Nerds to Go President/CEO David Colella started in the family room of his Old Saybrook home. Now, he has a fleet of computer technicians in bright yellow Scions throughout the region.
'Where's the Nerd?'
Pictorial Gazette
By Laura Robida
Staff Writer
Old Saybrook-
David Colella is awfully proud of his new television commercial.
"It's on a CD somewhere around here," he said as he dug through
boxes stacked high with papers and computer books. Without any luck finding
the CD, Colella sat back down in his desk chair.
"Its like that old Wendy's commercial, the 'Where's the beef?"
ad," Colella explained. "But ours is three little old ladies
around a computer. They're having all sorts of problems and one finally
goes, 'Where's the nerd? Where's the nerd?" Just thinking about the
ad was enough to spark a chuckle form the president and CEO of Nerds to
GO, a computer repair company that brings the technician to customers'
homes.
With a fleet of 25 "Nerdcars" and 35 "Nerds", Colella
is hoping to become the household name of computer repair the way Starbucks
and Dunkin' Donuts have become for coffee.
With the business growing each month, Colella is on his way to success,
but it wasn't always fleets of bright yellow cars and catchy commercials
for Colella. There was a time when his wife, Kristina, was raising their
kids in one room of their Old Saybrook home while he was answering calls
on his toll-free telephone number in the dining room.
"I literally started the business out of the dining room until my
wife said she wanted to serve Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room,"
Colella said.
As Colella's business
expanded, his computer work began to take over the kitchen. Before long
he had wires running from room to room and he was quickly running out
of space.
"I've always had high, hopes but I'm also realistic," Colella
said. "When it got to the point that I had computers in the kitchen
and an 800 number coming into the house, I knew I had to find an office."
Now, Nerds to Go is in an out-of-the way second floor office, tucked away
in the back corner of shopping plaza in Guilford. When Colella went office
shopping, he intentionally looked for places that were off the beaten
path. As an in-home repair service, Colella said it was more important
that potential customers find their cars than their office.
Colella said he encourages his employees to customize them -- that's why
he bought Scions.
"It's super customizable. IT's boxy and nerdy looking," Colella
said. "It's been recently listed as one of the 'hot tech toys' for
2005. Who would have thought they would have become popular vehicles?"
Colella, a former computer technician for a large company, said he wasn't
surprised by his own business's popularity.
"There are over 290.000 computers in residential homes and small
businesses that need support," Colella said, "With that need,
our plan is to have a nerd within five miles of every customer."
While NErds to
GO services mostly PCs, the nerd technicians are also certified to service
other computers. Every nerd has at least 10 years of experience as a computer
tech and has Microsoft certifications. Most of the nerds also have Apple
certifications.
"There are a lot of people who don't even realize Apple still exists,"
Colella said. "But there are still a lot of people who are very loyal
to Apple. If the nerd for an assigned area isn't an Apple guy, then we'll
send a different nerd."
Colella's techs have serviced nearly 1,000 machines this month -- a month
Colella described as "slow."
"We get really busy around August and September because of back-to-school,"
he said. "But then we're busy around Christmas time, too. June and
July are pretty slow because of vacations."
As Colella's customer base swells, he said many people still tell him
they've never seen a computer service like his before.
"A lot of people say 'you could be the next Bill Gates,' but who
knows about that," Colella said, pausing for a few seconds, "Well,
I guess it's possible."
Those finding themselves in need of a nerd can call 1-800-390-NERD or
visit the web site www.NerdsToGo.com