About Us

Technically, we are known for our web services, database, and architecting experience. Our work is more on the engines of websites than the look and feel. We are known for our experience in PHP, SQL, JavaScript, XML, Apache, and Amazon Web Services.

From a soft skills perspective, we are known for our communication, commitment to the customer, and our ability to creatively and accurately translate business needs into working software. We also have formal usability training.

Key information about Up and Running at-a-glance:

Technical Focus: PHP, SQL, JavaScript, XML, Apache, and Amazon Web Services.
Customer Focus: business results, communication, and customer service.
Our Mission: help you use technology.
Our Vision: be the best PHP-focused, custom software development company.
Our Values: communication and transparency.
Goals in 2009: we will accomplish three primary goals in 2009. The first is to develop a new version of our internal system, the second is to mechanize our sales and marketing channels, and the third is to seek venture opportunities with profitable companies that need a software development partner to scale or offer a new service.
Company Size: we currently have over 30 team members.
Physical Location: we are a virtual organization with offices across the country. Our administrative offices are in Hancock, MI, and we do have some developers working from there as well.
Financial Stability: We are financially strong. Revenue has doubled or tripled since 2004. Profits are largely reinvested. The Company has no debt, low administrative costs, and nearly all costs are variable.
Organizational Structure: our leadership exists to help our team members be successful. Ian McKilligan, CEO, supports Peter Hanson, CTO. Both of them support Paul Davis, COO, who in turn supports all operational team members. Any of the principals can be reached for any reason using the communication methods available on the Contact Us page.
Team Structure: we have a unique team structure in the software development business that reduces opportunities for errors. We’d enjoy talking through what makes us different.
Years of Experience – By Team Member, On Average: the majority of our lead developers have over 10 years of software development experience. The majority of our developers have over 5 years of software development experience. We seek to hire full-time team members who want to have a long-term position with a company that affords them opportunities to grow, lead, and achieve their professional goals, which we understand change over time.
Contract Types: we operate under fixed bid, hourly, and mixed approaches designed to share or transfer risk as appropriate given the context of the work needed.
Types of Work we Take On: new projects, projects in jeopardy, refactoring or rewrites, conversions, maintenance, ad-hoc service, and retained services. For some companies, we lead all IT Operations, and contribute to strategy, help solve management issues, and act as a true partner. Almost all work is related to PHP, SQL, JavaScript, XML, Apache, and Amazon Web Services. On rare occasions, we’ll take on other work, and it’s usually to help out a current customer.
What we Don’t Do: We will never put a developer on your project that hasn’t been tested internally on our own work first. We will never contract your work out to the lowest bidder. We will never give you a low bid with the intent to break your bank account with change orders. We will never tell you we can do something that we don’t know with certainty we can do with our current, internal skills. We will never take on more work than we can handle to our current customers’ detriment. (Some of our best references have been in these situations. We’ve noticed a strong positive correlation between the quantity of contract revisions and the positive outspokenness of our clients. That is, our largest fans have been hurt the most by unethical software firms.)
What Customers Say About Us: we hope you’ll please review our letters of recommendation, our customer kudos, and our customer testimonials. We have a list of standing references, and if you’d like to contact them, please just let us know.
Awards: our team has helped our customers win several awards administered by third-party organizations. One of our team members won the Consumer Marketing Achievement Award from Time Warner Inc. A hospital client won two industry awards, and we performed all of their software development. Our organization was recently honored by a local community foundation as the volunteer organization of the year.
Community Work: we support local high schools, a local hockey organization, the local Rotary club, the local theatre, local artists, local Universities, local entrepreneurs, and local non-profits with money, time, and free technical services support. Our team members speak at industry events and schools about software, technical services, entrepreneurship, and more. We are technically supporting pro bono a “Green” Blog designed to help businesses employ green practices.
History: The Company was started in 1995 by Peter Hanson in Hancock, MI. Always curious about why things work as they do, he built a company focused on people, technology, and process. He’s still learning.
Role Models: Bill Gates for his business skills and technical focus, Steve Jobs for his relentless pursuit of his vision of perfect products, Larry Ellison for his ability to design business structures and effectively use sales, marketing, and M&A to achieve greatness, Tom Watson for “THINK”, Warren Buffet for his understanding the value of credibility and understanding people, Andrew Carnegie for funding Napoleon Hill’s research, Tom Peters for saying what he believes in strongly, Peter Drucker for his timeless wisdom, Retired Lt. Colonel Jon Henkel for his silent, rock-solid leadership, people who act more than they talk, and the people in our personal lives who support and teach us daily.

To learn more about us, please:

Contact Us: Giving us a call (888-447-9273) or emailing us is the fastest way for us to get you the information you seek.

Read more about us: here’s our team resume, information about our team members, and more about our leadership.

Up and Running is a PHP-centered, custom software development company