved to Hawaii from elsewhere or hoped to do so, indicating the Hawaii's environment and lifestyle was extremely attractive -- more than sufficient to fight the vaunted island "Brain Drain" syndrome. In fact, 60% of Superb's new hires moved to Hawaii for their new jobs, from locations including Vancouver, Canada, Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Virginia, Texas, Michigan, and even the UK. Some where returning islanders but, regardless, Jass found that the allure of the islands meant he actually could access a global labor pool who were willing to move over. There were other reasons he chose Hawaii. The islands have "...the highest standard of life and the healthiest living environment in the US and one of the tops in the world, the longest life expectancy in the US, far lower stress levels than the second lowest stress state in the US. All this gave us the confidence to move here, knowing that we would have happier and healthier staff, which would translate into greater productivity," says Jass. The result? Superb's productivity per employee has improved by mid double-digit numbers since moving to the islands. Jass also notes that the state's tax incentives for high tech businesses was helpful (although that is less the case now than before due to recent legal changes to tax incentives laws and rulings). How hard was it to move from Canada? Very. Say Jass, "First and foremost, it took almost a year to get the required work visas for all of our Vancouver office staff who wanted to move. That was the longest and most difficult part of the process. Thousands of pages of detailed documents needed to be prepared. Then came the actual move. The company sponsored a large container for all staff personal goods, as well as vehicle moves for those who wanted to keep and move their cars. That was a large logistical undertaking, especially considering that it's an international move and all the goods needed to be individually customs examined upon arrival at the Honolulu port. Then there was the individual help for all of our relocating staff to help them get set with the basics, such as a place to live, local bank accounts, mobile phones, so forth and so on." A lot of hassles, sure, but Jass says his business is now more productive, his employees happier, and his growth rate continuing to show strong numbers. Jass is bullish on technology service businesses in Hawaii that sell to customers outside of the islands. "The key is first having a service that is not location specific and does not require in-person meetings. If that is the case, then especially being located in Hawaii, the work hours are an important consideration. Our "official" work hours are 6am-3pm HST but many staff are here until 6pm HST, and customer-facing departments start at 3am HST (9am EST) sharp. The key in working with non-local customers is instant reachability of competent, well trained staff any time of the day or night. That is really what it's all about." So some key take-away lessons for Hawaii from Harald's great adventure. 1. Look to recruit existing businesses in stable technology sectors rather than focusing primarily on startups. These businesses bring big customer bases, stability, and more revenues 2. Look to recruit from locales where Hawaii could be a comparative advantage in terms of costs, labor pool, and lifestyle. 3. Make the process of moving easier for these companies, perhaps by providing some support for relocation and resettlement