Spotlight: Genium Connects Companies With Top Technical Talent


It’s often difficult to find an amazing small business team. And the talent pool is even smaller for those that require workers with specific technical skills.

Luckily, Genium helps businesses with this important element of growth. Read about the company’s journey below in this week’s Small Business Spotlight.

What the Business Does

Connects employers with top technical talent.

Founder and CEO Alex Iceman told Small Business Trends, “When organizations have a hard time hiring high-quality technical talent in local markets, they turn to Genium. As a software consultancy, we build and deploy teams of highly skilled engineers. We handle all of the background work involved in finding the best of the best talent – from recruiting to hiring, including extensive background checks. Many of our clients deal with highly sensitive data and they need the best technical skills to build high-quality software and minimize risks.”

Business Niche

Quality and security.

Iceman explains, “Genium is ITAR registered and compliant to work on projects that require an exceptional quality of software engineers and security when working outside of the US.”

 

How the Business Got Started

To build a work culture that leaves room for other passions.

Iceman says, “Hockey is my lifelong passion. I play recreationally and am an American Hockey league referee. I have always worked on my own schedule and realized not all companies are supportive of that balance. At one company, I often had to ask my boss to leave early to referee hockey games. I didn’t like that feeling, and my boss was not very supportive even though I was a dedicated worker and top performer.

“When we lost a major client, the company downsized and my role was impacted. I didn’t know what to do. So I asked friends how they had started working remotely and they recommended searching for freelance work on job-posting sites. I secured my first contract three weeks later, started working on my own schedule and had the flexibility to pursue my work and my passions.”

Biggest Win

Successfully helping a large client shift during the pandemic.

Iceman adds, “Genium played a key role in helping a large client that serves more than 20 million users to pivot to a mobile-first company during the pandemic and increased sales 1.5 times when everything was shutting down. Our backend team and mobile team worked hard to pivot in a short period of time and integrate with over 50 partners to bring an exceptional user experience to mobile.”

Biggest Risk

Partnering with startups.

Iceman says, “The biggest risk is to work with small startups and we risked taking on a few that folded and a few that were very successful. Now we interview our partners to make sure are aligned on the values and commitment to quality and proper software development procedures.”

Lesson Learned

Ask for help.

Iceman says, “Asking for help is vital and should be a common practice. One way to achieve this is by getting a coach/mentor. Every professional athlete has a coach, entrepreneurs are similar to athletes and should have several coaches as well.”

How They’d Spend an Extra $100,000

Continue to invest in talent and improve the experience for workers.

Iceman explains, “I’d love to organize a retreat where we can all get together, team build, and forge even stronger connections.”

Social Mission

Helping young people thrive.

Iceman adds, “I am incredibly passionate about working with children who don’t have the resources to access opportunities and mentorship programs. Genium has internal projects touching both of these initiatives. We live once –we should make a positive impact on this world.”

Favorite Quote

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” – Wayne Gretzky.

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Find out more about the Small Biz Spotlight program

Image: Genium, Alex Iceman



Annie Pilon Annie Pilon is a Senior Staff Writer for Small Business Trends and has been a member of the team for 12 years. Annie covers feature stories, community news and in-depth, expert-based guides. She has a bachelor’s degree from Columbia College Chicago in Journalism and Marketing Communications.