The Royal Connections Business Spotlight focuses on businesses owned by EMU alumni that are featured in the university’s interactive business directory.
Click here to view other featured businesses.
VistaShare LLC, based in Harrisonburg, Virginia, developed from a shared vision of leveraging technology to serve others.
Co-founders Daryl Myers ‘84 and Goshen College grad Dave Smucker, along with co-owner Chris Kratz ‘95 and their 15 employees provide database services to nonprofit clients working broadly in three areas of social services, community and economic development and asset building. A sampling of clients include microdevelopment enterprises, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), HUD housing counseling, mediation and restorative justice agencies, domestic violence organizations, and youth and family services.
The company has several EMU alumni among its employees: Mark Harder ‘14, Sam Kauffman ‘12, Patrick Ressler ‘09, Tim Shoemaker ‘03 and Matt Trost ‘98. Darren Good, a senior at EMU, is also working there this summer.
The following Q & A was provided by Myers, who is also the company’s chief operating officer.
How did you become a business owner?
I worked at CMDS (formerly known as Computer Management and Development Services) with Dwight Wyse ‘84 for 17 years. When CMDS became Jenzabar in 2000, the corporate culture changed and I realized I didn’t want to stay there. [Jenzabar, headquartered in Boston, also acquired three of CMDS’s competitors.]
I had always wanted to start my own business, but didn’t feel comfortable starting a business by myself. When Dave Smucker and I started talking about starting a business, it became doable.
What is your company’s history?
Dave and I began talking in 1999, when he was working with Virginia Microenterprise Alliance and its umbrella organization, Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), to find software they could use to manage their clients and services.
We started talking about a web application that could be shared by multiple agencies for their data tracking needs and also used by the parent organization to aggregate data from each of the agencies and report at the parent organization level. We knew this would only be useful if it was available to any user with an internet connection. This was before the “cloud” existed so we were on the leading edge of where software applications were heading.
VistaShare LLC was founded in May 2001. We decided to hire CMDS ex-employee Chris Kratz who was finishing up a service term in Albania. We also hired another former CMDS colleague, Matt Trost. Dave started working for VistaShare later that year, but the product was not yet ready yet. Through some personal contacts, we received a contract to do custom programming work for Mutual Aid Exchange in Kansas City. This work helped us fund our web application Outcome Tracker, and we started marketing to nonprofits across North America.
We currently serve over 500 agencies with thousands of Outcome Tracker users each day. More recently we are the primary application used by agencies providing child savings accounts (CSAs). These are accounts set up for each child to attend college. They are often made up of incentive deposit transactions, which are tracked in Outcome Tracker, and family accounts (bank or 529 accounts).
How did your EMU education impact your choice of career and choice of business?
I majored in psychology and have found the knowledge gained to be useful dealing with people throughout my life. As a business owner, I manage employees and continue to draw on what I learned at EMU.
How do your values impact your business operations?
I think our values statement below best answers this. Dave and I were very intentional in making sure our personal values are reflected in our business. We also stress that the order of these values is important, with profit being last on the list.
VistaShare Values Statement
Honor God
All that we say and do is meant to honor God. We commit to being honest and ethical. We commit to being good stewards of the resources we manage.
Serve People
We commit to honor everyone we encounter in our daily work, including:
Associates. We strive to serve our associates by providing meaningful work in a positive environment. We strive to provide opportunities for professional growth, service, and balance with other life priorities.
Customers. We strive to serve our customers with respect, friendliness, and competence.
Partners and Vendors. We strive to create positive relationships and interactions with each person and organization we encounter.
Community. We strive to impact our community by providing time, expertise, and financial resources to worthy causes.
Provide Excellent Products & Services
We will do our best to serve others with excellent products and services. We will continually work to improve our product and service quality.
Make a Profit
We strive to create the profitability needed for VistaShare’s long-term survival and growth. We will forego a larger profit when necessary in order to meet our other values.
Share your top business-related “best practices.”
- Treat customers as you would want to be treated. I have to continue to remind myself of this practice (especially with some of our more challenging customers).
- Remember why you started the business and keep your values in front of you. It’s easy to let the day-to-day decisions override your long term goals.
- Keep things in perspective. Balance work, family, and church.